Audit-ready dashboard
The audit-ready dashboard is the single screen that shows where every required certificate stands for every supplier on your site: current, expiring soon, expired or missing. This article explains how to read it, what to do with each status, and how to hand it to an auditor as a PDF.
What this screen is for
The dashboard puts one status against each required certificate for each supplier: current, expiring soon, expired or missing. It is one screen, so you can read the whole approved supplier list in a single pass rather than opening folders one at a time.
Two moments need it. The first is the regular ten minutes where you decide who to chase this week. The second is the morning of a BRC, SQF or FSSC 22000 audit, when someone asks what state your supplier documents are in and you would rather answer from a screen than from a spreadsheet you last touched in March.
One thing to hold in mind before you read it. The status is computed from the expiry date recorded against each document and your alert thresholds, not from reading the certificate itself. Certly tracks certificates and reminds you about them; it does not verify that a certificate is authentic and it does not guarantee compliance with any scheme. That sentence stays on the dashboard and on the PDF export, so an auditor sees it too.
Working the dashboard, step by step
- Check what each supplier is required to supply
The rows come from the certificate types you set against each supplier in the supplier database: allergen declaration, CoA, audit certificate. If a type is not marked as required for that supplier, there is no row for it, so nothing can ever read missing. Start here when the counts look lower than you expect.
- Read the four statuses per supplier
Current means a document is on file and its recorded expiry date is still beyond your alert window. Expiring soon means the expiry date falls inside one of your thresholds. Expired means the recorded date has passed. Missing means no document exists at all for a type you require, which is the state an auditor finds fastest.
- Clear what you already hold
Some expired and missing rows are only expired on the dashboard: the renewal is sitting in your inbox. Upload it against that supplier and certificate type with its issue and expiry dates, and the status recomputes from the new date. The version it replaces is kept, so an auditor asking what was valid on a past date can still be answered.
- Chase the rest
For anything you do not hold, the chase sequence emails the supplier contact about certificates approaching expiry or already lapsed, with a one-click upload link that needs no login and expires after a single use. Every send is logged, so you can see what actually left rather than assuming.
- Export the screen for the auditor
Export the dashboard as a PDF for auditor review. It carries the same four statuses per supplier as the screen and the same disclaimer. Export it on the day of the audit rather than reusing last month's file, because statuses move as dates pass.
If a status does not look right
Work through it in this order.
- Open the supplier and check the recorded dates. A status that disagrees with the document almost always traces back to the expiry date on file.
- Check your thresholds. Alerts sit at 90, 60 and 30 days before expiry and are configurable, so what counts as expiring soon is your setting, not a fixed rule.
- Separate missing from expired. Missing means no document was ever uploaded for a required type. Expired means one was, and its date has passed.
- Check what the supplier is required to supply. A type ticked by mistake leaves a row that will never be filled and keeps inflating the count an auditor reads.
If the screen still disagrees with the documents you hold, email support@usecertly.com with the supplier name and the certificate type and we will look at the records on your site.
Questions
What exactly do the four statuses mean?
Current: a document is on file and its recorded expiry date is outside your alert window. Expiring soon: the expiry date falls inside one of your thresholds. Expired: the recorded expiry date has passed. Missing: no document has been uploaded for a certificate type you require for that supplier.
Why does a supplier show missing when I have the certificate?
Because the document has not been uploaded against that supplier and that certificate type. Certly only knows about documents stored in it, so upload the file with its issue and expiry dates and the row changes state.
Can I give the dashboard to an auditor?
Yes. Export it as a PDF for auditor review. It shows the same four statuses per supplier as the screen, and it carries the same line stating that Certly tracks and reminds and does not verify certificate authenticity or guarantee compliance.
When does a certificate move to expiring soon?
When its recorded expiry date falls inside one of your alert thresholds, which sit at 90, 60 and 30 days before expiry and can be configured.
Does Certly check that a certificate is genuine?
No. It tracks the dates you or your supplier record against a document and reminds you before they pass. Verifying that a certificate is authentic and current with the certification body remains a human step.
Could another plant's suppliers appear on my dashboard?
No. The product is scoped to a single site per plant, with plant-scoped data isolation on every query, so the dashboard shows your site's suppliers and certificates only.