ZDHC Gateway Relaunch: Inventory Submission & InCheck Conformance Updates - FAQ

Since the ZDHC Gateway relaunch, an inventory submitted through CleanChain does not become an InCheck report until you publish it on the ZDHC Gateway. This article answers the questions our support team receives most often about that process, in the order you are likely to meet them.

Important: almost every conformance problem can be fixed before you publish. Check your inventory in CleanChain before you select Save & Submit, and review the report on the ZDHC Gateway before you select Accept & Publish. Once a report is published it cannot be edited, unpublished or declined, by you or by CleanChain.

For the full upload steps and the inventory status definitions, see How to Upload Inventories in CleanChain.

Before You Upload Your CIL

My Excel upload fails with an error about column headers. What changed?

The CIL template has been updated. A file built from an older template will be rejected because the importer can no longer find the columns it expects.

 The error shown when an outdated template is uploaded. 

1. Download a fresh template from the inventory upload screen. Do not reuse a template saved on your desktop from an earlier month.
2. Copy your data into the new template rather than editing the headers of your old file.
3. Do not alter, rename, reorder or merge the header cells. Any change to the template will cause an upload error.
4. Close the Excel file before you upload it.

 The current CIL template header row. 

Should I enter the ZDHC PID or the Product Reference ID in column G?

Enter one identifier per row, and use the Product Reference ID wherever you have it. Column G accepts either the Product Reference ID or the ZDHC PID, but the Product Reference ID gives the most accurate match.

The reason matters. When you search the CleanChain Product Library using a Product Reference ID, CleanChain calls the ZDHC Gateway in real time and refreshes that product’s details immediately. A ZDHC PID search does not trigger that call, and because the same chemical can exist in more than one record, a PID search can return a duplicate product that carries no conformance level. That product is then excluded from your InCheck calculation.

Do not populate both identifiers on the same row.

Before You Select Save & Submit

How do I avoid a low or zero conformance result on my InCheck report?

Unexpected conformance results almost always come from products that reached the report without a valid ZDHC identifier or ZDHC MRSL level. Those rows are excluded from the InCheck calculation, which reduces your product count, total quantity and conformance percentage. Check for them before you submit.

1. Save, not Save & Submit. The inventory stays In Progress and remains editable.
2. Review every product line. Rows that did not match are shown in red.
3. For each ZDHC Gateway product, confirm that both the Product Reference ID and a ZDHC MRSL level are displayed. If either is blank, that product will not be counted.
4. Correct the blanks. Edit the product line and search the ZDHC Gateway Library again using the Product Reference ID. If a product still returns no level, use Find Substitute, or check whether the product has expired or is no longer visible on the Gateway.
5. Only then select Save & Submit.

My quantities have more than two decimal places. Do I need to round them first?

No. Upload the figures as they are. CleanChain rounds quantities to two decimal places automatically when you save, so no manual rounding is needed in Excel.

I selected Save & Submit. Can I still edit the inventory?

No. Once an inventory is Submitted, editing and deletion are no longer available in CleanChain, and there is no Decline option on the CleanChain inventory screen. Corrections are made on the ZDHC Gateway, not in CleanChain. See the next section.

Fixing an Inventory After You Submit

I submitted the inventory and then noticed the data is wrong. What should I do?

While the report is still Submitted and not yet published, you can decline it on the ZDHC Gateway and upload the month again.

1. Log in to the ZDHC Gateway with an account that has admin rights for your facility, and go to InCheck > InCheck Reports.
2. Find the report for the month in question. Select Details to review the products it contains.
3. If the data is correct, select Publish and then Accept & Publish.
4. If the data is wrong, select Publish to open the Review Report window, then select Decline and choose a reason, for example data inaccuracy.
5. Return to CleanChain and select Refresh on the inventory. The status will update to Declined.
6. Upload a corrected inventory for that month.

ZDHC Gateway > InCheck > InCheck Reports. Publish opens the Review Report window.  

Note: The Decline option sits at the bottom of the report review and requires ZDHC Gateway admin rights. If you cannot see it, check the account you are logged in with. CleanChain cannot decline a report on your behalf.

What is the Declined Inventories list for? Do I need to do anything there?

