Table of Contents

Buyer Admin: An introduction to Sustainability Data on Purchasing

Managing Sustainability Data on Purchasing

Sustainability attributes and tags can be assigned at product or supplier level on Purchasing (formerly Advanced Marketplace) so that end-users can make informed choices when making purchases.

Information is defined and managed via the Attribute Hierarchy Editor module, where you can review, add and map sustainability data onto your marketplace for end-users.

No suppliers or products can show as 'sustainable' on your marketplace without action (either approval or mapping) being completed by you as the buyer.

Products that are mapped as 'sustainable' are flagged with a green leaf icon on the search results, and further information can be found about the relevant attribute(s) it might have within the product information pages:

Visit our How do I search the Marketplace for sustainable products? guide for more information on what end users can see when searching on Purchasing.

Attribute types on Purchasing

There are two main types of attribute that Purchasing allows, Global and Supplier:

Global Attributes
  • Fully certified or globally / nationally recognised schemes which multiple suppliers may be a part of and will share the definition of e.g. Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance Certified, ISO 14001 etc.
  • Managed by the OneAdvanced Purchasing team to ensure uniform data input (i.e. you cannot create new ones yourself but you can request for OneAdvanced to add them to the module so that your suppliers can access them)
  • Supplier or Product level
  • Supplier level tags require approval and mapping to be visible
  • Product level tags require mapping to be visible
Supplier Attributes
  • Initiatives created and used by one supplier only, for example, to flag their range of 'green' products
  • Product level only
  • All tags require mapping to be visible, and you fully control the mapping process

In addition to these, it is also possible for a buyer to create Buyer attributes if required:

Buyer Attributes
  • For use by and visible only to your organisation (i.e. suppliers cannot see what has been created or assigned to them / their products)
  • Mainly used at Supplier level but can be created at Product level too if needed (although unlikely to be necessary)
  • Useful to flag internal mappings such as 'local' suppliers, or track completed audits

How can I access the sustainability module?

  1. From the Purchasing homepage, go to the Admin dropdown and select Attribute Hierarchy Editor
  2. From within the editor, various folders are available on the left hand side in which attributes are located. The folders are always organised as follows:
    1. Global Attributes: Those at the top of the folders list are always globally defined attributes (i.e. created by OneAdvanced). They are not editable.
    If you cannot find an attribute that you believe should be set at 'global' level, please contact our Customer Support Team via the OneAdvanced Customer Portal. Please provide as much information as you can about the attribute to assist us with this request.
    1. Suppliers: ANY supplier on the OneAdvanced network who has accessed the Attribute Editor module will appear under the Suppliers header folder in their own sub-folder. This means this list will change over time as more suppliers utilise the module. Please be aware that this means you may see suppliers who you are not connected to on your marketplace, and it also isn't a guarantee that they will have uploaded a attribute for you to map / approve.
    2. Buyers: Your organisation's folder will appear under this header folder, and will be automatically opened upon entering the module each time.
  3. The right panel shows the list of attribute definitions in the currently selected folder (if applicable), including the name of the attribute, the description and whether that attribute is set for Supplier and / or Product tagging level
  4. To review the details of the attribute, click the three dot menu option next to it and select View Details
  5. From the View Details panel, you can see the following information about an attribute:
  • The name of the attribute and logo assigned e.g. 'BPI'. Any screens within your marketplace that display attribute information will use this name and the image that has been associated with it.
  • The Shortname is the reference that suppliers will use when uploading product data files that tag items with this attribute.
  • The Status will specify whether the attribute is active or not (e.g. Created, Archived)
  • The Type section will indicate whether the attribute is a PRODUCT TAG and / or a SUPPLIER TAG. In this example, PRODUCT TAG has been assigned which means this attribute can only be used to tag specific products (i.e. it cannot be assigned against a supplier organisation as a whole).
  • The Description is a short description of the attribute and may contain a URL link (More info) if needed to take you to the relevant website in a new browser tab for more information

Getting Started

Insights Reporting

You will soon be able to find reporting on sustainability data from your Insights reporting module via a specific sustainability dashboard.

Reports will include:

  • Sustainable vs non sustainable spend analysis, calculated using attribute tags applied to items
  • A drill down from the dashboard element to an orders-over-time report with filters to drill into sustainable spend patterns

How did we do?

Buyer Admin: How do I map sustainability attributes (supplier and global)?

Buyer Admin: How do I create my own organisation specific sustainability attributes for suppliers?

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