Every process step is literally send and call. The artefact of record is an email thread; the control is a diary entry.
For consultants, companies and SANAS-accredited agencies
A verification file that is a system of record, not an email thread.
Every step, every document and every number traceable back to the gazette paragraph that mandates it. Your agency runs the full verification lifecycle in it: evidence, scoring, sign-off, certificate.
New The B-BBEE Planner: earn the points during the year, not after it
Recognition levels
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The current landscape
The artefact of record is an inbox.
Most agencies run verification on four tools that were never built for it. Each one works. Together they leave no defensible trail.
What it costs
SLA slippage nobody sees until it is late. Files that reach certification with empty elements. An audit trail that exists only in somebody's inbox.
01
Outlook and a phone
02
Excel, versioned by filename
Gathering-claim sheets and sampling lists live in spreadsheets whose authority is whichever copy was attached last.
03
A scoring tool that cannot show its work
An external tool produces a number nobody can trace to a gazette paragraph — a black box at exactly the moment a technical signatory has to put their name to it.
04
A document portal bolted on
Generic portals move files. They know nothing about elements, evidence sufficiency, or the five-role approval chain.
75%
Less time requesting and filing evidence, capturing figures, checking supplier certificates.
9 in 10
Of files reach sign-off with every element evidenced on first pass.
100%
Coefficients on a scorecard that carry a gazette citation.
I
Defensible numbers
A technical signatory signs a number they can defend line by line.
01 · Traceable scoring
Every coefficient cites its gazette, series and paragraph.
Rules are versioned by effective date, and no file can be certified against a rule that has not been signed off. Open any point on the scorecard and read the authority beneath it.
02 · Gazette authoring
When the codes are amended, your signatory authors the change.
New rules are written in-product and signed off by a technical signatory. No developer, no spreadsheet transcription, no database access.
II
The file, end to end
Four verification types, five elements, one structure.
03 · Four workflows
Configuration, not four processes held together by memory.
Full Verification / Re-Evaluation, ARL, Non-Compliant and Joint Venture each carry their own steps, owners, durations and gates.
04 · Portal-first evidence
Tokenised client links, per-element workspaces.
Structured evidence items and verifier tasks, accept or reject with analyst notes, and a needs-revision resubmit loop the measured entity can follow.
05 · Sufficiency gates
A file cannot leave evidence collection with an empty element.
The gate belongs to the platform, not to the analyst's memory.
06 · Five elements
Elements are first-class objects, priority elements included.
Ownership, Management Control, Skills Development, Enterprise & Supplier Development and Socio-Economic Development, each with its own evidence, tasks and score.
III
Nothing lost between steps
Send and call becomes a record instead of a habit.
07 · SLA clocks
Phase health you can see before it is a problem.
Target dates per phase, and a status of on track, at risk or overdue on every job in the book.
08 · Every touchpoint
Emails, calls and meetings logged against the step they belong to.
With outcome and who logged it, so a handover does not depend on one person's recollection.
09 · Certificate & public check
Preliminary report, client response, certificate, public page.
Issue the preliminary report, record accept, object or resolve, then issue a certificate with number and expiry — and a page a procurement officer can check in seconds.
IV
Figures from the documents
Confirmed, not typed. Calculated, not imported from another tool.
10 · The statements, read
Upload the AFS. Confirm what was found.
NPAT, turnover, the prior year from the comparative column, and the principal activity from the directors' report, each with the page it came from. The client confirms the figures instead of keying them in.
11 · Every calculation in-house
Ratios, weightings, net value, sub-minimums and discounting.
Each one is worked out inside the file, including indicative NPAT against the Stats SA industry norm. No second scoring tool and no exported spreadsheet that has to agree with the certificate.
12 · One place for every file
Sixty files on a job, and where each one has been.
Evidence, quote, invoice, claim sheet, onsite notes and preliminary report in one searchable list, each tied to its request, its reviewer and its version. Uploads are checked for malware before anyone can open them.
13 · Who was told, and when
Every act on a job is an event. Hand-offs notify.
A signed-off costing tells the person who issues the quote. A send-back from the technical signatory reaches the analyst with the reason. The history answers "was the client told?" without an inbox search.
New The B-BBEE Planner
Earn the points during the year, not in the month after it.
