Introduction 

Audit & Supplier Compliance is a supply chain tool, used to collect, validate and manage supplier and production unit data. In this tool, there is also the ability to collect and store supplier documents, such as certificates, licenses, policies and so forth. This can be supplemented with additional information related to suppliers and production units. To learn more about the available fields, please visit these links: 


Documentation types

To define what documents to collect and where to store them, we ask that you define ‘documentation types’. This is the entity that you can search and filter for, and also create specific settings for. 

 

Settings include: approval/activation flows and expiration/validity. 

 

When deciding to collect documents through audits, you will be deciding what documentation types suppliers or production units need to upload files for.  


Approval flows

There are two options when it comes to approval/activation: 

  1. A document can require review and then approval to become active and available on a supplier or production unit page.
  2. A document can become active immediately after submittal. 

In the case that you require review and approval, you also define who is responsible. That can either be a user or a group. You can set this under ‘documentation approval’. 

 

The basic setting is that a document requires approval. If that is not the case, please inform support so they can make the edit in your account. 


For more information on how to configure the document approval flow in Qarma, please refer to this guide.


Expiration  

Documents can either expire or be active until manually archived.  

 

Expiration is set on the documentation type, and the actual expiration date is defined on the document upon upload or approval. 



 

You will need to inform support of expiration rules of the different documentation types.


Collecting documents 

There are two ways to add documents to a supplier or production unit page. 

  1. Uploaded by a team member with access directly on a supplier or production unit page. 
  2. A supplier or production unit uploads the document in an online audit or assessment. 


For 1), you can do so at the specific point on the page, or by clicking the ‘add documentation’ button in the top right corner.  


For 2), it is necessary to build this into the checklist used for the specific audit or assessment. In that case, you will need to select the checkpoint type ‘production unit data’ or ‘supplier data’ and select the specific documentation types you would like to collect.  



Archiving 

If a document has expired, or for some reason should no longer be active and visible on a supplier or production unit page, you can choose to archive it. 

 

If you select the three dots on a document on a supplier or production unit page, you can select ‘archive document’, ‘delete document’ or ‘view all’. If you select ‘archive document’, it will be sent to the archive, where it can always be found.

 

You can access the archive by selecting the button with three dots in the top right corner on the respective supplier or production unit page and select ‘view all documents’. 



 

Filtering 

To get an overview of all suppliers or production units and the state of their documents, the easiest way is to use the filter function on the supplier or production unit list. 

 

Here you’ll find a search bar, and next to that a button that says ‘show filters’. After selecting that button, you will be able to select specific documentation types or groups of documents. After selecting the relevant documentation types, you will be able to select the state of the documentation you would like to see. Here you have the following options:  

  • No documentation: For those with none uploaded yet. 
  • Expired or Rejected: For those that have documents that are no longer active. 
  • Expiry date: expires within 2 months, expires within 6 months, expires within a year. For those searching for a date-specific expiry. 
  • Planned or in Progress: For those where an audit has been booked or is in progress. 
  • In Review: For those where a document is in review with the approver or ‘active or approved’ applies for those that are valid and to be used. 


After selecting your filter, the list will be narrowed and only show the suppliers or production units that match the criteria.  



If this sounds interesting, don’t hesitate to reach out for a free demo of what we can offer you! If you are already a customer and want to add this inspection type to your portfolio, reach out to support@qarmainspect.com or your contact person.