Reviewing a certificate

The current review path

1. 1Open the original certificate. Confirm the named insured and make sure the file belongs to the subcontractor and project you are reviewing.
2. 2Record the values you rely on. Enter the supported policy dates, limits, and marked certificate boxes from the document. Do not turn a missing value into zero or infer an endorsement that is not attached.
3. 3Compare the evidence with your requirements. Use the organization or project requirement set as a checklist. The customer reviewer, not an automated rule result, decides whether a gap needs action.
4. 4Record the decision. Approve, reject, or document an accepted exception with a reason that another reviewer can understand later.

Confirm the identity and the period before the limits

Start with the named insured rather than the biggest number on the page. A certificate issued to a related company, a trade name, or a parent with no clear connection to the subcontract can be the wrong evidence even when the limits look adequate. Compare the name with the subcontractor record and note any difference for the customer reviewer instead of silently treating two entities as the same.

Then compare the supported policy dates with the work period you are reviewing. A policy can be current today and still leave an earlier or later job period uncovered. Record only the dates printed for the relevant coverage, keep a blank field blank, and use the COI review checklist to avoid borrowing a date from the wrong row.

If the certificate is hard to read, request a clearer copy or verify the information with the issuing agency. How to verify a certificate separates what can be checked on the document from what requires a carrier, producer, or licensing source. A reviewer note should say what was checked and where the answer came from; it should not turn an unanswered question into a pass.

If a historical record shows confidence or requirement flags

Authorized historical records can retain values, field-confidence context, and flags created when extraction was previously used. Treat those as review aids, not proof that a new upload was processed or that the software made a coverage decision.

Compare every value you rely on with the original document beside it. A confidence percentage describes an earlier machine reading; it is not an accuracy guarantee, and it does not replace the authorized reviewer. The automated design and its limits are documented separately.

When the certificate does not meet your requirements

This is a customer decision rather than a data-entry shortcut. The file may be correct and still fall below the limits, dates, or evidence your organization requires.

1. 1Reject it and ask for corrected evidence. State exactly what is missing and use a fresh upload link so the subcontractor knows what to send.
2. 2Approve with a documented exception. If the customer accepts a gap for this work, record the reason rather than changing what the certificate says.
3. 3Correct the requirement set. If the requirement itself was entered incorrectly, fix the requirement and preserve why it changed.

A ticked box is not the endorsement

An additional-insured or waiver tick on the certificate is the issuing agent's summary, not the endorsement form. When the endorsement matters, ask the issuing agency for the page by form number. The certificate says the same about itself in its header.

After you decide

Approving records the document as current and preserves the customer's review decision. A manually recorded supported expiry date can then drive the reminder countdown. A certificate attached from a spreadsheet follows the same human-review path.

A rejected document does not vanish. It stays visible and recoverable for at least 3 days. After that grace period, a scheduled purge requests deletion of the stored file and removes the record only after that request succeeds; a failed storage deletion leaves the record for a later retry, and provider backups follow the provider's own schedule. A file rejected for a missing or failed antivirus verdict cannot be restored; it needs a new upload.