Welcome to the onboarding manual for our data collection tool, which allows you to collect all necessary data to accurately calculate your company's and product portfolio's environmental and carbon impact.
This article will guide you through how purchase orders work.
What is this chapter about?
This chapter captures all products ordered from your tier 1 suppliers. Together with sales orders, these records form the foundation of your value chain.
Why do we need this information?
Uploading purchase orders enables us to automatically identify unique inbound transport routes and list all products purchased within a year.
In later chapters, we’ll ask for additional details about these products and transport routes, such as the materials used in the products and the modes of transport employed for the inbound routes.
How is this data related to other chapters?
Purchase orders are related to all other chapters: products, facilities, and transport. They enable us to trace each product’s journey from the supplier to the warehouse (if applicable) and ultimately to the end customer.
Setup page - purchase orders
Explanation of columns
Order ID: Unique identifier for the order.
Order date: Date when the order was placed.
Product ID: Unique identifier for the product.
Product name: Name of the product.
Quantity: Number of units ordered.
Departure facility: Location from where the order was shipped.
Arrival facility: Location where the order was received. Preferably as specific as possible, but you can also fill in a city or a postcode (+country).
Transport category: Classification of your purchase orders based on the mode of transport used. Think about: international shipments by sea or sample orders.
Status: Status of the information provided for each purchase order.
For more information about the transport category column, see our deep dive article here.
Uploading in 3 simple steps
Download the template.
Fill in the template or export a file from your systems, including the requested columns shown in the example below.
Upload your file by clicking the ‘Upload’’ button, then clicking the 'click to browse’ button or dragging your file right into the blue box. Once uploaded, check the ‘Status’ column for incomplete information, then click the ‘Upload’ button.
An example template can be found here.
FAQ
What’s the difference between “Product ID” and “Product name”, and why provide both?
Product IDs are unique identifiers for each product, ensuring precise tracking of each product over the year. Product names, however, may be duplicated across different products. Including both allows for clear identification and easy recognition of products in the impact dashboards.
What does “Transport Category" mean?
The transport category classifies your purchase orders based on the mode of transport used. This includes differentiating between types of transport, such as international shipments and sample orders. By assigning the same transport category to orders transported similarly, you can efficiently apply the same route and transport mode details to all orders within that category in the inbound transport chapter.
For more information about transport categories, see our deep dive article here.
Why is the order date of my purchase orders necessary for the Life Cycle Assessment, and how is it used in the Life Cycle Assessment process?
The order date of your purchase orders is important because it "books" or assigns the material impact of the product to a specific time period.