Syngenta: Managing Compliance, Certifications & Authorisations in Comaea

Compliance training is what most people think of when talking about compliance - making sure that an employee's training is up to date. But that is just one part of the wider compliance / competence landscape which can encompass competency, certifications, and authorisations; often made up of some training elements, some validation steps to ensure competency, and then some form re-certification process when the validity period comes to an end. Simplified, this is often called the 'Route to certification or authorisation.'

Managing a sometimes complicated range of pre-requisite and formal training and then a 'formal sign-off' process is a challenge in all organisations, and the range and requirements of certifications and authorisations is a constantly moving goalpost.

So how do you manage this complexity? Interestingly, it is surprisingly easy, but also inherently difficult. Having a clear and consistent process for all certifications and authorisations that is easily understood by employees, managers, and assessors is key, as is making the process and requirements clear and transparent for all.

HSE compliance at Syngenta

Syngenta, a leading science-based agtech company, faced these challenges and over the last 2 years has been working with comaea to implement a consistent and transparent HSE compliance solution across its global manufacturing sites.

The existing Comaea 'Certificate Tracker' app easily and effectively managed basic certifications and time-bound competencies, but lacked the validation process required to ensure it could meet all the requirements of the Syngenta HSE team, and the wide range of certification and authorisations that needed to be covered. Building complex and strict logic was soon ruled out due to the ongoing support and maintenance requirements, and the confusion it may cause with each certification and authorisation needing different logic. The design had to be flexible and future-proof.

The 'route to certification' approach provided a consistent approach and the comaea certificate tracker was enhanced to provide a flexible and transparent approach to validation; optional assessment and verification steps added along with a recertification steps too if required. The validation steps were a transparent way of giving clear instructions to all parties, whether you are the employee, the manager, or the assessor/validator. It meant that no additional human interventions were necessary, and at the point of assessment or verification, there is an auditable trail of actions that ensures sign-off made quickly and easily, with comaea enhancing the process rather than hindering it. Evidence, comments and documentation can also be uploaded and a full training record is kept with each employee for up to 20 years, if necessary.

Also mandatory learning is automatically assigned to a user, as is any learning required for re-certification in advance of the validity period ending. This links directly to the learning management system (LMS) and whilst the learning is delivered through the LMS, comaea tracks completions and adds them to the audit trail for future reporting.

A typical validation screen detailing clear instructions for assessment, verification and reconfirmation of the authorisation

Defining a consistent and transparent approach has meant Syngenta has been able to understand their compliance status at each site through manager dashboards and heat map reports, meaning a more proactive approach to compliance monitoring.

Certification monitoring through dashboards and heatmap reporting.

Syngenta is leading the world in its approach and has delivered a step-change in HSE compliance monitoring, and comaea has provided a solution that meets the need of Syngenta today and in the future.