No action is needed there. Declined Inventories is a historic record, so you can see which inventories were declined, when, and the reason given, and download the Excel file to compare it against your corrected upload. A corrected inventory is uploaded through the normal Add New Inventory route, not from that screen.

The report is already published and I have found an error. Can it be reversed?

No, and this cannot be done by CleanChain either. A published InCheck report is final on the ZDHC Gateway. Neither your facility nor CleanChain can unpublish or decline it.

The only route is to raise a request with ZDHC Gateway support at support@zdhc.org, stating:

• your facility name and ZDHC account ID
• the report period, for example July 2026
• the discrepancy you have found
• a clear request to decline the published report so that a corrected inventory can be uploaded

ZDHC handles these requests directly. If a customer is waiting on the report, tell them the request is with ZDHC and give them the ticket reference. This step is outside CleanChain’s control.

I selected Save & Submit but I cannot find the report on the ZDHC Gateway.

Check the following in order.

1. Allow for processing time. Submission to the ZDHC Gateway is not instantaneous. Select Refresh on the inventory in CleanChain to check for a status change.
2. Check your Solution Provider selection. On the ZDHC Gateway, go to InCheck > InCheck Settings > Solution Provider Selection and confirm CleanChain is selected and saved. If CleanChain is not selected as a Performance InCheck Solution Provider, no report will arrive.
3. Check the inventory type. A Stock Take inventory does not generate an InCheck report.
4. Check the status in CleanChain. If it shows Completed rather than Submitted, the inventory was not sent for InCheck reporting. This usually means the inventory type was Stock Take, or there is no active InCheck subscription or valid ZDHC Gateway connection.
5. If the report is still missing, contact the CleanChain Technical Support team with your facility name, the inventory month and type, and the date you selected Save & Submit.

Products With No ZDHC MRSL Level

The product has an MRSL level on the ZDHC Gateway, but CleanChain shows no level. Why?

CleanChain synchronises the full ZDHC product catalogue in the background regularly. 

You do not have to wait for the next synchronisation. Searching the CleanChain Product Library by Product Reference ID triggers a live call to the ZDHC Gateway and refreshes that product’s details straight away.

1. Copy the Product Reference ID from the ZDHC Gateway.
2. Go to the Product Library in CleanChain and search using that Product Reference ID. 
3. Confirm that the certification and ZDHC MRSL level now match what you see on the Gateway.
4. Return to your inventory, edit the affected line and re-select the product using the Product Reference ID. The level should now display.
5. If the search returns no result, contact the CleanChain Technical Support team with the Product Reference ID.

Note: You do not need to delete and re-add the row. Edit the existing line, enter the Product Reference ID and re-select the product. The quantity and unit are preserved.

The product cannot be found on the ZDHC Gateway at all. What then?

This is usually a formulator issue rather than a data issue on your side. The most common causes are:

• the formulator’s ZDHC Gateway account or certification has expired, so their products are no longer searchable
• the formulator has not granted product visibility to your facility
• the formulator did not login to the relaunched ZDHC Gateway and update their products. 

Product visibility can only be granted by the formulator, so contact them directly. If you believe a chemical has been classified incorrectly in your inventory, check the ZDHC definition of a commodity chemical before you change it.

Inventory Types and Reports

I submit both a Delivery and a Usage inventory each month. Can I get an InCheck report for both?

No. The ZDHC Gateway allows one InCheck report per facility per month. You can select Save & Submit on both inventories in CleanChain, but only one of them can be published as your InCheck report for that month.

For the other inventory type, use the technical report that CleanChain generates for each completed inventory. It is available as a PDF from your dashboard and shows product level conformance for that inventory. Click here to see steps to download technical report.

Can I switch between Delivery and Usage from one month to the next?

This is not recommended. Changing inventory type between months affects your InCheck verification and makes your data inconsistent month to month. If July was published as Usage, publish Usage for August as well.

If you have already submitted the wrong type for the current month, decline that report on the ZDHC Gateway as described above, then upload and publish the correct type for that month.

Need More Help?

Contact the CleanChain Technical Support team at appsupport@adec-innovations.com. Include your facility name, the inventory month and type, and a screenshot of what you are seeing.

Related articles: How to Upload Inventories in CleanChain; Submitting, Reviewing, and Publishing InCheck Reports (Suppliers).