Overview
This article explains how to fill in and submit the data collection file for the Products, Raw Materials & Packaging Inventory module. It covers the mandatory and optional data for each module type, how to upload data and categorize products, and common formatting errors to avoid.
Key benefits / use cases
Calculate the carbon footprint of your company's product and raw material purchases
Use automated categorization to assign emission factors quickly and accurately
Ensure data quality with guidance on mandatory fields and common formatting pitfalls
1. What data should be included in your data collection file?
The aim of this module is to calculate the impact of your company's product purchases during the studied financial year.
⚠️ Data provided must be in French 🇫🇷 or English 🇬🇧 to be processed by Greenly.
You can find the data collection file by clicking on the module > tab "2. Data collection">"Bulk import - via template".
The file contains two types of data:
Mandatory data – the minimum required to calculate CO₂e emissions. Without it, no emissions can be computed.
Optional data – additional data that increases the quality and granularity of the analysis.
Advanced module
Mandatory data:
A name that makes sense in at least one of these columns (the more the better):
Internal ID
Main material
Product Family
Raw Material or Manufactured Product
Unitary Weight
Quantity (= 1 if your unitary weight is the total weight)
Unit
Supplier
Optional data:% of recycled content (if any)
Comment
Entity
Unit Price
Currency
Entity country
Business Unit
End to end module
Mandatory data:
Internal ID
Main material
Quantity
Unitary weight
Unit
Supplier
Optional data:Manufactured product
Recycled content (%)
Product family
Country of Manufacture
Purchase date
Price
Currency
Description
Entity, Entity country, Business Unit
2. How to upload your data to the Greenly platform?
Go to Data > Data Collection > Products, Raw Materials & Packaging Inventory, or click on the corresponding task on the Progress page.Step 1 – Upload your data
You have two options:
Manually, directly on the platform by clicking**"Add data manually"**(only available in the end to end module)
Via the Greenly template, by clicking**"Bulk import". The template is downloaded in the platform language. Fill in the English template with English data and the French template with French data. The other language version is available on the READ ME** tab of the template.
Whichever method you use, make sure to fill in all mandatory fields: they are marked with a redon the platform and appear in*green in the template.
Upload your file in the "Upload file" section. You can also attach supporting documents for traceability and auditability in the**"File Information (optional)"** section.
2/ Categorization
After uploading your data, in the "Data collection" tab, an automated system will categorize your product purchase inventory. It simplifies the process of assigning emission factors, ensuring accuracy and validity, so you can categorize your products more precisely and select the most appropriate emission factor for each item.
Our algorithm suggests emission factors for most products. You can either validate these suggestions or choose a more suitable category directly from the "Emission factor" dropdown menu in the table.At least 95% of your products' total weight must be validated to proceed to the next step.
To edit multiple items at once, select them and a bottom panel will appear, allowing you to perform bulk actions directly.
For items that do not have a suggested emission factor, please select one that most closely corresponds to your product. If an exact match is not available, we recommend choosing the emission factor that best approximates your product. If you are uncertain which emission factor to select, or if none appear suitable, you may request support.
To do so, open the emission factor drop-down list, then select “Ask an expert”. This will enable our team to review the item and assist with accurate categorization.
Once your data uploaded, review it and then complete the module. If you are completing the advanced module, click on “Submit for analysis”. An analyst will review it and complete the module.
If you do not have the necessary information, you can click on "Skip the module"at the bottom left of the page.
3. Frequent errors in data format
End to end module
Make sure to fill all the mandatory fields.Advanced moduleColumn Unitary Weight AND Quantity:
Always write with one point for the decimal: 65700.50 → Correct
Numbers such as 65700.50 (Sixty Five Thousand Seven Hundred point Fifty) written in the following manner can lead to mistake during the processing:
65, 700, 50
65.700, 50
65.700.50
Column Unit:
If you include non-mass units, we'll need to make assumptions about the items, resulting in less precise calculations. However, if these are the only units you have available, they're better than nothing. Mass units (kg, mt, short ton, LBS) need to be prioritized
4. Review your data and read your results
Once you have uploaded your data, you can flag the expenses related to the module to avoid double counting and access your results. To do so, please read the related article.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected]