A certificate review workflow for procurement and quality teams

1. Define the intake record

Keep the purchase-order or shipment reference with the supplier’s original PDF. Identify who will perform the review and which requirements they should check. Record the file revision and avoid replacing an earlier source with a new file of the same name without noting the change.

Agree what belongs in the review and what belongs elsewhere. A source-evidence check does not replace receiving inspection, material identification, engineering approval or customs advice. Make those separate responsibilities visible in your process.

2. Review and compare the evidence

Capture the certificate identifier, manufacturing mill, heat and grade references and any explicitly supported origin statement. Keep labels and page references so another person can retrace the observation. Use optional AI to propose values, then have the assigned reviewer confirm each one against the original.

Compare expected shipment heat and grade references line by line. Keep missing evidence distinct from contradictory evidence. Do not assume a complete-looking document covers every shipment line or every requirement on the purchase order.

3. Turn exceptions into specific requests

A useful follow-up names the document and shipment, describes the exact discrepancy and states what supporting evidence is needed. Avoid a generic “please confirm compliance” request when the actual problem is an ambiguous heat reference or an absent country statement.

Track the reply in your existing supplier communication process. Preserve the supporting document and its relationship to the original. MeltLedger can help prepare an evidence record; it does not send messages to suppliers or operate an automated outreach campaign.

4. Save a review that can be handed over

Save a snapshot after reviewing the fields, then export the results with source references and unresolved notes. Store the original and any clarification with the handover. If the source changes, review the new revision instead of treating an old confirmation as automatically valid.

MeltLedger’s current plan is for one named user, with 100 new certificates per billing month at €49/month. It can hold 100 saved snapshots at once and supports up to 20 manually entered shipment lines in each review. It is suitable for an individual reviewer contributing to a team’s process; it does not provide shared seats, ERP integration or bulk processing.

Measure the process before scaling it

Use your own representative documents to assess the time spent locating fields, checking suggestions and resolving exceptions. Keep a baseline from your current process. Do not treat a software demonstration as proof of a universal time saving.

Begin with the five-certificate free trial and inspect the resulting exports. If the evidence record is useful to the next person in your workflow, you have a concrete basis for deciding whether to adopt it.

Common questions