Audit roadmap

From the range in My Product Manager we randomly select products to be audited according to specific selection criteria.

The selection of products is based on the following principles: 

Random sampling 

We use random sampling method within the programme, which selects how many and which products will be requested for audit via the 'My Audits' application.

Per iteration

The audit programme lasts two years and is divided into 8 periodes (called iteration). During this period, a new sample is taken from the product range every iteration and you will be notified via e-mail that new products are ready for audit. These products are displayed with the status 'new' in the overview in the 'My Audits' application.

Exception:
Suppliers with fewer than 40 products at the start of the audit programme in My Product Manager will be surveyed every two iteration (4 times in total). As of 41 products in My Product Manager, the supplier will be surveyed every iteration (8 times in total). At the beginning of the audit programme, each supplier is affected to a group based on the size of its assortment at that time. Important: although the percentage of audited products is the same for both groups, the frequency of contact is different. 

Selection criteria 

The products for the sample are selected on the basis of the following criteria: 

• Size of the assortment.
• Product characteristics: within the range, only pre-packaged food products that are a consumer unit (i.e. also multi-packs) will be considered. 
• National brand products: private label products are out of scope.
• Focus on recent products: the sample will be conducted on 80% recent and 20% less recent products. In case insufficient recent products can be selected, the sample will be further completed with other products.

Linked to a reward mechanism

If you achieve a good score for your product information during the audit, you will be rewarded. In the next iteration, as soon as you achieve an average 'first time right' audit score of 96%, your sample will be reduced. That is: the product sheets achieve an average score of 96 %.  

In the first iteration, each supplier starts in the 50% sample category. The lower category is 10%, the higher category 100%.

A practical example: 

A practical example: a supplier with a range of 160 products that are eligible for audit. In the first iteration, 20 products are selected for audit (160 products/8 iterations x 50%). Is the average score of these 20 products 96%? Then in the next quarter only 2 products (160 products/8 iterations x 10%) will be requested for audit. PLEASE NOTE: if the average 'first time right' audit percentage in the iteration is lower than 96 %, the supplier will return to the higher sample category in a subsequent iteration.

To prepare for the audit, you will be asked to perform a few tasks, including checking the validation rules in My Product Manager, collecting artwork or photos, as well as requesting exemptions where relevant.

In order to prepare for the audit of your product data, we ask you to perform a few tasks: 

Validation rules outcome

In the My Product Manager report you can find any errors or warnings related to your products. In order not to disrupt the audit process and to increase the chances of a good 'first time right' audit score, it is recommended to solve these errors and warnings prior to the audit. 

Requesting an exemption

If you believe that one or more of the selected products meets the criteria for exemption, please report this via the sector help desk. In your email, please mention the audit programme and 'exemption' in the subject line and state which product(s) and for which reason you are submitting the application. You will then be informed of the assessment:

• If the application is assessed to be unjustified and therefore does not result in an exemption, there is no change and you will be asked to proceed with the following steps in the roadmap. The product will remain in 'new' status.
• If the request is assessed to be justified, the product receives the status 'exempt' in the 'My Audits' application, and a new product with the status 'new' will be offered as an alternative. 

Images/artwork 

Before the audit can start, a minimum of one (and maximum of six) photo(s) or artwork must be linked to each of the products for which an exemption request is pending. Without photo(s) or artwork, the audit cannot commence. The formats accepted for photos or artwork are: JPEG/PNG/TIFF and PDF. 

The guidelines regarding photographs and artwork specifications must always be observed and are of great importance for the smooth and correct execution of the audit. 

After the products are ready for you in the My Audits application, you have four weeks to correct or complete product information in My Product Manager, to request an exemption, upload the images/artwork and request the audit start (see the following section). 

Audit start

Once the preliminary steps have been performed, you can officially approve and start the audit per product by pressing the ‘start audit’ button. Each product for which you start the audit is given ‘requested’ status in the overview and will then be audited (see next step). 

NOTE:

When you start the audit, a “snapshot” of the data in My Product Manager is taken. Information changed in My Product Manager after the snapshot is taken is included in the audit. 

The audit is will be carried out digitally and using specific software. The scoring algorithm for the audited fields, which is based on the established assessment criteria, ensures a correct result per product.

The audit of the products is done digitally, based on the supplied product images or artwork. This way, we avoid the complexity and costs of a physical logistics flow. The photos or artwork are processed by special software which analyses and interprets the various information blocks on the packaging. The audit programme determines what information is to be verified and proceeds to check, read and compare information in blocks to the data of those fields in My Product Manager. An auditor will assess the outcome of that comparison and manually review any information blocks that could not be processed automatically. 

Since the digital files are the only source of information for the audit, it is extremely important to follow the guidelines regarding images. Please note that these guidelines are not to be confused with the guidelines for a packshot. If the provided pictures/artwork are unsuitable for carrying out the audit (for example, certain information is illegible or hidden under another part of the product packaging), you will be requested to upload new/additional pictures/artwork by email before the audit process can continue. The product will be given the status 'inadequate'. 

Scoring: During the audit process it is determined for each product sheet per checkpoint whether the information in My Product Manager is correct (score 1) or incorrect (score 0). The score of each checkpoint is then multiplied by a weight that determines the importance of the checkpoint (1 = low, 5 = medium, 10 = high).  The result of this multiplication per checkpoint is then added together and converted to a score out of 100 for that product sheet.

Whether the average score of all product sheets in the sample is at least 96% or less determines the sample size for the next iteration.

Below you will find an overview of the audited fields as well as a link to the assessment criteria used in the audit:

For your information

As long as the audit is in progress, the status of a product in the My Audits application remains on 'pending'. The progress of the audit at GS1 is not visible to a supplier. 

After the audits have been carried out, it's time for the outcome. You are informed by email when the feedback on your products is available in the My Audits application.

You will receive an email notification when the audit of all your products has been completed. The status of the products in the My Audits application will now be 'completed'. In addition, a verdict (pass/fail) will be given per product as audit feedback:  

• For the 'sufficient' products: good news! You don't need to do anything else. 
• For the 'insufficient' products: Make sure that the errors are corrected in My Product Manager within three weeks using the report located in the My Audits application. Do not forget to request your re-audit (see next step). The product will once again be in the 'requested' status. 

A re-audit can be requested for 'insufficient' products. We will re-audit the products once the errors have been corrected in My Product Manager.

After correction of the errors, the re-audit of your product(s) can be requested for any products assessed as insufficient during the audit. Steps 3 and 4 are then repeated. The first re-audit per product is free. 

When all products per iteration are finally audited and approved, then you can be confident that the product information is correct, complete and current! 

Important

The information about the assessment of an audited product is also made available to retailers.