Most of the scorecard is earned across the financial year: skills spend, procurement, and SD, ED and SED contributions. Nothing paid after year-end counts. Yet most entities look at their score only when verification starts, when the only levers left are paperwork. The Planner is where a measured entity and its consultant run the year.
What cramming costs
Grants paid in the final month. A skills sub-minimum missed by a few thousand rand, costing a whole level. Supplier certificates nobody chased. Attendance registers that were never signed.
- 01Set a target
Start from the last certificate or affidavit. Choose a level and a budget, and see the gap per indicator.
- 02Forecast all year
"If the year ended today" beside "if the plan lands", re-run whenever a figure or an initiative changes.
- 03Take the wins
Level uplifts first, then free points, then the cheapest rand per point.
- 04Find partners
Suppliers, beneficiaries and training providers, every B-BBEE status with its source.
- 05Keep evidence as it happens
Each record filed against the document-list item it will become at verification.
- 06Hand over
After year-end, the evidence becomes the verification job's claim. Nothing re-keyed.
Same engine as the certificate
The forecast and the certificate cannot disagree.
The forecast runs the scoring engine itself on the registers the plan builds: the same caps, sub-minimums and discounting the verification will apply. There is one set of rules.
Points calculated, not typed
Each win is priced by re-running the forecast.
So the ranking moves with the plan. Once skills clears its sub-minimum, a skills win is worth less than it was. Every win shows its reasoning, the latest date it still counts, the evidence to keep and the rule the analyst will test.
Not known is not zero
No gaps priced that may not exist.
An affidavit doesn't state every indicator. A blank stays unknown, and Find out first lists what to ask for, grouped by the document that settles it, with the points behind each.
The targets the agency will measure
Indicative NPAT and affidavit levels, applied up front.
When the margin is below a quarter of the industry norm, SD, ED and SED targets are set on indicative NPAT, as the verification will set them. EMEs and black-owned QSEs see the level their affidavit already gives.
The plan team
The FD, HR and procurement, each with their own access.
Invite people to one plan by email, whether or not they have an account. The owner decides who edits, who uploads, who only reads, and who sees the budget.
The handover
The application filled in. The claim already drafted.
Entity details, year, turnover and code fill the application, so a quote can be issued at once. The claimed registers arrive drafted, documents are filed, and anything missing becomes an open evidence request.
Impartiality, by design
The agency sees the handover. Nothing else.
SANAS R47 requires a verification agency to be impartial: it may not advise an entity it verifies on how to raise its score. So the plan belongs to the measured entity and its consultant. Agency staff cannot be added to a plan, and cannot see forecasts, wins, budgets or check-in notes.
- Crosses into the job
- Evidence, filed against the document list · the claimed registers · outstanding items as open requests
- Stays with the client
- The forecast · potential wins · budget · initiative names · partner introductions · check-in notes
Comparison
What changes, job by job.
From the agency's side of the desk. Where email and Excel already work, we say so.
| Job to be done | Email, Excel & diary | Generic document portal | Verista |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evidence collection | Attachments in a thread; whoever replies last is the version. | Files land in folders. Upload works well. | Tokenised portal, evidence items per element, accept / reject / needs revision. |
| Element-level structure | Lives in the analyst's spreadsheet layout. | Folder names only. No concept of an element. | Five elements as objects, priority elements flagged. |
| Who's waiting on whom | Ask the analyst. Often accurate. | Upload status, not task ownership. | Verifier tasks and portal requests with an owner and a due date. |
| SLA visibility | A diary entry. Visible to one person. | None. | Phase target dates with on track / at risk / overdue across the book. |
| Scoring auditability | Formulas are visible — if you trust the sheet's lineage. | Not in scope. | Every coefficient cites gazette, series and paragraph, versioned by effective date. |
| Technical-signatory sign-off | A signature on a printed pack. | Generic approvals, no verification context. | Five-role chain; sign-off blocked until rules and evidence gates pass. |
| Four verification types | Held in experienced staff's heads. Flexible, and fragile. | One folder template for everything. | Full Verification / Re-Evaluation, ARL, Non-Compliant and Joint Venture as configuration. |
| Certificate issue & public verification | Word template, emailed PDF. Fast, once set up. | Stores the PDF. No verification page. | Certificate with number and expiry, plus a public page for procurement officers. |
| Financial figures | Typed in from the AFS, then checked by eye. | Stores the AFS. Reads nothing in it. | Read from the statements with the page each figure is on; the client confirms. |
| Earning points through the year | A spreadsheet the consultant rebuilds at year-end. | Not in scope. | The Planner: a forecast on the scoring engine, wins by rand per point, evidence kept as it happens. |
| When the codes change | Rebuild the sheet, re-check every formula. | Unaffected — it does not score. | Your signatory authors and signs off the new rule set in-product. |
Evidence collection
- Email, Excel & diary
- Attachments in a thread; whoever replies last is the version.
