This website uses cookies to improve your experience on our website.

FAQ

This is a hard question to answer, since each project is shaped around its scope, complexity and impact of external factors. From experience we can honestly say IC-trace is affordable, for small as well as large businesses.

User and maintenance costs remain limited since there are no licensing fees for among others server software and database systems. Thanks to the modular character, you as a client only pay for the parts you actually use.

We leave it up to you how you want to pay. You can choose for full payment after installation, for a monthly fee with lease contract or a mix of one partial payment and monthly instalments.

Ask your local contact for different quotation options.

You will have one contact person who will be responsible for delivery of the project, e.g. hardware and IC-trace software. Behind the scenes, you will get the full support of the IC-trace development team.

After a first and temporary release, all SPOCs (Single Point Of Contact) will receive personal training, entailing the full way of working and implemented procedures. You will also receive a quick start guide as a support tool. This training can take place on-site or at our premises.

We will decide, in close collaboration with you, in which stages the project will be delivered and how the implementation and training sessions will be planned.

We want to be at our clients’ service at all times, during implementation as well as long afterwards. Do you have specific questions, user issues or would you like to see a report changed? Our service desk is here for you, via mail or by logging a ticket via your personal portal.

We will always strive to follow up quickly, however, in order to offer all clients as good a service as possible, we deal with incidents and requests in accordance with the urgency level and impact.

Our portal also offers you plenty of handy information via our automated knowledge base and a user guide.

Once the system is up and running, you will receive first line support from our advisor in your native language. Depending on the kind of support you need, our support agent will contact you or connect with your TeamViewer. Almost all support and most of the system updates will take place online, via the internet. We have agents or partners to support you in all countries in which we operate.

Of course! You can find our contact details on the contact page.

In theory all kinds of equipment (scales, scanners, printers, ...) that can be connected to a computer are compatible. However, this does depend on the age of the tool, the type of interface and the possibility for support and technical documentation. In some instances, it might not make sense to develop an operating system to connect or integrate an old piece of machinery. The analysis phase will look into these specifics for each apparatus. Sometimes it is advisable to replace certain equipment in the short and long term.

Situation 1: Most of the time, yes. When existing software has features that are supported by IC-trace, this can be great since this enables a far less complex and stressful integration and implementation. Once IC-trace is fully up and running, the functionalities of the existing software will no longer be used.

Situation 2: In case your current software is a bookkeeping program, IC-trace can definitely be a good option, since our software does not contain any bookkeeping functionality. In most instances modern software can be integrated; in this case, we just need to go through the documentation to make this happen.

In case you are interested in our IC-trace software solution, please fill out the contact form.

We then forward your request to the nearest partner and get in touch with you to schedule an intake meeting at your business’ premises. After this meeting, the project will take shape.

IC-trace is not meant as a stand-alone solution. Investing in IC-trace has to lead to your organisation becoming more cost-efficient. We succeed in attaining this result by implementing an integrated solution.

Some examples:

  1. When you have two label stations that are not connected to a central system, you will have to make adjustments in both stations for prices, bar codes and other client and article related data – which will lead to mistakes, unhappy customers, frustration…
  2. When you have to be compliant with traceability regulations, you will need to fill out a lot of red tape, even when you use programs that help and support you with recipe management. With IC-trace, you only need to follow the on-screen procedures and use your recipes; traceability compliance will run automatically.

As a specialised food business, you know how important it is to prevent the consumer from becoming exposed to harmful foodstuffs. In order to be compliant with these regulations, your company will need to be able to quickly demonstrate the origin of your products, how, by whom and when they have been processed and what destination they were allocated. IC-trace enables you to provide this information automatically once linked to your operations procedures.

Traceability is the foundation of the local and European legislation regarding food safety. As a food company, you are legally bound to produce traceability documents and protocols upon request.

We notice that in many cases barcodes are used incorrectly. A frequent mistake is that code-128 is confused with GS1-128 (prior EAN-128). This results in the content of the barcode not being automatically recognised, with a lot of waste of time as a consequence (for instance when registering good reception).

In IC-trace the use of GS1 barcodes with Application Identifiers is managed according to the GS1 definitions. We mainly use 2D barcodes with AI for internal use. For barcodes used for clients, IC-trace is equipped with all options.

