How Our Supplier Risk Assessment Works
Risk scores are calculated by a deterministic rules engine with published weights. The same inputs always produce the same score. Language models are used only to explain a result in plain language, and they cannot change the number.
Quick answer
We score a supplier across six weighted dimensions: company, quality, compliance, production, supply chain and documentation. Each answer you give maps to one dimension, contributes a weighted risk value, and rolls up into an overall figure out of 100, where higher means more risk. Missing evidence raises the score rather than being treated as neutral. The weights shown below are read directly from the scoring model, not typed by hand.
Scoring framework
Each question belongs to one dimension. Within a dimension, answers carry a risk value between 0 and 100. The dimension score is the weighted mean of its answered questions, and the overall score is the weighted mean of the dimensions below.
22 scored inputs · 6 dimensions · total weight 100.
Risk dimensions and weights
Weights are configurable in our admin and shown here so you can see what actually moves the number.
| Dimension | Weight | Inputs |
|---|---|---|
Company risk How long they have been trading, whether the registered address is the factory address, and whether ownership is traceable. | 15 | 4 |
Quality risk Whether quality control is documented, whether an outside auditor has been through recently, and whether inspection records exist. | 20 | 4 |
Compliance risk Social, environmental and product compliance records. We ask what you have, not for a specific certificate. | 20 | 4 |
Production risk Capacity against your order size, whether work is subcontracted, and whether they have made your product before. | 15 | 3 |
Supply chain risk Where raw materials come from, how exposed you are to a single source, and how realistic the lead time is. | 15 | 3 |
Documentation risk Whether the business licence, factory address, certificates, audit reports and test reports can actually be produced. | 15 | 4 |
Evidence
The score is only as good as the evidence behind it. Where you tell us you do not know something, we treat it as an open gap and score it accordingly. A supplier can lower its score by producing documents, not by arguing with the model.
Where AI is used, and where it is not
Scores come from the rules engine alone. A language model may summarize or explain a result in plain language, and it may draft the recommended actions. It does not decide the score, and it cannot see the weights as a variable it can adjust.
Limitations
What this score does not tell you.
- · It is not a financial credit assessment. We do not review financial statements unless you ask us to.
- · It does not confirm that equipment exists or that a quality system runs day to day. That needs a site visit or an audit.
- · It is a point-in-time assessment. A score is valid as of the date it was produced.
- · It cannot detect a supplier that deliberately provides false documents, although document cross-checks reduce the gap.
- · Weights are our judgement, not an industry standard. We publish them so you can disagree with us in specific terms.
Update policy
We review weights when we make a material change to the model, and we record the version in use when a score is produced. Methodology changes are listed here with their date.
Changelog
- Current version 1.0 — six dimensions, 22 inputs, weights summing to 100.summing to 100.
Want the checks done rather than scored?
Our verification service confirms registration, site, capability, quality and compliance, and gives you a written report before you pay anything.