KOMO certificate: files and audit
A KOMO certificate relies on your internal quality control: the checks your assessment guideline prescribes, carried out at the required frequency and demonstrably recorded. Appfront builds the software in which those checks take place where the work happens, so the file is in order when the certifying body visits.
What a BRL requires of your file
KOMO is a quality mark for the construction sector, and the requirements for each product group are set out in an assessment guideline. That guideline describes not only what the product must meet, but also how you monitor it yourself: which checks, at what frequency, with which equipment and with what records. Together this is called internal quality control, and it is the foundation your certificate rests on.
Your certification body periodically checks whether that monitoring works. It looks at the records of your own checks, at the calibration of the equipment you measure with, at what happened to products that fell outside tolerance, and at the traceability of raw materials and batches. For many product groups, the declaration of performance and the CE marking under the Construction Products Regulation also apply, with their own requirements.
What causes organisations trouble in practice is that the checks are carried out on the production floor while the file is kept in the office. Measurements are written on a clipboard, someone types them into a spreadsheet, and the calibration data for the equipment is kept somewhere else again. This is exactly where auditors probe: show that this check was carried out on this date, with which instrument, and that the instrument was validly calibrated at the time.
Alongside a national quality mark, many construction products are subject to a European obligation with a separate document for each product. That is what the page on software for declarations of performance covers.
How we build your certificate file
We start with your assessment guideline, not with a standard quality module. The checks and frequencies are already set out there, and we take them over as they are.
We go through your guideline and turn the prescribed monitoring into concrete tasks: which check, at which point in the process, at what frequency and on which unit. Where you hold multiple certificates, we look mainly for the overlap, because recording things twice is the biggest waste here.
Every measurement is only as valid as the instrument used to take it. We model the measuring equipment with its calibration date, so that a measurement taken with an expired instrument is flagged at the moment it happens rather than at the audit.
We work in sprints and begin with the checks that carry the highest volume on the production floor. Your quality staff take part and use an interim version early, during a real production run.
For the handover, we go through the file with the questions an auditor asks: show the checks, the measurements and the calibration status for this batch. Anything that cannot be shown in two clicks, we adjust.
What the software actually does
Six components that together form the file. Which ones you need depends on the number of certificates and product groups.
Checks from your assessment guideline
The prescribed checks are managed as recurring tasks with a set frequency and a named owner, linked to the product group they apply to. A check that has not been carried out does not disappear; it stays open and grows more urgent.
Measurements with tolerance
For each check, the measured value against the tolerance the guideline prescribes. A value outside the limit is immediately visible on the floor, and the series over time shows whether a process is slowly drifting before it crosses the limit.
Measuring equipment and calibration
Every instrument with its calibration date and certificate. Measuring with an expired instrument is blocked or flagged, because a measurement whose validity cannot be established is worthless at assessment.
Deviations and blocking
When a product falls outside tolerance, a fixed route applies: record, assess, block or release, correct and verify. The batch stays blocked until someone with the authority releases it, and that decision is recorded.
Traceability from batch to product
Raw material batches, production runs and delivered products are linked to each other through codes, so that if a complaint arises you can trace which raw material was used and which checks were carried out.
Keeping track of certificates and declarations
Your own certificates and those of your suppliers, with validity dates and alerts. If a declaration of performance under the Construction Products Regulation also applies, the system keeps the supporting evidence together.
Who we build for
Four types of certificate holder. The difference lies in whether you manufacture, process or do both, and in how many certificates you hold.
Manufacturers of construction products
Concrete, precast, frames, insulation or roofing, with a production process that includes the checks. Often in combination with your production system, because the check belongs to the production run.
Processors and installers
Your certificate concerns processing on site rather than a factory product. In that case the registration moves to the construction site and an on-site app becomes the point of focus.
Companies with multiple certificates
A KOMO certificate alongside ISO and sometimes a trade quality mark. The benefit here is recording evidence once for multiple requirements; if you already run a quality management system, we build on that.
Installers with a process certificate
Your certificate concerns how you work, not what you deliver. Monitoring then consists mainly of work instructions, competence and spot checks on completed work.
