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 sales orders work.
What is this chapter about?
This chapter captures all products sold to your end customers. Together with purchase orders, these records form the foundation of your value chain.
Why do we need this information?
Uploading sales orders enables us to automatically identify unique outbound transport routes and list all products sold within a given 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 outbound routes.
How is this data related to other chapters?
Sales 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 - sales orders
Explanation of columns
Order ID: Unique identifier for the sale.
Order date: Date when the sale occurred.
Product ID: Unique identifier for the product.
Product name: Name of the product.
Quantity: Number of units sold.
Departure facility: Location from where the product was shipped.
Arrival facility: Name of the receiving location, when B2B. This facility will show up in your Facilities overview.
Arrival name: Name of the receiving location, when B2C. This address will not show up in your Facilities overview. This is an optional field when dealing with confidentiality.
Arrival address: Address of the receiving location of the Arrival name. Preferably as specific as possible, but you can also fill in a city or postcode (+country).
Transport category: Classification of your sales orders based on the mode of transport used. Think about: international shipments by air, international shipments by sea, and deliveries within Europe.
Status: Status of the information provided for each sales orders.
It is important to highlight that each order will either leave for an arrival facility (B2B) or an arrival address (B2C). Both scenarios together are not compatible, and during the file upload, an error will arise.
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 template.
Upload your file by clicking the ‘Upload’’ button, then click 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.
Adding to and refining your data
Uploading a new file doesn't overwrite your existing data. Anything already uploaded stays in place, and the system only adds rows that aren't already present:
New rows — an Order ID + Product ID combination that isn't there yet — are added.
Identical rows are left unchanged.
Matching rows with a changed field — a different quantity, for example — update that row directly in place, rather than creating a duplicate.
The Export feature lets you build on your data across multiple steps: export what you've already uploaded, add new lines or expand it, and upload again. A reliable workflow is:
Download the template and fill it in.
Upload your file.
Export it, then add or adjust lines.
Upload again.
Repeat the export–edit–upload loop until your purchase orders are complete.
Correcting or removing an order
If you spot a mistake in a row, you have two options:
Edit and re-upload — correct the value in your exported file and upload it again; the matching row updates in place.
Delete and re-upload — remove the row using the delete option in the three-dots menu (⋮), then upload the corrected version.
The three-dots delete is the only way to remove an order entirely.
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 sales orders based on the mode of transport used. This includes differentiating between types of transport, such as international shipments and deliveries within Europe.
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 outbound transport chapter.
For more information about transport categories, see our deep dive article here.
Why do I need to upload the “Arrival Address”?
We use the arrival address provided in sales orders to automatically generate outbound routes, including all addresses of your end customers. Unlike purchase orders that are received at your facilities, sales orders are sent directly to customer locations.
Why is the order date of my sales orders important for Life Cycle Assessment, and how is it used in the LCA process?
The order date of your sales orders is important because it "books" or assigns the total product's impact (product footprint) to a specific time period.