Create an ESG Program from a Structured Metric File

As you implement the Workiva ESG solution, you may use a spreadsheet — called a Structured Metric File (SMF) — to set up an ESG Program to curate values to disclose in your ESG reporting. While you can manually create an ESG Program, the SMF enables Workiva to help automatically build your ESG Program and its metrics.

With the SMF, you'll specify:

• The topics to include in your report, organized in hierarchical sections
• The qualitative or quantitative values to collect for each topic
• Related ESG Explorer content, such as standards or disclosures from common frameworks
• Custom tags and dimensions to further categorize metrics or their values, respectively

Step 1. Determine topics to disclose

Before you start to complete the SMF, perform a materiality assessment to decide what you want to include in your ESG reporting. For example, consider topics:

• Previously included in your ESG reporting
• Recommended for all companies, based on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Universal Standards or United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG)
• Recommended for your industry, based on Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) or a GRI Sector Standard
• Meaningful to your investors, customers, and other stakeholders

Tip: To help identify the metrics to collect for a topic, explore related guidance and standards in ESG Explorer.

After you determine the topics to disclose, identify the metrics to collect for each. You'll use these topics and related metrics to build your ESG Program from the SMF.

Step 2. Configure the SMF

From the Configuration section of the SMF, enter general information about the ESG Program:

1. Enter a name and description to help identify the ESG Program.
2. In Period start and Period end, enter the first and last dates of the ESG Program's initial reporting period, in a YYYY-MM-DD format.
3. In Default data provider, enter the full name or email address of the workspace member to assign metric values' data collection by default.

   Tip: In addition to the required default data provider, you can assign a custom provider for each metric value.

4. To track multiple values for a single metric based on a custom dimension such as location, business unit, or demographic, enter each dimension as a separate row at the end of the sheet:
   • In Dimension name, enter the name of the custom dimension, such as Location or Gender.
   • In Dimension type, enter type of value the dimension supports, such as Text or Number. 
   • In Dimension value, enter the possible values for the dimension as a comma-separated list, such as Male,Female,Non-binary for a Gender dimension.

Step 3. Enter the topics and metrics

From the Metrics section of the SMF, set up the topics to disclose, grouped in sections and with metrics to track their values:

• Topics indicate the specific ESG factors that the Program addresses; for example, an Environmental section may include topics such as Energy and Waste, while a Social section may include topics like Diversity & inclusion (D&I) and Human rights.
• Sections categorize topics by general themes, such as Environmental, Social, or Governance—or Planet, People, and Policy. To further categorize topics, you can use sections within sections, such as a Greenhouse gas emissions section within a Planet section for topics based on Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions.
• Metrics curate and track values for each topic. For example, a Scope 1 emissions topic may have separate metrics to collect values for Refrigerants, Mobile combustion, and Stationary combustion.

1. In the Metric column, list the names of each metric to collect for the ESG Program's topics.
2. For each metric, enter its related topic and its topic's section hierarchy.

Note: For each metric, enter its topic and at least one section — in Section 1 — to successfully create the ESG Program.

In the ESG Program generated from the SMF:

• The hierarchy of sections and topics appear as the outline
  
• The metrics appear in the context of their respective topics
  

Step 4. Enter the metrics' details

From the Metrics section, enter details about each metric:

1. In Metric description, enter an explanation or more context about the metric.
   
2. In Metric notes, enter any information about the metric's value, such as general context for the report's narrative or to appear as a footnote.
3. In Metric value type, enter the type of data to collect for the metric — Text, Number, Currency, or Date.
4. In Units, select the unit of measurement for any Number or Currency value.

   Tip: The Units section of the SMF contains the units of measurement available. 

5. To assign a value's data collection to a workspace member other than the Default data provider, enter their full name or email address in Data provider.
   

   Note: Only one workspace member can be assigned as a value's data provider.

6. In Data approver, assign workspace members to approve the value collected:
   • To assign only one member, enter their full name or email address.
   • To assign one of multiple members to approve the value by a shared due date, enter their full names or email addresses as a comma-separated list, such as homer@org.com,marge@org.com,bart@org.com,lisa@org.com.
   • To assign multiple members to approve the value through a series of approval steps with their own due dates, enter their full names or email addresses, with each step separated by a pipe (|). If one of multiple members can approve the value as part of an approval step, separate their names or email addresses with a comma (,). For example:

     homer@org.com,marge@org.com | bart@org.com | lisa@org.com

7. Enter any instructions to help the data provider and approvers complete their tasks.
8. In Provider date and Approver date, enter the due dates for the value's collection and approval in a YYYY-MM-DD format. If the value has multiple approval steps, separate each step's due date with a pipe (|), or enter a single date to apply to all steps.

   Note: If a value has multiple approval steps, enter the same number of pipe (|| delimiters in Data approver and Approver date. To not set a due date for an approval step, leave a blank between its corresponding delimiters — such as 2024-15-01 | | 2024-15-03, to not set a date for the middle step.

9. To align a metric with a standard or disclosure in ESG Explorer, enter its title in the column for its framework — GRI, SASB, UNSDG, Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), or CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project).

   Note: While ESG Explorer provides deprecated and pending versions of standard and disclosures, you can align a metric with only its current version from the SMF. To align with a deprecated or pending version, edit the metric's Related ESG content from the ESG Program.

   Tip: When you align a metric with a standard or disclosure, you can refer to its content from the metric and its related data collection or approval task in Workiva Tasks.

   
   

   Tip: To align a metric with a framework or questionnaire not included in ESG Explorer, create a program tag based on its content.

10. From the Program tag columns, add custom metadata about a metric, such as a company goal or additional ESG framework it aligns with. To create a tag, enter its name following Program tag: in the header, then enter the appropriate value in the metric's row.

    Tip: If a metric has multiple values for a tag, enter them as a comma-separated list.

11. To collect multiple values for a metric:
    • For values based on a custom dimension, select the applicable criteria — such as location or demographic — in the Dimension column.

      Tip: You set up custom dimensions from the Configuration section.

    • For quarterly or monthly values, select the applicable interval in the Frequency column.

In the ESG Program generated from the SMF, you can manage these details and track data collection from the metric.

Step 5. Create the ESG Program

After you set up the Metrics section, contact your Workiva Customer Success Manager (CSM) to create an ESG Program based on your SMF. 

From the ESG Program, you can:

• Attach reference files to metrics for additional context or guidance.
• Send tasks to workspace members assigned to collect and approve metric values.
• Track the data collection status of the metrics' values.
• Adjust ESG reporting needs as your topic materiality evolves.