Download carbon accounting data from Persefoni® for ESG reporting

With Persefoni,  your company can easily calculate, analyze, and manage its carbon footprint. From Wdata, you can build a chain to download carbon accounting data from Persefoni and update tables with the latest datasets, such as for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting in Workiva.

When you run the chain, you can select the type of data to download from Persefoni:

• Activities, for all investment and lending activity used to calculate your carbon footprint
• Facilities, for your company's locations associated with transactions
• Emissions, for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with transactions

Tip: To download all data types from Persefoni at once, you can create an optional chain to run this chain multiple times at once.

Prerequisites

To build this chain, you'll need these connectors:

• Persefoni connector
• Workiva connector
• JSON connector
• Tabular Transformation connector

Note: All of this chain's commands use the default CloudRunner. No GroundRunners are needed.

Before you run the chain, identify:

• The IDs for the Persefoni resource group and language of the data to download.
• The IDs of the Wdata tables to upload activity, facility, and emission data into.

Step 1. Create the chain

1. In Chain Builder, from Chains, click Create, Create chain.
   
2. Under Setup, enter a name and description to help identify the chain and its intent.
   
3. To enable the chain to run multiple times at once, select Allow concurrent runs.
4. Under Variables, add a variable for the ID each Wdata table to upload Persefoni data to, based on data type:
   • activity_table_ID
   • facility_table_ID
   • emission_table_ID
5. In Value, enter the default table ID for each variable.
6. Click Save.

Step 2. Start with a Runtime Inputs event

To prompt for the type of data to download from Persefoni each time the chain runs, start with a Runtime inputs event:

1. Move Runtime Inputs from under Trigger Events to Start.
2. Select the Runtime Inputs event, and click Edit.
3. Click Add input, and select DropdownField.
4. Enter a name and description to help identify the input's context of a Persefoni data type.
   
5. Select Required.
6. Add each option for the input, and click Save:

   Value	Display name
   emissions	Emissions
   facilities	Facilities
   activities	Activities

Step 3. Add logic to run commands based on data type

To run commands depending on the desired Persefoni data, add conditional logic and groups for each runtime input value—Emissions, Facilities, and Activities: 

1. Move Conditional from under Events to the canvas, and drag a link to it from Start.
2. Select the Conditional event, and click Edit.
3. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the context of Emissions data.
   
4. Under Conditions, add a rule based on the input selection of Emissions, and click Save:

   Data type	Variable	Operator	Value
   Select String.	Select the runtime input variable under Trigger.	Select =.	Enter emissions.

5. Move Command group to the canvas, and drag a link to it from the Conditional event.
6. Select the command group, and click Edit.
7. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to identify its context of Emissions data, and click Save.
8. Move another Conditional from under Events to the canvas, and drag a link to it from Start.
9. Select this Conditional event, and click Edit.
10. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the context of Facilities data.
    
11. Under Conditions, add a rule based on the input selection of Facilities, and click Save:

    Data type	Variable	Operator	Value
    Select String.	Select the variable under Trigger, Runtime inputs.	Select =.	Enter facilities.

12. Move two more command groups to the canvas, and drag a link to each from the Facilities Conditional event.
13. For each command group, click Edit, enter a name and description to identify the context of its  data (Facilities or Activities, respectively), and click Save. 
14. To run the Activities command group only when the runtime input is not Emissions or Facilities, double-click its link, select Error for Edit link condition, and click Close.
    

Step 4. Add commands to remove any datasets from each table

To prepare each Wdata table for the latest data from Persefoni, build these commands three times— once for each command group of Emissions, Facilities, or Activities—to remove any existing datasets:

1. Under BizApps, select Workiva, and move List files to the canvas.
2. Drag a link from Group start of the command group to the List files command.
3. Select the List files command, and click Edit.
4. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intended data.
   
5. Enter the command's properties, and click Save:

   Property	Value
   Connector	Select the Workiva connector to use.
   Table ID	Select the chain variable for the ID of the table to import the data into. For example, for the Wdata table to upload Emissions into, select the chain variable for the Emissions table's ID.

6. Under BizApps, select JSON, and move Array to CSV to the canvas.
7. Drag a link from the List files command to the Array to CSV command.
8. Select the Array to CSV command, and click Edit.
9. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to convert the list of the table's datasets to a comma-separated values (CSV) format.
   
