At the same time, we will retire the current version of the Online Claims Platform (OCP) software (ocp.fsc.org). Users will be supported until the end of May 2019.
FSC offers a new tool called Falcon for verifying data formatting of transaction verification data. The tool is developed based on user experience with FSC Transaction Verification over the last two years and is meant to lower the administrative burden of Transaction verification for certificate holders and certification bodies. The beta version Falcon is expected to be available by End of February 2019.
At the same time FSC also announce, that the FSC Online Claims Platform (OCP) will be retired. We will continue to support all active users until end of May 2019 and will actively help users transition to the Falcon tool, and by request facilitate users’ access to archive their information on the platform on the retired version of the OCP platform.
Michael Marus, Global CIO and Director of IT at FSC International, comments on the simultaneous launch of Falcon and retirement of the current version of the OCP software:
“We are deeply committed to the vision of a stronger FSC system supported by technology solutions, which lead us to develop the OCP. But we also realize that OCP is not in sync with the current needs of our certificate holders or the roadmap to modern digital technology services.
Many of certificate holders, large and small, are looking into systems inspired by blockchain to help them validate their claims across commodity groups, while others are looking for tools which will aid them in setting up and maintaining their CoC certificate in a simple way from start to finish.
At FSC, we know that digital solutions and tools will strengthen FSC and directly support our stakeholders needs.”
He continues: “Falcon is the first small and simple step on the road toward tools, which are based on the needs of our users. It aims to lower the administrative burden of transaction verification by addressing the biggest problem in the data collection process: that the excel sheets submitted by certificate holders often contain formatting errors made by an accident.
These errors cause the excel sheets to go back and forth between the certificate holder, the auditor and ASI. Falcon removes this problem.”
To alleviate this administrative burden caused by formatting errors for all parties, FSC is offering the Falcon tool to assist those who need help in checking the format and uniformity of the data they submit, thereby avoiding subsequent back-and-forth submissions resulting from errors.
Falcon is a simple Excel formatting tool that is locally hosted so does not involve the upload of data into the cloud or outside the company firewalls. Falcon empowers FSC certificate holders to prepare for transaction verification by allowing certificate holders to easily check their transaction verification Excel sheets prior to sending them to their auditor.
More advanced tools planned in 2019
In 2019, FSC aims to pilot a blockchain solution with the goal of both dramatically lowering costs and strengthening the integrity of FSC claims, and we believe that emerging technologies like blockchain can be employed in ways that extend the reach of certification to small and medium-size companies.
If you are interested in learning more about this, we encourage you to follow our group on LinkedIn called FSC Digital Innovations.
Read more about Falcon here.
Read more about the retirement here.