- Generic document portal
- Files land in folders. Upload works well.
- Verista
- Tokenised portal, evidence items per element, accept / reject / needs revision.
Element-level structure
- Email, Excel & diary
- Lives in the analyst's spreadsheet layout.
- Generic document portal
- Folder names only. No concept of an element.
- Verista
- Five elements as objects, priority elements flagged.
Who's waiting on whom
- Email, Excel & diary
- Ask the analyst. Often accurate.
- Generic document portal
- Upload status, not task ownership.
- Verista
- Verifier tasks and portal requests with an owner and a due date.
SLA visibility
- Email, Excel & diary
- A diary entry. Visible to one person.
- Generic document portal
- None.
- Verista
- Phase target dates with on track / at risk / overdue across the book.
Scoring auditability
- Email, Excel & diary
- Formulas are visible — if you trust the sheet's lineage.
- Generic document portal
- Not in scope.
- Verista
- Every coefficient cites gazette, series and paragraph, versioned by effective date.
Technical-signatory sign-off
- Email, Excel & diary
- A signature on a printed pack.
- Generic document portal
- Generic approvals, no verification context.
- Verista
- Five-role chain; sign-off blocked until rules and evidence gates pass.
Four verification types
- Email, Excel & diary
- Held in experienced staff's heads. Flexible, and fragile.
- Generic document portal
- One folder template for everything.
- Verista
- Full Verification / Re-Evaluation, ARL, Non-Compliant and Joint Venture as configuration.
Certificate issue & public verification
- Email, Excel & diary
- Word template, emailed PDF. Fast, once set up.
- Generic document portal
- Stores the PDF. No verification page.
- Verista
- Certificate with number and expiry, plus a public page for procurement officers.
Financial figures
- Email, Excel & diary
- Typed in from the AFS, then checked by eye.
- Generic document portal
- Stores the AFS. Reads nothing in it.
- Verista
- Read from the statements with the page each figure is on; the client confirms.
Earning points through the year
- Email, Excel & diary
- A spreadsheet the consultant rebuilds at year-end.
- Generic document portal
- Not in scope.
- Verista
- The Planner: a forecast on the scoring engine, wins by rand per point, evidence kept as it happens.
When the codes change
- Email, Excel & diary
- Rebuild the sheet, re-check every formula.
- Generic document portal
- Unaffected — it does not score.
- Verista
- Your signatory authors and signs off the new rule set in-product.
Comparison describes categories of tooling, not specific products. Verista is software built for SANAS-accredited agencies; accreditation belongs to the agency.
Traceability & compliance
From the recognition level back to the gazette paragraph.
Every number on a certificate resolves downward: level to scorecard, scorecard to element, element to evidence item, evidence item to the rule and the paragraph that mandates it — and the rule set that was in force on the measurement date.
- Rule sets are versioned by effective date and cannot be used to certify until signed off.
- Every accept, reject and sign-off carries a user, a timestamp and a reason.
- Aligned to the Codes of Good Practice; built for SANAS-accredited agencies.
The approval chain
Five roles, each with its own view.
01
Administrator
Opens jobs, configures workflows and rule sets, manages agency users and client portals.
02
Verification analyst
Works the file: evidence review, accept or reject, sampling, onsite visit, scorecard capture.
03
Technical signatory
Signs off rule sets and certificates, with the full citation trail behind every number.
04
B-BBEE champion
On the measured entity's side: runs the year in the Planner, uploads evidence, answers queries, tracks outstanding items.
05
Consultant
Runs a portfolio of client plans through the year, refers work in, and follows referred files without seeing the agency's book.
