Hopefully everyone knows by now that GLOBALG.A.P., a trademark and a set of standards for good agricultural practice, is changing their IFA audit submission process on Nov. 15, 2020. But what hasn’t necessarily been clear is why they’re making the change and how it benefits the process and certification bodies (CBs). We at RizePoint wanted to help answer that question, so we spoke to Leonard Jansen, Assurance Data Services Project Manager at GLOBALG.A.P, to find out about the audit submission change and other changes the company is working on for the future.
Question: GLOBALG.A.P. has been around for decades, and you’ve had the same registration and certification database almost the entire time. Audit Online, that’s a big change. So, what made GLOBALG.A.P. decide to make that change? And what were some of the reasons and drivers behind that decision?
Answer: GLOBALG.A.P. is strongly member-driven in regards good agricultural practices. That means different stakeholders from several parts of the market in the food industry are members in our network. And they are basically the drivers behind every development at GLOBALG.A.P. Particularly in this case, it is important to note that the market feeds the demand — retailers, producers, and suppliers — all have a say and understandably shape the direction together with GLOBALG.A.P. This is also one of the many reasons to introduce Audit Online. This allows us to be more transparent on the processes alongside the reporting that have been taking place for decades. So, we came to the conclusion and to the decision to finally set up a system that would allow certification bodies to deliver the same data in a more sufficient way.
Question: Got it. So, your stakeholders were looking for the ability to utilize that data?
Answer: Exactly. So, what we want to do with the data, is to not only having a place for evidence, like has been done before. We want to go one step further and want to also analyze this data internally in order to enhance the auditing experience furthermore. At the same time, there are multiple ways [to use the data]. You can imagine how we can utilize that for CBs. For instance, Audit Online would deliver insights towards CBs for further follow-up on own statistics. This also applies to other stakeholders in the market as well.
Question: So, what do you think the benefits of this change are be both for you at GLOBALG.A.P. and for the certification bodies, when you do this new Audit Online program?
Answer: Well, I highly believe for us at GLOBALG.A.P., one of the biggest advantages is the ability to further improve our standards based on data, to thusly have more validation points.
For instance, imagine a control point that is asked the same way in different countries. If the data confirms that this control point would have been always answered with not applicable, we would then have the ability now to see exactly this and thus act in where applicable. Using Audit Online as an analyzing tool, will streamline the process of crafting and maintaining our standards within the market tremendously.
So, that’s one of the primary targets for us in GLOBALG.A.P., but it’s of course not only for us. We also want to give the CBs the opportunity to gain more insights on their performance to get more detailed into: How many producers do you have? How are all your auditors performing? How are you compared to others in the market? That kind of stuff is what we are envisioning in the long-term.
For those who might not have started yet, I strongly recommend starting right now. Now’s the time, there are less than two months left, and it’s not a minor change. That’s also something we are transparent on. It will take some time and yeah, we want to make it a smooth as possible. And I think with partners like RizePoint, it’s possible.
Question: I 100 percent agree. It was very difficult as a former GLOBALG.A.P. CB when I was not collecting all that information and putting it on the audit. I almost feel like I was in a silo.
I love that GLOBALG.A.P. is very transparent to the CBs about some of the complexities that are going to happen with the new Audit Online tool, and I really appreciate that. When you’re thinking about what the CBs need to do in order to meet these new expectations for your audit online tool, do you have any tips on how the CBs should be preparing for that November 15 deadline?
Answer: Well, first of all I must say, yes; we are and want to be very transparent. Obviously it does not help at all if you make it a secret, especially if there is a lot of work to do. We all know it. And this is also why we started informing about this change more than one year ago in order to make sure that the transition period is as smooth as possible.
It is indeed not short-term information where people quickly adapt, especially in these times of COVID-19. I highly believe that everyone is appreciating the given time to test it, including our efforts to react to all the feedback we are receiving.
How can you make sure that you can adapt by November? It’s starting as soon as possible.
For those who might not have started yet, I strongly recommend starting right now. Now’s the time, there are less than two months left, and it’s not a minor change. That’s also something we are transparent on. It will take some time and yeah, we want to make it a smooth as possible. And I think with partners like RizePoint, it’s possible.
Question: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Answer: I can also elaborate on other projects we are working on for the future. Many people know our database. The good news is, we are about to do a major upgrade on the database. It will also not be called database anymore as it will be a new approach from a systematic perspective. This will also allow us even more things to do to make deeper connections.
So, it will be a service which will deliver data. Therefore, it’s no longer just a single-entry point where all data flows in. We are working on a microservices approach. Back then, people who entered their data, they only looked at the path which was relevant for them. A CB on the other hand wanted to look into the bookmarking data, but a retailer doesn’t need to have that functionality and visibility that CBs have on their same system. It’s just confusing and not targeted.
So, this a sneak-peak in our approach in our endeavor, which makes audit online the first touch-point for the data entries with easier usage and high-performance, by being transparent on which data originally comes from as well as where its heading.
Click the link to see a preview of the database: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO3O9Rqrxik
As of 01/10/2020 RizePoint is one of three GLOBALG.A.P. certified software partners put in place to help simplify the new audit submission process. To see the difference when you choose RizePoint, click here.