Every lot’s CoA,
found by lot number

Questions about certificates almost always arrive as an ingredient and a lot number: the whey in this batch, the vanilla from that delivery. File by ingredient first and supplier second, so a change of supplier does not split the history of one ingredient, and every lot sits in the place people will look for it.

Keep your own certificates for finished product lots in a separate area, filed by product and lot. Incoming certificates prove what you received; outgoing ones prove what you shipped. A trace-back moves from one to the other, and it helps when each side is easy to read on its own.

Put the ingredient, supplier, lot number and test date in the name: WPI_Northfield-Dairy_Lot-24-0871_CoA_2026-08-12.pdf. Searching by lot then works across the whole library, even when someone only has the drum label in front of them.

Copy lot numbers exactly as printed, including dashes, letters and leading zeros. “24-0871” and “240871” look the same to a person in a hurry and different to every search box. If a supplier prints the lot differently on the certificate and the label, note both, and ask them to fix it.

Start with identity: the product, supplier and lot on the certificate should match the container label exactly. Then check that every test your specification calls for is reported, with an actual result rather than a range, and compare each result with your own limits. A supplier’s “conforms” is measured against their specification, which may be looser than yours.

Watch for documents that look like certificates but are not lot-specific. A “typical analysis” or product data sheet shows what the product usually measures, not what this lot measured. Check the test date, the method and the signature too, and in regulated sectors such as dietary supplements, confirm with your QA lead how far you are allowed to rely on a supplier’s certificate.

On many receiving docks the certificate is printed, stapled to the delivery note and filed in a binder by month. It is quick at receiving and slow at every other moment, because nobody asks for documents by the month they arrived.

Companies with an ERP or quality system attach certificates to the lot record, which works well when receiving staff have time to upload and enter everything. Others rely on a shared inbox where suppliers send PDFs. Filex picks up whatever reaches you: upload the certificate and the lot, supplier and dates are read from it, so filing does not depend on someone typing them in.

Filex does not release, reject or hold lots, test anything, or confirm that a lab’s results are correct. It does not replace identity testing or any check your quality system requires, and it does not ask suppliers for missing certificates.

It is not a full traceability system. It can find the certificates for the lots you name, but it only knows which ingredient lots went into a finished batch if a document you uploaded says so, such as a batch record. Faint or handwritten certificates may need a manual check.