[CUSTOMER QUOTE]
Security & hosting
Stored in South Africa.
Plans and verification files carry payroll, ownership and financial records. They are kept in South Africa, encrypted, scanned on upload and backed up every night.
Stored in South Africa
Files, the database and its backups are kept in AWS's Cape Town region, encrypted at rest and in transit. Every upload is scanned for malware before it reaches a file.
POPIA-aligned handling
Lawful-basis records, retention rules per job, and deletion on request.
Role-based access
Five roles, per-job assignment, and tokenised client links scoped to one file.
Immutable audit log
Every state change recorded with actor, timestamp and reason. Exportable per file.
Pricing
Pay per client-year. Ask us about a pilot plan.
A consultant pays for each plan, an agency for each verification, at one price for the size of the client. No subscription, no seats and no volume tiers: champions, the FD, HR and procurement join at no cost.
Plan a year
Consultancies, and companies running their own B-BBEE year
Pilot plans by arrangementtry it on a real client, every feature
| Client size | Per plan |
|---|---|
| EME | R1 250 |
| QSE | R3 500 |
| Generic | R7 500 |
- The Planner, forecast and wins on the scoring engine
- Evidence collection with champions and a plan team
- Partner directory and introductions
- Handover to the agency of the client's choice
Verify a file
SANAS-accredited verification agencies
First verification freeapplication to certificate, on the full workflow
| Client size | Per verification |
|---|---|
| EME | R450 |
| QSE | R950 |
| Generic | R1 950 |
- Four verification workflows, evidence portal and sufficiency gates
- Scoring with a gazette citation behind every coefficient
- Second review, technical-signatory sign-off and certificate issue
- Receiving evidence packs is always free
A plan is a plan
One price per client size, whether it is your first plan or your two-hundredth. Nothing to count, nothing to forecast.
Paid as you start
A plan or a verification is paid by card as you create it, with a VAT invoice for each.
No subscription to cancel
Nothing is charged in a month you open nothing. Closed plans and certified files stay readable and exportable.
Plans and jobs never mix
A plan handed to an agency never makes that verification cheaper, and agencies earn nothing from the plans they receive. Each side pays for its own work.
Prices exclude VAT. A plan covers one client for one financial year; closed plans stay readable and exportable. Suppliers and beneficiaries in the partner directory are always free. Pilot plans and design-partner client-years are arranged with us directly.
Questions
Before you move a single file.
What happens to files already in flight?
Open jobs are brought in at whichever phase they are in, with the evidence already gathered attached to the right elements. You do not have to finish the current cycle on the old process.
How long does migration take?
Configuration of your workflows, rule sets and roles is the work; document history is loaded per client as their next cycle opens. Most agencies run one verification type in parallel first.
Who owns the data?
Your agency does. Evidence, scorecards, certificates and the audit log are yours, exportable per file at any time, and remain exportable for the notice period if you leave.
Can a verification agency see a client's plan?
No. The Planner belongs to the measured entity and its consultant, and agency staff cannot be added to a plan. After year-end the client chooses the agency, and only the evidence and the claim cross into the verification job: never the forecast, the wins or the budget.
Which sector codes are covered?
The Amended Codes of Good Practice, plus Construction, AgriBEE, Financial (QSFI), Tourism, Legal, ICT and Transport (Maritime) scorecards. Each is transcribed from its gazette and signed off by your technical signatory before it can be used to certify.
How is it priced?
Pay as you go, per client-year: a consultant pays per plan and an agency per verification, and an agency's first verification is free. Pilot plans are arranged with us case by case. A plan costs R1 250 for an EME, R3 500 for a QSE and R7 500 for a Generic; a verification R450, R950 and R1 950. There are no seats, no subscription and no volume tiers, and receiving evidence packs is free. See pricing.
Does using Verista affect our accreditation?
Accreditation belongs to your agency, not to software. Verista is built for SANAS-accredited agencies and aligned to the Codes of Good Practice; it holds no accreditation, approval or endorsement of its own.
What happens when the codes are amended?
Your technical signatory authors the new rule set in-product and signs it off with an effective date. Files already certified keep the rule set they were measured against.
See a file run end to end on your own workflow.
Forty-five minutes with your technical signatory and one analyst. Bring a real job.
Book a demo
No obligation, no data required.