InfoTown™
Bev's journey · Procurement · Lesson 5

Closing out a supplier

Before you start

In the story

Last payment made, final information never received, and the door left open.

Back to the story

The right way

The checklist

Bev's close-out checklist: final information checked and authorised by us (and accepted by the client, where it's part of our delivery), warranty logged, access removed. Then the last payment.

Information in, access out

Sam checks the information is in and accepted. Access goes the day they leave.

Month fourteen

The warranty is found in a minute. Nobody from the fencing firm is still logged in.

Closed the invoiceNo as-builts, no warranty, and three logins still live.
Closed the supplierInformation in, warranty logged, access gone, then paid.
Think like Bev

Don't close a supplier until their information is in. Has their final information been accepted, their warranties logged and their access removed? Hold the last payment until it has.

That's Bev's journey

Follow someone else

Every district has its own stories. See who else is in town, or start again with Rex.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

When a builder moves out of town, they hand back their keys and leave their paperwork at the town hall before they get their deposit back.

If you're the subcontractor

If you're the subcontractor

Your final information is part of the job. Send it before your last invoice, and expect your access to go when you leave.

In the town See it in the town: last invoice paid, nothing received, door wide open. What was missing?

Bev's view: the archive's back room. Each firm's paperwork on the shelf, and its keys back on the hook.

The back room of the Records Office: shelves of project boxes with keep-until dates, a board of returned keys, and a lessons log with owners.THE RECORDS OFFICE'S BACK ROOMTHE GLASSHOUSE · AS-BUILTkeep until: the client has it for lifeINSPECTION RECORDSkeep until: as long as the contract saysDEFECTS AND CLAIMSkeep until: no claim can still arriveWORKING FILESclosed: not keptKEYS RETURNEDleavers and firms: access removedLESSONS LOG1 · Name the master CDE in week one2 · Review a week before, not the night3 · Check the team on day oneowner and date on each123
  1. 1 What has to be kept, kept for as long as it might be needed, with a keep-until date on every shelf. Working files are closed, not kept "just in case".
  2. 2 Every key handed back: nobody who has left the job can still get in.
  3. 3 The lessons, each with an owner, carried into the next bid rather than left in a folder.

This is closing out, one firm at a time!

Final information authorised, warranties logged and access removed, before the last payment.

Sam's Heads Up Money is a good reminder

InfoTown good practice: Each firm's information is complete before it's closed out.

On your job: If your contract holds money back until the end, tie part of it to the final information. It works remarkably well.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Show me how this supplier was closed out.
  • Who still has access, and why?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • A signed close-out checklist for each supplier.
  • Records of access being removed.
From the standard
ISO 19650 Closing each firm out

ISO 19650 expects each firm's information to be delivered and accepted. ISO 19650-5 expects access to sensitive information to be managed, and removed when it's no longer needed.

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.