There are two ways to handle supplier audits and First Article forms: find a ready-made checklist in the Template Library, or build your own form.
1. Search for Ready-Made Supplier Templates
- On the Checklists page, click the Choose from templates card
- Type supplier into the Search box and press Enter
In this example the search found 26 checklists. They include the Six Sigma Supplier Quality Management Audit Checklist, the AS9110 Supplier Management and Procurement Audit Checklist, the Food Supplier Verification Audit Checklist, and the FSSC 22000 Supplier Management and Traceability Audit Checklist.
Before you use a template, click View Template and look at the questions on the Questions tab. When you find a suitable one, bring it into your checklists with Use This Template.
2. Build the First Article Form Yourself
In this example, searching for first article in the Template Library returned no results.
In that case, you can build your own First Article Form in one of three ways:
- Convert PDF to Checklist: If you already have a First Article Form as a PDF, upload it. AI turns it into questions and response types
- Create using AI: Enter your industry, workplace, standard, and target to get a draft
- Create a checklist manually: Build the form from scratch with the drag-and-drop interface. You can use response types such as Number for measured values and Photo/Video for photo evidence
To compare the three ways, see the "Find the Right Checklist" guide. For the manual steps, use Create a checklist manually.
Who Can Fill In the Form?
To conduct an audit with a checklist, a person must be a user in Audit Now and appear as a user, user group, or location in the checklist's Who can conduct audits? setting. If you want your suppliers to fill in the form, you must give them this permission. For details, see Manage Who Can Conduct Audits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a supplier create their own First Article Form? You can build your own form in one of the three ways above. For a supplier to create or fill in the form themselves, they must be an authorized user in Audit Now.
Is there a ready-made First Article Form template? In this example, searching for "first article" in the Template Library returned no results. The library can be updated, and you can also search with other keywords (for example, "supplier" or "inspection").
Best Practices
- Start with general keywords such as "supplier". If you find a suitable template, edit it to fit
- Use the Number response type for questions that need a measurement and Photo/Video for questions that need evidence
Next steps
Learn in detail how to use ready-made templates.
Next article: Import from the Checklist Library →