The GMP+ Company database is GMP+ International’s most utilised tool. Every month, over 10,000 people use our database to check the status of their suppliers and customers and explore the market. It is one of the most important instruments underpinning a safe feed chain.
Our user feedback says our company database is appreciated and works well… but we know it sometimes could be easier to use.
Making it user friendly
The experience today involves pre-selecting one of five sections to check; certified companies, Certification Bodies (CBs), other schemes, partners, and laboratory operations. Once you have picked, you can then expect a lot of clicking and scrolling before you find what you need, and then limited options for what to do with your search results. You can’t bookmark suppliers, search more than one scope at a time, or export your results into an editable format, which can ultimately cost our community more time.
Finding the right information should be easier. As part of our wider project to make our systems more user friendly, which began with the new GMP+ Platform earlier this year, we wanted to change the experience of using the GMP+ Company database.
With Joris as project leader, and Dalia and our colleague Chao Zou as product owners, we worked in collaboration with our UX agency, software building agency, and our community to improve the experience. We sat down with users from the GMP+ Community to understand how they use the database day-to-day. This meant that we could not only validate our own wish list of improvements, but by involving users in the process we could be confident that we would be addressing real pain points. Thanks to our partnership with the GMP+ Community, using the database will soon be a very different experience…
Stress-free searching
From early next year, we will be introducing a range of new features and updates that our community have been asking for, some of which will be especially for users who log in to the GMP+ Platform.
Mark your favourites
No more having to deep-dive every time; just bookmark your favourites. Maybe it’s a supplier you review often, or Certification Body you work with; just like you can bookmark risk assessments, feed materials, processing aids, or hazards. Instead of searching for it every time, just log into the GMP+ Platform, favourite it, and it will sit on your dashboard.
Future updates will include the function to set up notifications for your favourites, so if something changes in the status of a company or risk assessment, it will be flagged on the dashboard or by email. Watch this space.
Multi-select companies and scopes
Conducting a supplier assessment? Exploring the market? No more starting from scratch each time you want to look at a new scope. Instead, you can select multiple different companies and scopes to more easily see the overlap, and even export the results.
Introducing the general search field
The current database has lots of individual search fields, but no way to search for a general term. In the new database, all your familiar fields will still be there plus a combined search field for when you don’t know which field to use. At first it will be able to return company names, GMP+ registration numbers, and city results – and we will look at incorporating further search fields in future.
Export your results
Do you need to pull off a list of all your suppliers and their certification status? You will still be able to print individual records directly from the database, but also export individual records or full search results to an excel file or similar if you want to process them further yourself.
Everything is faster
No more endless scrolling. With everything in one place, there's no need to pre-select different databases. Detailed information about companies will be more compact so it can be seen at a glance. Plus, behind the scenes we have optimised the data structure for quicker access.
More user friendly
Redundant information will be removed, such as records of our earlier 2010 scheme and all those empty data fields on a company’s entry for scopes that are not relevant for them. And, the database will retain the familiar look and feel, meaning regular users who are used to where filters and fields are found won’t need to re-learn the layout.
Faster and intuitive
The GMP+ Company database is already *the place* for certified companies, and with these changes, we will offer a faster and more intuitive service to our users. They will be able to find relevant information more quickly and easily, use their results more flexibly, and ultimately spend less time on GMP+ related administration. With thousands of daily users, and a growing community of certified companies, even small improvements in efficiency will have considerable impact.
And updates to the GMP+ Company database are not the only changes in the pipeline. Further improvements are planned to the GMP+ Helpdesk and Early Warning System environments, and our Risk Assessment and Exemption procedures.
There’s lots to look forward to. Subscribe to the GMP+ News to stay tuned for the database launch date, tips to help you prepare, and much more to come.