When you report Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) or sustainability factors, your disclosures may require narrative Text responses. Just like quantitative Number, Currency, or Percent values, you can curate these qualitative Text values in Sustainability Program, from sources that best support the responses. In short:
- Collect brief, plain-text values through Workiva Tasks or a connected source Spreadsheet.
- Collect lengthy or stylized values through a connected Document, such as a source file or the final report.
Brief, plain-text values
Use Workiva Tasks or a connected source Spreadsheet to collect Text values that are:
- Brief, up to just a few words – such as an entry within a disclosure table
- Plain text, with no styling
- Disclosed as-is in the final report, with no need to wordsmith or edit
Tip: If you don't connect a value to a source file, its assignee can prepare their response through Workiva Tasks. To learn more, view Collect metric values in Sustainability Program.
When you roll forward a Program to a new reporting year, you can choose whether to:
- Copy values collected through Workiva Tasks as a starting point for the new year's responses.
- Retain connections to source Spreadsheets connected to these values.
Note: When you include a source Spreadsheet in a roll forward, the Program creates copies of the Spreadsheet and all of its linked sources, and automatically connects the value to the copy as its source for the new year. To avoid these copies, exclude the Spreadsheet from the roll forward, then connect the values to their respective sources for the new year.
Lengthy or stylized values
For Text values that are more lengthy narratives, connect content from a Document.
When you craft the qualitative response in the Document:
- Workspace members can collaborate on the content as needed, free from the confines of a Spreadsheet cell or Value field better suited for a short response.
- You can include quantitative values from other metrics within the content, such as to provide context about them or to help inform your narrative.
Note: If a Text value is stylized — such as with bold or italics — or requires edits throughout the design process, you may want to craft the response directly in the final report and then connect its content to the value as a means of curation.
If you connect a Document to a value, you can choose whether to include it when you roll forward a Program to a new reporting year:
- If you include the Document, the Program creates copies of it and all of its linked source files, and automatically connects the value to the copy as its source for the new year.
Note: If you connect a final report to a metric value and then include it when you roll forward to a new reporting year, the Program creates copies of all of its linked sources, such as your Factbook spreadsheet and any linked financial spreadsheets. To avoid these copies, exclude the final report from the roll forward.
- If you exclude the Document, you can connect the value to it or another source file for the new year.
Related articles
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