GUIDE: Getting Started with Supplios Compliance Module
This article provides the basis for using the Supplios Compliance module. Here you can find inspiration for compliance items to track and learn about best practices of using this module effectively - from creating document types to adding supplier documents and seeing an overview of compliance across your supply base.
Documents to Track in the Compliance Module
The Supplios Compliance module is designed to track documents related to your suppliers that are important for compliance, legal, regulatory, or general qualification reasons. These documents may be provided by your suppliers, provided by you and acknowledged by your suppliers, or may be contracts signed between you and your suppliers.
The Supplios Compliance module provides a version control system to manage updates to the documents, approval workflows to manage the review and acceptance of documents and document versions, rules for selecting which documents are required for each vendor, and an automation system to manage reminders and notifications based on the document lifecycle, such as expiration and renewal notifications.
Examples of documents that are ideal for managing with the Compliance module include vendor certificates (ISO, IATF, REACH, ROHS, etc.), vendor contracts (NDA, Service Level Agreement, etc.), vendor policies (CSR, ESG, EU Sanctions Compliance), ESG and Sustainability Forms (Conflict Minerals, Deforestation Regulations, CSDDD, etc.) and much more.
Tip: Documents that don’t require expiration tracking or formal version control (such as Supplier Organizational Charts) can be uploaded under the Files section in the vendor profile. This provides a more simple (but less powerful) way of associating arbitrary files with a supplier.
Creating Document Types
You can create new document types by heading to the Document Types section under Compliance on the left-side menu and clicking on Add Document Type. This will prompt you to select Document Category, Kind of Document, give a name to this Document Type, select whether one vendor is allowed to have a single or multiple documents of this type, and enable/disable expiration tracking.
For more information on Document Categories, Kinds of Documents and multiple vs single document per supplier, please refer to this article: Compliance Module - Key Concepts
Tip: If your Compliance package includes requirement tracking, note that requirements/rules are set on a Document Type basis, so it is a good idea to consider the necessary level of granularity when creating the Document Types.
Here are some examples of document rules/requirements one could set:
- Document type “ISO 9001 Certificate” is required for all suppliers;
- Document type “Welding Certificate” is required for all suppliers with tag “welding”;
- Document type “Cybersecurity Assessments” is optional to all suppliers.
Adding Compliance Documents for Vendors
You can add a compliance document for a vendor from two places in the portal. One way is by going to the Vendors section on the left-side menu, selecting a specific vendor, clicking Documents, and Add Document. Alternatively, you can navigate to the Compliance section on the left-side menu, select Vendor Status Grid and click + next to the vendor you want to add a document for.
Tip: Vendor Status Grid is also where you can see a complete overview of compliance across your vendor base. Use filtering on the right side of the page to find specific vendors, document types, or compliance status.
When you get to adding a document for a specific vendor, first you will have to select a Document Type (the options in this list will depend on the Document Types you have created).
If the Document Type allows each vendor to have multiple of these documents, you will also have to enter a title for this document (for Document Types that are set as single allowed per vendor, the name of the Document Type will also serve as the title for the specific document you're adding).
In the example below, "Vendor Certifications" is used as a “catch-all” for documents that don’t fit under any specific bucket. This Document Type is set to allow multiple documents per vendor, so there is a title field where you need to specify what document it is. Since it is a certificate, by default, it also requires entering of validity dates.
You can optionally add notes to the document - these will be visible to both your internal team and the supplier (if visibility is enabled).
After that, you can upload one or more files associated with this document.
Tip: If you have a document type where you only want to track validity dates (without requiring a file upload), this can be configured. Please contact Supplios support to enable this setup.
Adding a New Version of a Document
You can always add a new version of a document and view all the related versions, including those that are valid, expired or superceded.
To access a document, go to the Vendors section, select the specific vendor, click on the Documents tab and select the document title. You can also access a document straight from the Vendor Status Grid by clicking the VALID, EXPIRED or MISSING badge.
This will open a side bar where you can see the details of the document, add new document versions, as well as change or add reminders.
Expiring Documents
To view documents that are nearing expiration, go to the left-hand menu and select Expiring Documents under the Compliance section.
You’ll see a list of all documents, automatically sorted with those expiring soonest at the top, so you can prioritize renewals easily.
