Table of Contents

Supplier: An introduction to managing sustainability data

AD team Updated by AD team

Introduction to the Sustainability Module

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

Information is defined and managed via the Attribute Editor tab in your supplier portal. Buyer's procurement teams have their own module within the system too.

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

Sustainability data held at organisation level appears on a specific 'Sustainability' tab (if mapped by the buyer) within the product information pages and on your supplier profile.

This guide describes the differences between Global and Supplier attributes as well as covering how to locate the module on your supplier portal.

Tagging options

There are two types of tag 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 team (i.e. suppliers cannot create new ones, but can tag their organisation or products against them)
  • Supplier or Product level
  • Buyer can choose how to map them for end-user visibility
Supplier Attributes
  • Initiatives used only by your company
  • Product level only
  • Buyer can choose how to map them for end-user visibility

How do I access the Sustainability Attribute Editor module?

From within the Attribute Editor, you will be able to review all existing Attributes (Global and Supplier), as well as being able to create new Supplier Attributes.

  1. From the supplier portal, go to the Attribute Editor tab available in the menu:
  2. The editor will open and automatically display a set of folders on the left hand side in which the various attribute tags are located:
    1. The first folders are global level files and attributes which you can view but cannot edit (only OneAdvanced can edit these).
    2. At the bottom of the list, you will find a Suppliers file, which contains a folder for your organisation holding all of your own attribute definitions (if any have been created). By default the editor will open with this folder selected.
    If you cannot find an attribute that you believe should be set at 'global' level, please contact our Customer Support Team by raising a case on the OneAdvanced Customer Portal, providing as much information as you can about the attribute to assist us with this request. If you do not already have access to the Customer Support Portal, please contact your Customer Portal Admin within your organisation who can grant you access.  
  3. The right side of the screen shows the list of attribute definitions in the currently selected folder (if applicable). For example, the screenshot below shows the Global Attributes which are available to use:
  4. To review the details of any attribute or edit the information (if a Supplier attribute only), click the three dot menu option and select View Details or Edit. Global Attributes will only have the option to 'View Details' as they're controlled by OneAdvanced:
  5. From the View Details page, you can see the following information about an attribute:
  • The name of the attribute and logo assigned e.g. 'Bio Preferred'. Any screens within Purchasing that display attribute information will use this name and the image that has been associated with it.
  • The Shortname is the reference that will be used when uploading product data files that tag items with this attribute. Please review the 'How do I tag my products with sustainability attributes?' section below for more information.
  • 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 your organisation as a whole).
  • The Description is a short description of the attribute and may contain a URL link if needed to take you to the relevant website for more information

Getting Started

Depending on the type of tag you need to assign to your organisation or products, please find links to the following guides to assist in your next steps:

Global Attribute (Organisation level): How do I tag my organisation against a global sustainability attribute?

Supplier Attribute set up: How do I create and manage supplier sustainability attributes?

Mapping products to Global or Supplier attributes: How do I tag my products with sustainability attributes (Global and Supplier)?

Reporting

You will soon be able to find reporting on your sustainability attribute data from your Insights reporting module (not available to Trader suppliers) 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?

Supplier: How do I remove a sustainability attribute from my data?

Supplier: Sustainability - Reporting on the ESG Insights Dashboard

Contact