Visualnet generates the Procurement File with an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and a qualified eIDAS time stamp, which enjoys the presumption of the accuracy of its date and of its integrity (Art. 41.2): bid comparisons recorded at close, a history chained with SHA-256 and the number of companies invited for each line. On that documentation, your firm issues the NISR 4400 report when your client's engagement calls for it.
Visualnet is not a generic procurement system. It is the documentary infrastructure for film and television productions, with a proprietary methodology and a patent pending before the USPTO. Your clients don't need more loose emails with quotes: they need a complete, independent and documented procedure you can work on.
Directory coverage
The market consultation is recorded: on publication, the system records how many directory companies are invited. Over 97,000 film and TV suppliers in the directory. The auditor can check it in the record.
Classification by bids received
Full coverage: three bids or more. Market exhausted: one or two. With zero bids, the request does not close. The level is recorded in the Procurement File, and the classification is part of the method described in U.S. Patent Application No. 64/036,591.
Chained, verifiable record
Each event in the process is recorded with its time, chained by SHA-256 to the previous one and given a gapless sequence number, which makes detectable any alteration of an event's recorded content or the deletion of any event. In addition, the user the platform operates with has no permission to modify or delete the record, and three database triggers are active. The Procurement File that brings those events together carries an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and a qualified eIDAS time stamp.
Patent pending · USPTO
U.S. Patent Application Nos. 64/036,591, 64/036,620 and 64/043,957
Production Lifecycle Management, S.L.
The Procurement File generated by Visualnet, with an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and a qualified eIDAS time stamp, documents how each line was contracted. Your client —studio, production company or service production company— can provide it to its auditors and to the AEAT (Art. 41.2 and, in Spain, Art. 326.4 LEC). Where appropriate, your firm issues the NISR 4400 report on it as an additional professional layer. Select the market to see what each type of client will need.
Each state sets which expenditure qualifies for its tax credit, how it is evidenced and who reviews it; several require a report from an independent certified public accountant (CPA). They are administered by the states, not the IRS. Where there are transactions between related entities, IRC §482 allows the IRS to adjust their price when it is not the one independent parties would have agreed. If the studio is listed in the US, its CEO and CFO certify each periodic report they file with the SEC and their responsibility for the controls (SOX §302). The end client needs documentation line by line.
Regulatory framework
The documentary support, with additional professional layer where applicable
The Procurement File documents how each eligible production cost was contracted and which bids it was compared with, with an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and an EU-qualified time stamp under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS). The NISR 4400 report, where appropriate, sets out the findings of the agreed-upon procedures on that documentation.
When an American production company co-produces with a European partner, it co-finances a budget controlled by a foreign entity. The FCPA prohibits paying or promising anything of value to a foreign official to obtain or retain business; for the company to be liable for a payment made through a third party, it requires that the company knew, or was aware of a high probability, that it would occur, and the DOJ can investigate it. An overpayment does not by itself breach the FCPA, although it can be a sign of an improper payment. For domestic productions, each state sets the rules of its tax credit.
Regulatory framework
The documentary support, with additional professional layer where applicable
The Procurement File documents the co-producer's costs and the bids they were compared with, with an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and an EU-qualified time stamp under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS). The client can provide it to its auditors. The NISR 4400 report, where appropriate, sets out the findings of the agreed-upon procedures on that documentation.
NISR 4400 (the IAASB's revised ISRS 4400) is an agreed-upon procedures engagement: the ROAC-registered auditor performs previously agreed procedures and reports findings, without expressing an opinion. Visualnet generates the Procurement File on which those facts can be checked; for example, that the request was recorded as an invitation to all active directory companies with that activity in the country of the shoot.
If the market has a single capable supplier for that activity and date, a single bid is justified. It is better documented than three quotes from a market of two hundred in which only three were called.
If the market responds with twenty bids, the Procurement File includes a full comparison. In both cases, the process is documented in a Procurement File with a qualified eIDAS time stamp, which enjoys the presumption of the accuracy of its date and of its integrity (Art. 41.2).
3 or more bids received
Recorded invitation to all active companies of the activity in the country of the shoot + full comparison (minimum / average / maximum). The Procurement File is full support for the NISR 4400 report the ROAC auditor issues.
1 or 2 bids — recorded invitation to all companies of the activity
Recorded invitation + documented note of a reduced market. The available reference price is recorded. Support for the NISR 4400 report: it documents the market better than a restricted process in a broad market.
No bids
With no bids, the request does not close: it can be kept open or repeated with a wider scope.
Always requiring three bids does not reflect the reality of the film and TV market, where many specialised services have a single capable supplier in a region for a given date. Order ECD/2784/2015 itself, when it asks for three bids for expenses invoiced by companies related to the producer, makes an exception where, due to the special characteristics of the expense, there are not enough entities in the market (Art. 2.3.c). The Procurement File documents facts that can be checked: how many directory companies had that activity in the country of the shoot and were invited, and how many bids arrived. On that basis, the ROAC auditor performs their procedures.
When each request is published, the system records how many companies were invited. With the directory of over 97,000 film and TV suppliers, the auditor can compare that number with the companies of the activity in the country.
An award with a single bid, in a market with a single supplier and properly documented, is better documented than three quotes from a market of two hundred in which only three were consulted. That is the process Visualnet documents.
Read-only access to the complete process. The auditor cannot modify any evidence: no projects, no tenders, no bids, no benchmarks, no audit record.
The auditor role reaches no operation that writes evidence: no projects, no tenders, no bids, no benchmarks, no audit record. Access further requires a current assignment to the client, revocable at any time. The only thing an auditor can modify is their own account data.
Each event generates an identifier chained to the previous one. Independently verifiable. The platform holds no permission to modify or delete the record: the database itself rejects the attempt. The auditor verifies the chaining and the gapless sequence independently.
PDF of the full history per project, ready to attach to the audit file. CSV with all events for your own analysis.
Access to all your clients from a single auditor panel. No need to manage separate access per production company or project.
Market position documented line by line: minimum, below average, average, above average and maximum. At close, the comparison is kept in the chained event record, on which the platform has no modification permissions.
Designed to fit into the due diligence processes of audit firms in the film and TV sector. The Procurement File carries an advanced electronic signature in PAdES-B-LTA format, based on a qualified certificate from FNMT-RCM, and a qualified time stamp, ready to serve as documentary support for the NISR 4400 report the ROAC auditor issues.
The Procurement File for each project is signed with an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and a qualified eIDAS time stamp, which enjoys the presumption of the accuracy of its date and of its integrity (Art. 41.2). The coverage level is determined automatically from the number of bids received, and the number of companies invited is recorded with it: factual support for the NISR 4400 engagement.
Architecture with data separation by client.
Each event generates a hash chained to the previous one. The auditor can independently verify the chaining of each event and the gapless sequence number.
Visualnet market coverage verification methodology and audit trail system are proprietary technologies subject to pending patent applications before the USPTO (U.S. Patent Application Nos. 64/036,591, 64/036,620 and 64/043,957).
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