Miguel Zaloña from ENplus^® Head Office on the advantages of the Certification platform for certified companies

Hello Miguel, tell us what your responsibilities and tasks are.

Hello there! My tasks within the ENplus^® Head Office team range from collecting the Annual Figures at the beginning of the year from our certified companies, to invoicing those companies as per their reported figures as well as analysing the numbers for statistical purposes for the Pellet Report published later in the year.

Furthermore, I am in charge of the supervision of the Certification Platform (RADIX Tree) and act as the main contact person for the users of the platform – not only the ENplus^® certified companies but also the ENplus^® Conformity Assessment Bodies and the National Partners, the developers of the Platform too. We are constantly improving the systems we have in place and this is where my focus is at the moment.

You are our data expert. Tell us why it is important that certified companies use the Certification Platform (RADIX Tree)?

Having a tool like the Certification Platform (RADIX Tree) which harmonizes the processes throughout the whole ENplus^® scheme and for all the actors involved, is essential for a certification scheme like ENplus^®; companies from all over the globe have to follow the same standards, the same processes. The added value for our certified companies is 24/7 access to all their documents related to the ENplus^® certification (certificates, conformity reports, lab reports, bag design approvals, contracts, invoices, etc). In addition, the tool helps us increase the efficiency in the exchange of information between the different stakeholders involved in the scheme.

If you have to speak from experience, what are the main issues the companies face when using the platform and how they can solve these issues?

Since we launched the Certification Platform (RADIX Tree) at the beginning of last year, the main challenge companies have been facing is to be able to navigate seamlessly through the platform. For instance, we changed the way companies report their Annual Figures using the Platform and how they receive their documents from their Certification Bodies; this information is now exchanged via the Platform itself, without the need to store their ENplus^® related files on their personal computers or having to recall all previous emails, everything is securely stored in one place.

To facilitate the adaptation, we prepared several tutorials beforehand with concrete steps to be followed depending on the procedure they need to conduct (i.e. reporting their Annual Figures, translating the Platform into their language, etc). These tutorials are updated from time to time, as a result of our constant efforts to improve our communication and processes.

Last but not least, if you could give advice to the certified companies, what would it be? 

First, I advise them to double-check the information saved in their profiles once they have access to the Certification Platform (RADIX Tree). If needed, contact us immediately via email in case there is something to be changed; this includes information such as the legal address or any change concerning the contact person.

Another piece of advice I would give to companies is to add their official website (if not done already) so that it will appear on our website, thus increasing their chances of getting new clients and avoiding fraudsters impersonating their companies! Lastly, in case they have any questions, I would encourage them to visit our FAQ page on our website where we explain most of the questions we have received so far and, if their questions are not covered there, to reach out via phone call or email and we will be more than happy to help them out.