For years, TrusTrace has used a structured internal framework to help brands navigate complex regulatory requirements – aligning data across sourcing, sustainability, and compliance functions. This framework has quietly guided our teams and customers through audits, due diligence, and supplier onboarding with clarity and consistency.
Now, we’re making it available to everyone. The TrusTrace Compliance Canvas™ is the formalization of that proven system. It’s a practical tool designed to streamline regulatory data, map out exactly what’s needed per regulatory group, and give teams a shared foundation for compliance today and strategy tomorrow. Download the complete Compliance Canvas™ framework.
Image: this is a simplified version of The Compliance Canvas™ that shows the different data buckets, and the full version of The Compliance Canvas™ is available to download at the end of this article.
THE COMPLIANCE CANVAS™: DESIGNED FOR REAL WORLD SUPPLY CHAINS
The Compliance Canvas™ is not another checklist. It’s a smart, structured map of the exact data points needed to comply with 16 major laws, aggregated across 8 regulatory groups: from forced labor prevention to deforestation, chemical restrictions to the incoming Digital Product Passport under ESPR.
We built it by analyzing each regulation in detail, consolidating duplicate requirements, and layering the result into a four-layer navigation that makes complexity manageable:
- Data Categories (Supplier, Product, Procurement
- Data Entities (like Facility, Material, or Shipment)
- Data Sources (such as Certificates, Audits, or Test Reports)
- Data Points (the specific identification values)
The Compliance Canvas™ is not limited to what data to collect. It guides you through where the datapoint lives, how to find it, and why it matters – aligning sustainability, sourcing, and compliance teams around a single source of truth.
STREAMLINING DATA IS EVERYONE’S CHALLENGE
Over the years, we’ve seen this story repeat itself:
An international brand reaches out in urgent need: several audits looming, teams working in parallel but not in sync on supply chain compliance, and no centralized structure for managing data or documentation. Once we start implementing the Compliance Canvas™ framework, they shift from scattered effort to confident, unified actions. The team is identifying the standard data points, aligning around data priorities, and establishing a traceability system that supports both compliance and strategic objectives.
This has gone from edge case to a consistent pattern.
What starts as a regulatory need quickly becomes a transformation: from reactive to proactive, from fragmented to focused. Using the Compliance Canvas™ framework helps teams meet requirements efficiently, on time, and with fewer blind spots. Then, with that clarity in place, they’re able to build toward broader goals such as improved supplier engagement, better data quality, and more credible impact reporting.
the DATA REQUIREMENTS ARE OVERLAPPING
A key insight from the Compliance Canvas™ is that major regulations ask for vastly different things. Some focus only on product material testing. Others demand full supply chain transparency. A few, like the Digital Product Passport under ESPR, expect data at the item level – the most granular view yet.
The Canvas framework captures all of this.
You will find that each data point is tagged as either Required, Suggested, or Expected, so you can prioritize according to your internal needs.
Image: this diagram shows the count of datapoints required per regulatory group, and it shows that the required datapoints are overlapping between the regulations.
EQUIP YOUR TEAMS WITH THE COMPLIANCE CANVAS™
The TrusTrace Compliance Canvas™ is now available as a downloadable resource. It outlines the key Data Categories and Entities needed to meet the demands of 16 major regulations. See this as a foundational asset for aligning your teams and structuring your data with intent.
For those ready to go deeper, the Data Advantage Playbook provides in-depth analysis on the current regulatory landscape that shaped the Compliance Canvas™, as well as business insights from leading brands and suppliers that are making use of it in their partnership with us. Go to the Playbook.
GET THE RESOURCES
Download the complete Compliance Canvas framework.
Explore the Data Advantage Playbook to deepen your approach to de-risking your supply chains.
