¶ Uploading certificates
Of course, not all certificates are issued on this platform (yet 
).
You can upload pdfs of other certificates you and your organisation(s) have received. You will be able to upload certificates for your things soon.
To do this, switch account to yourself or your organisation to which the certificate applies.
On the dashboard, go to Received Certificates and then click the 'Upload a legacy certificate' button on the top left of the screen.
¶ Searching for an existing scheme
You can enter a search term in the box to see if the certification scheme to which your certificate applies has already been created on the platform.
Matches will be shown below the search box.
Alternatively, you can browse all the schemes. Schemes are also categorised by tags, for example 'training', 'health and safety', 'cyber security'. These tags help narrow down the search and will appear below the search box on the browse page as you start entering search terms.
Greyed options indicate that they do not accept certificates in the capacity that you are acting (for example individuals if you are acting as yourself, or organisations if you are acting on behalf of an organisation).
Some of the schemes available for self-upload are those already running from the platform where they have elected to accept legacy uploads. In such cases the certification scheme owner will check your uploaded credential and adopt the certificate in their scheme if it matches with their records. This would apply if, for example, they had been issuing certificates in the past via another route (to which your uploaded certificate applies) and have now begun to issue digital certificates from the platform.
Some schemes on the platform do not accept self-uploads. This may be because they have been issuing digital certificates from the platform since the particular scheme began, so there is no need to upload a copy when it already exists as an original in the system.
Finally, some of the available schemes are third party schemes that have yet to come on board. In such cases, we indicate this in the scheme information and make the repository available so that you can manage and disseminate your legacy certificate. If enough people upload to a particular scheme, we will approach the scheme owner and see if they'd like to come on board officially.
¶ Creating a new scheme
If you can't find a particular scheme, you can create a new one by entering its name in the search box on the first page or by pressing the 'Create new scheme +' button on the browse page.
We review each new scheme, so they wont be visible straight away. If we agree that the new scheme is bona-fide, we'll add it to the list available for other users to self-upload to in the future.
¶ Uploading your certificate
Once you have selected the certification scheme from those available or created a new one, you then upload a pdf file of the certificate as evidence.
You will then be asked for the start date/time of the certificate (the point from which it became valid) and if applicable the expiry date.
You can then press 'submit' which will add it to the platform and take you to the digital certificate page.
You should also receive an email confirming that you have successfully uploaded a certificate.
¶ Displaying your uploaded certificate
An uploaded certificate is treated in a similar way to a digital certificate issued from the platform.
This means it has a digital certificate page (highlighting that the certificate was self-uploaded), appears in your received certificate area to be monitored and managed, can be made public or private, can be shared, and will appear on your profile page if set to public.
Currently self-uploaded certificates do not have smart badges or download certificate options in the tabs towards the bottom of the certificate page. However, the uploaded pdf can be reached by the 'View Evidence' button. This will display the file with the 'Inspection Copy' watermark overlaid.
¶ Use cases
You can self-upload any certificate that you would find helpful to manage from the platform (like keeping track of its expiry date), that you wish to more easily share with others (rather than sending them emails of the pdf), or which you'd like to be shown on your profile to demonstrate a capability, skill or affiliation.
We, BlockMark Technologies Ltd, have self-uploaded our trademark certificates from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), company registration certificate from Companies House, and our VAT certificate from HMRC. We have provided links to these in the footer of the platform to demonstrate a use case.
If you are an organisation, why not upload these certificates too. Or you could upload your Information Commissioners Office (ICO) certificate, your public liability insurance certificate, and/or any quality assurance (ISO) certifications you have received.
As an organisation, you can upload your employers' liability insurance certificate, keep it private if you like, but invite your staff to join your organisation account on BlockMark Registry. Staff can view organisation certificates even if they are private, so this is a good way to make this certificate available to them, as is required by law.
As an individual you could try self-uploading any professional membership certificates, qualifications, first aid at work certificates, etc.
In the future, if someone is requesting a copy of your certificate for their records, send them an email or direct message with the web address of the digital certificate page. From there they will be able to view the evidence and, if they so wish, they can register/log in to the platform and keep an inspection copy for their own records.