Add supplementary evidence to a requirement
Supplementary evidence is optional supporting material you can attach to a standard requirement. It appears in the Evidence section separately from required compliance evidence and does not affect compliance scoring. Use it to add context such as files, forms, document distributions, or manual confirmations that help auditors or reviewers understand how the requirement is being met.
Before you start
You need the Manager or Admin role for the Standards module. If you cannot see the Evidence section or the supplementary evidence options, ask your site administrator to update your permissions in Settings > User Management > Edit Access.
How to add supplementary evidence
Open the standard requirement you want to update and go to the Evidence section.
Go to the Supplementary Evidence area and click Add Evidence to open the supplementary evidence type picker.
Choose the evidence type you want to add:
File upload — upload a new file or reference an existing attachment.
Form — link a form distribution.
Document distribution — link a published document or distribution policy.
Manual confirmation — record a written confirmation for this requirement only.
Complete the form for the selected type. For example, a file upload asks for the file and an optional record date; a manual confirmation asks for a statement.
Save the link. The supplementary evidence appears in the Supplementary Evidence list with a status badge.
How supplementary evidence differs from required evidence
The requirement page shows two areas in the Evidence section:
Required Evidence — links that are mandatory for compliance scoring. Missing or unhealthy required evidence creates a compliance gap.
Supplementary Evidence — optional links shown separately. These provide additional context but do not change whether the requirement is considered compliant.
Review supplementary evidence in audit history
Supplementary evidence links are tracked in the audit history for the requirement, so reviewers can see when they were added, updated, or removed. The evidence badge shows whether the source is still available and healthy.
Related articles
For the broader evidence linking workflow, see Link Evidence to a Standard. For adding dated file uploads, see Add dated file uploads to a standard requirement. For uploading files to the system, see Uploading Documents. For creating distributions, see Creating Distributions.