Certificates
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Certificates is where you record the certificates you hold for your adopted standards, with the certifying body, the certificate number and the validity period. Each one gets an audit cycle and a badge you can share.
Why this protects your organisation
A certificate that quietly expires can cost you a tender or a renewal with an existing customer, and a missed surveillance audit can put the certificate itself at risk. Recording it here keeps the dates in view for everyone in the workspace, plans the audits that keep it valid and lets you show it on your trust page. Trustbird does not verify certificates: what you enter is shown as entered by you.
Steps
- Open Certificates in the Prove group and click New certificate.
- Choose the Standard, and fill in the Certifying body, the Certificate number, the Issue date and Valid until.
- Add the Scope statement from the certificate and upload the Certificate (PDF) if you have it. Click Create.
- Open the certificate again to see its Audit cycle, planned from the issue date.
- Click Badge to download the badge as a PNG or, as owner, switch its public page on to share it on LinkedIn or your website.
The list shows every certificate with its Standard, Certifying body, Issue date and Valid until. The Status column says Valid, or shows the date when a certificate expires within 90 days or has already expired. Next audit shows the first audit in the cycle that has not been performed yet.
The audit cycle
When you save a new certificate, Trustbird plans its three-year cycle from the issue date. The initial audit is recorded as already performed, surveillance follows one and two years later, and recertification is planned three months before the third anniversary, so the new certificate can be issued before the old one expires. You record each audit on the External audits screen; clicking a row in the Audit cycle takes you there.
The badge
The Badge page shows a preview in English or Dutch with the standard, your certifying body and the dates you recorded. It says you manage your management system with Trustbird, never that Trustbird certified or verified anything. Once the owner switches the public page on, you also get a LinkedIn link, a suggested post and an HTML snippet for your website. Switching the page off makes the link stop working, including in posts you already shared.
Valid certificates can also appear on your trust page.
If it does not work
Saving fails on the date Valid until
The valid until date cannot be before the issue date. Check both dates on the certificate.
The Standard list is empty
You can only record a certificate against a standard your workspace has adopted. Check under Standards which one that is.
The badge page says there is no badge for this certificate
A badge needs the standard, the certifying body and an issue date that is not in the future, and the certificate must not have expired. Record the new certificate after a recertification to get a current badge.
I cannot switch the public badge page on or delete a certificate
Both are reserved for the workspace owner. Members can add and edit certificates, and so can advisors with edit rights for Standards and certification.
Screens this is about
- Certificates