Keeping representatives' qualification evidence on file
How a brokerage files each representative's qualifications and training evidence in Document Centre and shares it with an inspector by link.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Insurance businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
The request usually arrives with a short deadline. An inspector, an insurer's compliance team or your own compliance officer wants proof that a named representative holds the qualifications their role requires and has kept up the training that goes with it. The certificates exist somewhere: a scan in the representative's e-mail, a paper copy in the office manager's drawer, a training provider's portal nobody remembers the password for.
A brokerage that can produce the evidence in an hour looks organised, because it is. This article shows how to set up Achekam's Document Centre so each representative's qualification and training evidence is in one place, kept up to date and easy to share, for brokerages in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
One folder per representative
Document Centre is a folder-based store where a business uploads files or whole folders, previews, downloads, renames, moves, tags, archives and searches them. Start with a structure everyone can follow without asking:
- Representatives
- [Surname, first name]
- Identity and appointment
- Qualifications
- Regulatory examinations
- Continuous professional development
- Product training
Create the folder on the day a representative joins, before any certificate arrives, and make filing into it part of onboarding. When someone leaves, archive their folder rather than deleting it; you may be asked about their work years later.
Uploads go in batches of up to 25 files, at up to 100 MB per file by default, so a representative's whole history can usually be uploaded in one sitting. Name files plainly, for example "Surname - qualification - institution", so a search finds them.
Tags for qualification, training and year
Folders answer "whose is this?". Tags answer "what is this and when?". Agree a short, fixed list and use nothing else:
| Tag | Use it for |
|---|---|
| qualification | Degrees, diplomas and recognised certificates |
| exam | Regulatory examination results |
| cpd | Continuous professional development evidence |
| product | Insurer product training |
| the year, such as 2026 | The cycle the evidence belongs to |
With tags in place, a search for one year's training evidence across every representative takes moments, which is exactly what an annual compliance review needs. The value lies in consistency: one person spelling it "CPD" and another "training" defeats the purpose, so put the tag list in your procedures.
New versions when a certificate is renewed
Some evidence changes over time: a renewed certificate, an updated training record, a corrected transcript. Upload the new document as a new version of the existing file rather than as a separate file. In Document Centre, a new version keeps the earlier ones, so the history of a representative's record stays intact while the current version is the one people see.
That history matters. An inspector may ask what a representative held on the date they gave a particular piece of advice, not what they hold today.
Every stored file also gets a SHA-256 fingerprint, a short code calculated from the file's exact contents. If anyone questions whether a certificate has been altered since it was filed, the fingerprint is the answer; document fingerprints explains how they work. Executable files are refused by default and every upload passes a malware check, which matters when certificates arrive as e-mail attachments from many sources.
Sharing evidence with an inspector by link
When the request comes, do not attach a dozen certificates to an e-mail. Share them.
A document can be shared by e-mailing a personal link with an expiry, an optional one-time code, and download allowed or not, and the share can be revoked. Every view and download is recorded, and the recipient needs no Achekam account. In practice:
- Gather the requested files for the representative, or for the sample the inspector chose.
- Send each share to the named person who asked, not to a general mailbox.
- Set an expiry that matches the review period.
- Allow viewing only, unless the inspector needs copies.
- Revoke the shares once the review is closed.
The record of views and downloads is useful afterwards: you know exactly what was seen and when. The same approach works for claim documents, covered in sending claim documents by secure link.
What the document menu entries really open
One thing can confuse new staff. The menu entries Client Folders, Engagement Files, Shared Documents, Evidence Vault and Document Templates all open the same document store, with no filter. A representative's qualifications filed "in the Evidence Vault" and "in Client Folders" are in the same place.
That is another reason the folder structure matters: the menu will not separate representatives' files from clients' policy documents for you. Keep the Representatives folder at the top level, away from client folders, and remember that identity documents and examination results are personal information. Store only what you need for the fit-and-proper record, and keep what you share to what was asked for.
Keeping it current through the year
Representatives' obligations do not stop between inspections. A short routine keeps the files ready:
- each quarter, ask representatives for any new training certificates and file them with the right tags;
- once a year, check each representative's folder against what their role requires, and list any gaps;
- when a representative changes role or takes on a new product, check what new evidence is needed.
In South Africa, the Financial Intermediaries Association is the association for licensed financial and insurance intermediaries and covers CPD and compliance support for brokers, a useful starting point if you are unsure what to keep. Nigerian and Kenyan brokerages should take their requirements from their insurance regulator.
This week
Create the Representatives folder, agree the tag list, and file the evidence for one representative end to end. Once one folder is right, the rest follow the same pattern.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
