Custom recall simulation and notification file software
Appfront builds software that lets you rehearse a recall and support a real notification. You select a batch, and the software traces forward to customers and back to raw materials, calculates the mass balance and records every timestamp. Contact lists, draft letters and the notification file for the regulator follow in the same order. So during an incident you don't first have to search through folders and mailboxes to find out who received what.
What is recall simulation and notification file software?
Recall simulation and notification file software is a single working environment for rehearsing and carrying out a product recall. You start an exercise on a batch or production date, and the software pulls in receipts, production orders and deliveries, traces forward to customers and back to raw materials, calculates the mass balance and puts every step in a timeline with its timestamp and the person who carried it out. From that comes the file you show to an auditor or regulator.
Without such an environment, every exercise starts from scratch. A quality manager asks logistics for an export, receives delivery notes by email, counts kilos in a spreadsheet and only discovers at the end that part of the batch was repacked under a different article number. Timestamps are estimated after the fact. In a real notification, that leaves out exactly what the regulator asks for: which customer received how much, and what happened to it.
We build custom software because your supply chain structure isn't covered by any standard product: your article structure and batch logic in the ERP, repacking and recoding, co-packers and external storage, customer contracts with their own notification agreements, and the forms your regulator and certification scheme require. A generic package doesn't know your repacking logic, doesn't integrate with your WMS and laboratory system, and doesn't deliver a file in the format you are assessed against.
Forward and backward traceability
From a batch or lot to all customers and delivered quantities, and back to raw materials, packaging and semi-finished goods, including repacking, recoding and stock held in external storage.
Mass balance and coverage
The software sets received, processed, delivered and remaining quantities side by side, per link in the chain, and shows which part of the batch you currently can't account for.
Reporting file
All steps with timestamps, customer lists, messages sent and received, analysis results and decisions taken are in one file that you export for the regulator, auditor and customers.
How we build your recall simulation and notification file software
We start with your most recent traceability test: the report, the exports you used at the time and the points where things got stuck.
We walk through how a batch is created, split and repacked at your company, which systems record which link in the chain and where data is currently transferred by hand.
Articles, batches, customers, suppliers, locations and contacts come from your source systems. We also define who may start an exercise, who may make decisions and who has read-only access.
You start a simulation, and the software traces, calculates the mass balance, assigns tasks to action owners and records every timestamp. Draft messages and the report are produced along the way.
We connect your ERP, WMS and laboratory system, test with a real batch from your own history and take over maintenance, including changes to forms and schemes.
What recall simulation and notification file software actually does
The components below appear in almost every recall simulation. Which ones you need depends on your certification scheme, your position in the chain and the number of links between you and the consumer.
Two-way tracing
From batch to customer and back to raw material, including semi-finished goods, repacking and recoding under a different article number, whether at your own site or at a co-packer.
Mass balance
Received, processed, delivered and remaining side by side, with the unexplained portion shown separately and broken down by site, link in the chain or article number.
Timeline with timestamps
Every action gets a time and a name, so you can show afterwards how quickly the chain was mapped and who did what.
Contact and alert lists
Customers, suppliers, co-packers and internal crisis roles with up-to-date details, plus a record of who was reached, when and via which channel, and who has not been reached yet.
Notification file and messages
Draft messages to customers and the regulator, decisions with their rationale, attachments and evidence, combined into a single file that you export in one step.
Exercise calendar and evaluation
Plan simulations ahead per site, record findings and improvement points, and track whether open actions from the previous exercise have actually been completed.
Who we build recall simulation and notification file software for
The software is intended for organisations with a duty to notify, where a batch passes through multiple systems, sites and links in the chain.
Food producers
Here, what counts is how quickly the whole chain is mapped and the substantiation you provide to the NVWA (the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority). Two-way traceability with a mass balance is the core.
Importers and trading houses
They depend on data from producers outside the EU. The core lies in customer lists, document management and demonstrably informing all parties involved.
Non-food manufacturers
Under the General Product Safety Regulation, the focus is on the notification itself and the measures taken. The notification file with decisions, risk description and evidence is central here.
Co-packers and logistics service providers
They work for multiple clients, each with their own procedures and forms. Separate files per client and tightly configured role permissions are decisive here.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about software that lets you practise a product recall and substantiate a notification. It borders on our work on custom business software, on reporting software for mandatory accountability, and on systems we build as a software supplier for government for supervision and enforcement. You can read about our approach on building custom software.
Why Appfront for your recall simulation and notification file software?
A recall procedure is only as good as the last time you actually tested it. That is what we build on: practising with your own batches, your own customers and your own systems.
Practising should work just like the real thing
That is why the simulation uses the same data, screens and messages as a real notification. What you run into during the exercise, you will no longer run into during an incident.
A file is built during the incident, not afterwards
Every step is recorded the moment it happens. Reconstructing afterwards takes time you do not have during a notification and always leaves gaps.
The unexplained portion is the most important outcome
What counts is not the percentage you trace, but the portion you cannot explain. We make that visible instead of calculating it away.
Security and privacy in recall simulation and notification file software
The software holds customer and supplier details, purchase and delivery quantities, analysis results and internal decisions, including contact persons' names. Part of this is commercially sensitive and part falls under the GDPR. Access is granted per role: starting, deciding, reading along or only your own file. Every action is logged and files are retained for the period required by your certification scheme.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Integrations with your ERP, WMS, laboratory system and quality management system use their own keys, which can be revoked per integration.
Frequently asked questions about recall simulation and notification dossier software
Questions that quality and supply chain managers ask before getting started.
You select a batch, lot or production date, and the software traces forward to all customers and back to raw materials and packaging. It calculates the mass balance, assigns tasks to action owners, records every timestamp and bundles customer lists, messages and decisions into a single dossier for your auditor and, in the event of a real notification, the regulator.
Your ERP knows which batch went where, but not who was called when, which decision was taken and on what grounds. It also doesn't support exercises: you can't start a simulation without real stock movements. This software records the process around it and pulls the batch data from your ERP.
Certification schemes such as BRCGS require the traceability system to be tested periodically and the result to be documented, including the time it took. Because the software records every step with a timestamp and shows the mass balance and unexplained quantities, the report comes straight from the system rather than from a reconstruction after the fact.
Yes, that is the aim: exercise and incident follow the same route. For food safety, the notification goes to the NVWA (the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority); for non-food, it goes via the Safety Business Gateway. The software prepares what is asked for there, such as the risk description, quantities, countries involved and the measures you are taking.
This is usually the trickiest point. We map out where a batch receives a new item number or a new lot and record those relationships explicitly, even when the repackaging happens off-site. Without that link, a trace stops at the first recoding.
Yes. Where data is on paper or in a standalone file, we build an input screen or an import function so that this link still counts in the timeline and the mass balance. The software shows which links were entered manually, so you know where your traceability is most vulnerable.
Check that first. Many quality packages have a module for complaints and deviations, and for a single production site with a short supply chain that is often enough. Custom software becomes relevant with multiple sites, repackaging under different item numbers, external storage, customers with their own notification agreements, or when dossiers must be kept separate per client.
Want your next traceability test to come from a single system?
Tell us which systems record your batches, how often you currently practise and where your last test got stuck. We'll show you what the tracing, the mass balance and the notification dossier look like.