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Assessment Workflow

This guide walks through the process of assessing a contractor/supplier evaluation from start to finish.

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Starting an Assessment

Evaluations are assigned to assessors manually (or via bulk assignment from the Evaluations list). Once assigned, open the evaluation to begin reviewing.

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Assessment Process

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Section-by-section review

The assessment page is a single-page view with sections, sidebar navigation, and a score summary. Work through each section in turn:

1. Review contractor/supplier responses
2. Check uploaded documents
3. Score and comment on each question
4. Mark each question as assessed

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Previous response history

Administrators and assessors can view the contractor/supplier’s previous responses from earlier submissions. This is useful for understanding how a response has changed between submissions or after a Needs Work cycle. To view previous responses:

1. Open a question during assessment
2. Click Previous responses on the question (the button shows a count when history is available, e.g. “Previous responses (5)”)
3. A panel displays all previous captured snapshots for that question, sorted newest first

Each history entry includes:

• The response text at the time of capture
• Any attachments that were uploaded
• Scores and assessment actions taken
• Internal and external comments
• The reason the snapshot was captured (e.g. submitted, needs work, approved)

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Question assessment

For each question, you can:

• Score — Select Pass or Fail (for pass/fail questions) or enter a numeric score between 0 and the maximum score (for numeric questions), depending on the scoring type configured on the question. An N/A option is also available for both pass/fail and numeric questions when enabled on the question.
• Internal comment — Add assessor-only notes not visible to the contractor/supplier
• Assessor comment — Add feedback that is visible to the contractor/supplier
• Actions — Create action items for the contractor/supplier to address
• Mark as assessed — Tick the checkbox to mark the question as reviewed. This cannot be ticked until a score is set first.

Progress through the evaluation is tracked per question using the “Mark as assessed” checkboxes.

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Document verification

For uploaded documents:

1. Click to view or download the document
2. Verify the document is the correct type
3. Check dates and details
4. Verify it matches question requirements

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AI-assisted assessment

RapidCert can generate AI-powered assessment guidance for individual questions using AI analysis. The AI analyses the contractor/supplier’s response text and all attached documents (including DOCX and XLSX files, which are converted automatically) against NZ health and safety legislation and best practices.

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Requesting AI Assist

1. Open a question during assessment
2. Click AI Assist on the question — this opens a form where you can optionally enter custom instructions
3. Click Generate AI Assist to start the analysis
4. The status changes to “Pending” while the AI processes the response
5. When complete, click the View AI Assist button to open the AI assessment in a modal

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What AI Assist includes

The AI generates a structured markdown assessment with these sections:

• Summary — 2–3 sentence overall finding
• Evidence review — what was provided, quality assessment, notable gaps
• Compliance assessment — evaluation against NZ H&S requirements (HSWA 2015, regulations, standards)
• Concerns/gaps — specific items for the assessor to investigate
• Strengths — positive practices identified
• Suggested score guidance — pass/fail recommendation or numeric score suggestion
• Action status review — evaluation of any existing actions (if applicable)
• Evidence citations — references to specific documents and page numbers

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Custom instructions

You can provide custom instructions to focus the AI on specific areas of concern:

1. Click AI Assist on the question
2. Enter your instructions in the text field (e.g. “Focus on whether their confined space procedures meet HSWA requirements”)
3. The AI prioritises your instructions in its analysis

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Regenerating AI Assist

If you want a fresh assessment (e.g. after the contractor/supplier has updated their response):

1. Click Regenerate AI Assist on an existing AI assessment
2. Optionally provide new custom instructions
3. Optionally tick Include previous AI response for context if you want the AI to build on its earlier assessment
4. The AI generates a new assessment

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Text improvement

When writing comments, actions, or feedback, you can use the Improve text feature to refine your writing:

1. Type your text in any comment or action field
2. Click Improve Text
3. The AI improves grammar, clarity, and tone while maintaining NZ English spelling and HSE professional language
4. Review the suggestion and accept or discard

Text improvement works for internal comments, external comments, actions, questions, conclusions, rejection reasons, descriptions, and guidance text.

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Assessment tools

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Sidebar

The sidebar contains:

• Company info
• Scoring accordion
• Custom fields
• Question filter controls
• Sections list

Navigate between sections using the sidebar links.

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Internal notes

Internal notes are the Internal Comment field on each question. There is no separate notes icon or feature — use the Internal Comment field directly on the question to add assessor-only notes not visible to the contractor/supplier.

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Making Decisions

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Overall decision

After reviewing all sections and marking questions as assessed:

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Decision Options

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Approve

When approving:

• All required questions must be assessed
• All required insurance policies must be verified or approved — policies that are still pending verification will block approval
• Certification record is created
• Contractor/supplier is notified
• Status changes to Approved

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Require Actions (Needs Work)

If the contractor/supplier needs to address issues before the evaluation can progress:

1. Set action items on the relevant questions during assessment
2. Select Require Actions as your decision
3. Review the modal — it shows a warning, an info alert, a pending actions table, and a confirmation checkbox
4. Confirm

Status changes to Needs Work. The contractor/supplier receives a notification, addresses the action items, and resubmits. The evaluation then moves to Pending Reassessment for re-review.

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Send Back to Draft

If you need the contractor/supplier to redo the entire evaluation from scratch:

1. Click Send Back to Draft
2. Review the modal — it shows a “No Automatic Email” warning and a confirmation prompt
3. Confirm the action

Status changes to Draft. You must contact the contractor/supplier directly to explain why the evaluation is being sent back.

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Score review assessments

When you are assigned a score review, you are performing an independent reassessment of an evaluation that has already been assessed by a different assessor. The assessment process is the same as a standard assessment, with a few key differences.

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What to expect

• The evaluation has already been scored by another assessor — you will see the contractor/supplier’s original responses and uploaded documents, but you should form your own independent judgement
• The contractor/supplier has paid a non-refundable fee to request this review
• Your score replaces the original, whether it is higher, lower, or unchanged

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Conducting a score review

1. Open the evaluation from the Evaluations list (it will be in Review Request status)
2. Work through each section as you would for a standard assessment — review responses, check documents, and score each question
3. Use the sidebar score summary to track your progress
4. Make your final decision: Approve Evaluation or Require Actions

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Quality Assurance

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Consistency

Ensure consistent assessment by:

• Referring to assessment guidelines
• Using standard criteria
• Documenting reasoning in notes and assessor comments

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Score review on request

RapidCert does not have a built-in second review system. Evaluations are only reassessed if a contractor/supplier formally requests a score review. See Handling score review requests for details.

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After Assessment

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Approved evaluations

• Certification record is created
• Certificate PDFs must be generated manually (by an admin, assessor, contractor/supplier, or viewer)
• Report PDFs must be generated manually by an admin or assessor
• Contractor/supplier receives notification
• Evaluation moves to the Finalised tab
• Insurance dates are tracked

During a standard assigned assessment, assessors and administrators can complete custom fields and the conclusion as part of the normal review flow. After approval, only administrators can use the finalised-evaluation edit controls to update custom fields or the conclusion without reopening the evaluation. See Managing Evaluations for details.

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Troubleshooting

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Next Steps