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What we deploy follows from your process. On a production floor or building site, usability matters more than functionality: a screen that asks too much will be filled in from memory at the end of the shift, and then the registration is worthless as evidence.
If you need to demonstrate with every delivery which certificate a frame was made under, for the contractor's file, then there is our app for attestation registration in the joinery industry.
Why Appfront
Built to your assessment guideline
The checks and frequencies are already set out in your assessment guideline. We adopt those rather than delivering a generic quality module that you have to configure yourself.
Calibration belongs with the measurement
A measurement without a valid, calibrated instrument is no evidence at an assessment. We integrate the two, so the problem surfaces on the shop floor rather than in the audit report.
Continuously up to date
A file that is updated in the week before assessment is exactly what an auditor recognises. We set things up so the evidence is created where the work takes place.
One piece of evidence, several requirements
If you hold several certificates, the requirements overlap considerably. We link each record to every requirement it meets, rather than duplicating it.
Security and privacy
A certificate file contains little personal data, but it does record who carried out which check and who released a non-conforming batch. The latter is a decision with consequences and a sensitive one, since a deviation rarely stems from a single person. We therefore focus reporting on the process and limit access to who did what to those who need it.
From a business standpoint, it matters more that this file contains your formulations, process parameters and tolerances; and, where you supply third parties, their specifications too. Access is granted by role and by product group, with a separate temporary role for auditors who can only see what falls within their scope. A recorded measurement cannot be changed silently: a correction is visible as a correction and does not overwrite the original, because a record that can be altered unnoticed after the fact has no value in an assessment. How we handle security ourselves is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside go through our CVD policy.
Frequently asked questions about KOMO and BRL files
KOMO is the quality mark; the assessment guideline is the document that sets out what your product or process must meet and how you monitor that. Each product group has its own guideline. For your software, the guideline is the starting point, as it specifies the checks, frequencies and tolerances. We adopt those rather than invent them, which is precisely why a generic quality package rarely fits here.
The set of checks you carry out yourself to demonstrate that your product or process continues to meet the guideline: which measurements, how often, with what equipment and with what records. Your certifying body periodically verifies that the monitoring works and that the records are accurate. It is therefore not a document but an ongoing practice, which is exactly why it falls down as soon as it is kept in the office rather than on the shop floor.
Because a measurement is only evidence if it can be shown that the instrument was accurate at the time of measuring. An assessor will routinely ask which instrument was used and whether it was validly calibrated at that moment. We therefore link every measurement to the instrument used, and flag or block when a calibration has lapsed, so the problem is caught while there is still time to act.
No, and that is usually precisely why a system gets built. The requirements in an assessment guideline, in ISO and in an industry quality mark overlap considerably. We link each record to every requirement it meets, and present the file in an audit mode structured to match the schedule of the auditor in front of you. In practice, this saves more work than any other feature.
For many construction products, alongside KOMO, the Construction Products Regulation applies, with a declaration of performance and CE marking. That is a separate track with its own justification, but it draws on the same product data and test results. We set up the storage so that you maintain that justification once and can use it for both, rather than two administrations of the same reality.
To some extent, yes. Weighing equipment, press benches and climate chambers often produce structured data that can flow directly into the file, so nobody has to type it in. Visual assessments and manual measurements remain manual, but with a scan on the batch so the record is tied to the correct unit. What is possible depends on your equipment; we establish that during the discovery phase.
It receives a status and, where the guideline requires it, a block. The route is fixed: record, assess, then decide to block, rework or release with justification. That decision rests with someone holding the appropriate authority and is recorded together with its rationale. In an assessment, this is exactly what is asked: not whether deviations exist, but what you did about them.
It depends on the number of product groups and certificates, and on how much measuring equipment is connected. Registering inspections on the shop floor is usually the quickest to become useful and delivers the most value; integrations with measuring equipment and full traceability from batch to product cost more. We give a reasoned estimate after the discovery phase, once we have reviewed your guideline.
Need a certification file built?
Tell us which assessment guideline you fall under and where the last audit got stuck, and we will help you think through the checks, the calibration and the overlap between your certificates. We build this as a standalone application and as part of a broader custom software or web application project.
If you hold several certificates side by side, also look at software for certificate scope and factory inspections and at software for applied declarations in projects.