Introducing SafetyChain LINK Auditor View

With SafetyChain LINK Auditor View, now it’s easy for food companies to build better relationships with their auditors, including giving auditors access to critical documentation, remotely.

Emerging Technology that Revolutionizes Food Safety Audits

Face it: food safety audits can be stressful, taking weeks if not months of preparation time. When the time comes, the more organized, prepared, and transparent a food manufacturer can be, the faster and easier the audit becomes for both the company and the auditor. As a result, both can focus more time and energy on finding productive ways to improve processes rather than plowing through piles of paper.

Now, SafetyChain LINK Auditor View makes it easy for food companies to share all records and information required within the purview of an audit, without overwhelming their auditors with unnecessary or extraneous information. Auditor View provides FSQA managers full control of what, when, and how auditors can view relevant records. The benefit? Think quicker, better audits with far less paperwork. In addition, auditors appreciate the transparency, and both sides benefit from the confidence of knowing that important data is present, complete, and accurately verified. This article will focus on Auditor View, just one of SafetyChain’s new Secure Profiles that allows SafetyChain customers to control how users see and access data and records.

Auditor View - One of SafetyChain LINK's New Secure Profiles

To better understand Auditor View, we want to first answer the question, “What is a Secure Profile?” Secure Profiles allow food companies to simplify and tailor what internal and external users can see and access. With a Secure Profile like Auditor View, food companies can turn off those features which may not be important to others’ roles. Specific access rights can be created, to only those documents that are integral for a certain individual's job. Technically speaking, a Secure Profile (of which Auditor View is one!) is a collection of rights and content filters that governs the way information is presented and what a user can do in LINK.

Let's look at some ways that food companies are using Secure Profiles, both externally (for their auditors) and internally (for their staff):

Externally, with Auditor View, you can limit access to records:
By date range
To specific programs
To specific forms
To certain document types
Internally, Secure Profiles organize and present relevant information in the way that’s most helpful to a company's executives, managers, and line workers:
Executives see high-level summaries and KPIs in a clear, simple format
Managers get a functional overview of what’s happening across the enterprise, with lots of detail, presented in a way that helps them spot trends, make comparisons, and act on potential problems before they occur
Line-level workers see only the information that’s related to the work right in front of them, for example, what’s completed and what’s not

How Does Auditor View Work?

Auditor View gives SafetyChain customers the ability to control the depth of analysis and features which a specific user or user group can access. Auditor View does not hide or limit access to your plant's data. Conversely, it supports the complete transparency of data; that’s why auditors love it and trust it. Rather, with a Secure Profile like Auditor View, users can choose whether to share various SafetyChain features, including compliance trends and exception-based views.

Improved Security and Confidentiality During Food Audits

Using Auditor View helps food companies control how long an auditor has access to their records and where they can log in from. For security and confidentiality reasons, many food companies prefer to restrict access to their records to only from within their own facilities.

Building Trust (and Why That’s Important in Food Audits)

Although auditors are examining your facility, your processes, and your records, an audit is a human process influenced by social relationships. Like all interpersonal interactions, honesty, integrity, and transparency build trust and lay the groundwork for a positive, ongoing working relationship. Simply stated, if an auditor feels you are being helpful and have nothing to hide, s/he are much more likely to trust you.

Stand in Your Auditor’s Shoes

Think about the challenges that food auditors face. They often have to rummage through stacks of binders, drawers, even entire rooms full of files in search of food safety records. Over half their time is spent on reviewing manuals, SOPs, sometimes difficult-to-read day-to-day records, CCPs, corrective actions, and supplier data. Imagine their frustration from the time wasted trying to decipher handwritten and disconnected records, locating misfiled papers or in trying to get to the bottom of missing sign-offs and cloudy verification procedures.

LINK's Auditor View: The Modern Approach to Records Analysis and Management

Auditor View is a win-win for both auditors and food companies: this tool cuts down on the grueling and time-intensive work that both auditors and FSQA managers face and replaces it with a streamlined and transparent process. Auditor View provides auditors with a simplified experience where one can locate and read records right from their tablet, laptop, or even smartphone. There’s no comparison. Auditor View is a modern approach to record analysis and management. It makes auditors' jobs more pleasant, yet still gives FSQA managers the ability to limit the types of records that auditors can access and complete control over how, when, and where auditors see their records.

Questions About Internal Audits?

This blog post provides tips and advice about internal audits.