Session 3: finding the data Back

Data collection

The ISA software requires your organisation’s expenditure account. Organisational expenditure is the input from which the ISA methodology calculates your triple bottom line / sustainability account.

The output is a comprehensive sustainability report across a wide range of indicators that includes aggregate figures, detailed breakdowns and rankings of indicators into supply chain contributions.

Two sets of information are required. One is your direct (onsite) impacts as an organisation, such as water use, land use, gaseous emissions and employment; the other is your upstream impacts which are embodied and can be calculated from your expenditure, and are calculated from your purchasing information.

The first time you use ISA you may have to track down sources of data. You will need to contact

MyNote: Have document for download to record information

For direct impacts

See the facilities manager/maintenance branch/engineering to find out

• the land area that you occupy (i.e. how many sites and roughly the size of the sites) there may be maps of the organisation that provide this;
• water use (may already be recorded in company reports);
• electricity bill (kwh)
• gas bill (MJ)
• fuel use for corporate fleet (L)
• emissions (this may already be reported on or could be derived from purchasing data).

Ask HR and/or payroll for

• summarised total of salaries and wages paid by your organisation for the year of the report (i.e. the financial year);
• the number of employees, and convert all part time employees into full time equivale

For indirect impacts

Ask purchasing for

• the summary purchase data (see below) for the year of the report;
• data on the production origin of your purchases, whether they’re imported from overseas, or whether they’re purchased interstate.

Talk to sales to collect

• data on your sales, and where they go (own state, inter-state or export, to other businesses, to the government, or to consumers);

Consult the annual report or your accountant to

• find what tax your organisation has paid (this is in the annual report for listed companies or, for unlisted, your accountant will tell you);
• identify annual profit (gross operating surplus)
• identify gifts, donations, bequests etc.
  

Next: Classification of data