  • GTIN codes can automatically be calculated in the IC-trace program;
  • Barcodes for instance can be established per article or per client without the need to create extra article references;
  • ...

Once set up, everything runs automatically, avoiding human mistakes.

A GLN (= Global Location Number) is a unique and straightforward identifier of an address/place. This can be:

  • A legal entity: your business, subsidiary or company department
  • A functional entity: a specific department within a legal entity
  • A physical entity: a specific place in your building (e.g. warehouse, loading dock…)

Please note: even though the structure is identical, a GLN differs from a GTIN (= Global Trade Item Number). A GTIN is the number that identifies a trading unit. Identifying your addresses is necessary to:

  • Establish an efficient goods and information flow between trading partners via EDI messages
  • Establish electronic data exchange in GDSN
  • Publish from GDSN to the Coupon Data Pool to create discount coupons

GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg developed the GLN Database to efficiently communicate address data and keep them up to date. This is a web platform that offers businesses the possibility to register, update and check their GLNs in a central place.

SANITEL is a Belgian system for automated management of identification, registration and supervision of animals (bovid, sheep, goats, deer, poultry). Any living animal or the feed batch is provided with a unique ID number that is registered in Sanitel. This identification number allows to track the movements of the animals from and to other locations, up to the journey to the abattoir.

The system is linked up to a number of IT applications such as Sanitrace, Beltrace, Cerise, Veeportaal. Those applications allow you to upload numerous data about animals in a central database at the disposal of other stakeholders. Sanitel is an important tool to combat animal disease and as such a general quality management tool.

Sanitrace is an application managed by the FAVV.

Beltrace is the system that expands the Sanitel traceability features all the way to the retail point. On a label of prepacked meat, you will find the Sanitel number, as well as information on the land of slaughter and cutting, the certification number of the slaughter house and the meat cutting plant, the name of the piece of meat, the slaughter date and use by date. Thanks to Beltrace, the consumer can at any time know what the origin is of the meat they buy.

IFS is the acronym for International Food Standard, also known as International Featured Standard, which focuses on food safety, quality of the production process and the products. IFS uses approximately 4 uniform criteria. When non-compliance with one of these four criteria is established, automatically the supplier will no longer be certified. The criteria are:

Managing Critical Control Points;
Involvement of the management and employees;
Traceability of products, raw materials and packaging material;
Executing corrective measures.

The result of the IFS audit is the end result of the assessment, which means that all observed shortcomings cannot be reviewed.
https://www.ifs-certification.com

The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety is a standard for food safety and hygiene in the food industry. The main requirement of this BRC standard is a documented and efficient HACCP system and has additional requirements regarding traceability, complaints handling, infrastructure, personnel hygiene, documented production processes and general management.

HACCP is the acronym for Hazard Analyses and Critical Control Points. It is a risk inventory system for foodstuffs, based on 7 principles. Businesses apply this system on their own organisation and situation. They indicate themselves where and in which stage of production and/or distribution processes there could be risk for the consumer’s health.

These are the seven basic principles of a HACCP system:

  • Identify all potential hazards;
  • Determine the Critical Control Points (CCPs). Determine the points in the process where the risk can be avoided or minimized;
  • Establish the criteria that must be met to ensure that CCP is under control;
  • Establish a monitoring system of the CCPs;
  • Define corrective actions per CCP that are needed to return to a safe situation;
  • Establish procedures for verification – a periodic check to see whether the HACCP approach is working;
  • Establish documentation and record keeping – document what you have adjusted and how;

ISO 9001 is the international standard for quality management systems. This certification is used to gauge whether an organisation is capable to comply with international requirements regarding quality management.

ISO 22000 is an international standard describing the requirements for a food safety management system that applies to all organisations in the food chain, from primary production to retail.

QS stands for ‘Qualität und Sicherheit’. It is a German quality assurance scheme for fresh food (meat, vegetables, fruit). The scheme is focused on safeguarding processes and traceability in all relevant stages of production and marketing in food: from production to processing and marketing (farm to shop).

This website is developed with the support of Flanders Investment and Trade
© 2024 Food IT-Solutions.