10. Enter the command's properties:

    Property	Value
    Connector	Select the JSON connector to use.
    JSON data	Select the Files list output of the List files command.
    Multi-value delimiter	Enter a comma (,).
    Preview result	Select this checkbox.

11. Add columns for IDs and names:
    
    

    Column name	JSONpath
    id	.id
    name	.name

12. In Delimiter, select Comma, and click Save.
13. Under BizApps, select Tabular Transformation, and move Advanced query to the canvas.
14. Drag a link from the Array to CSV command to the Advanced query command.
15. Select the Advanced query command, and click Edit.
16. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to query the table's datasets.
    
17. Select the Tabular Transformation connector to use.
18. Under Tables, add the file with the data to query:

    Property	Value
    File	Select the Converted file output of the Array to CSV command.
    Table name	Enter a.

19. Enter the command's properties, and click Save:

    Property	Value
    Query	Enter select * from a.
    Input delimiter	Select Comma.
    Output delimiter	Select Comma.
    Preview results	Select this checkbox.

20. To run the next commands only when the table has an existing dataset, move Conditional from under Events to the canvas.
21. Drag a link from the Advanced query command to the Conditional event.
22. Select the Conditional event, and click Edit.
23. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to check for datasets.
    
24. Under Conditions, add a rule based on whether the table already has a dataset, and click Save:

    Data type	Variable	Operator	Value
    Select Integer.	Select the Record count output of the Advanced query command.	Select >=.	Enter 1.

25. Under BizApps, select Workiva, and move Un-import file from table to the canvas.
26. Drag a link from the new Conditional event to the Un-import file from table command.
27. Select the Un-import file from table command, and click Edit.
28. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to un-import datasets.
    
29. Enter the command's properties:

    Property	Value
    Connector	Select the same Workiva connector as earlier.
    Table ID	Select the chain variable for the ID of the table to import data into.
    File ID	Select the Files list output of the List files command.

30. In the File ID field, click the Files list output, and apply a transformation:
    
    

    Transformation	Output	Value
    Select Get value from JSON.	Select Text.	Enter 0 and id.

31. Click Save.
32. Under BizApps, select Workiva, and move Delete file to the canvas.
33. Drag a link from the Un-import file from table command to the Delete file command.
34. Select the Delete file command, and click Edit.
35. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to delete datasets.
    
36. Enter the command's properties, and click Save:

    Property	Value
    Connector	Select the same Workiva connector as earlier.
    File ID	Select ID from the File import output of the Un-import file from table command.

Step 5. Add commands to download and upload Persefoni data

To pull and upload the latest data from Persefoni, build these commands three times— once for each command group of Emissions, Facilities, or Activities:

1. Under BizApps, select Persefoni, and move Fetch transactions to the canvas.
2. Drag a link from Group start of the command group to the Fetch transactions command.

   Note: Since both the Fetch transactions and List files commands link to Group start, they'll start at the same time when the group runs.

3. Select the Fetch transactions command, and click Edit.
4. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to download the respective data type.
   
5. Enter the command's properties, and click Save:

   Property	Value
   Connector	Select the Persefoni connector to use.
   Resource group ID	Enter the ID of the Persefoni resource group to download from.
   Named query	Select the same data type as the command group—Emissions, Facilities, or Activities.
   Language ID	Enter the language ID of the data to download.

6. Under BizApps, select Workiva, and move Create file to the canvas.
7. Drag a link from the Fetch transactions command to the Create file command.
8. Select the Create file command, and click Edit.
9. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to create a comma-separated values (CSV) file of the data.
   
10. Enter the command's properties, and click Save:
    

    Property	Value
    Connector	Select the Workiva connector to use.
    Table ID	Select the chain variable for the ID of the table to import the data into. For example, for the Wdata table to upload Emissions into, select the chain variable for the Emissions table's ID.
    File	Select the Fetched transactions output of the Fetch transactions command.
    Name	Enter the name for the created dataset. For example, for Emissions data, enter emissions.csv.

11. Under BizApps, select Workiva, and move Import file into table to the canvas.
12. Drag a link from the Create file command to the Import file into table command.
13. Select the Import file to table command, and click Edit.
14. Under Basic info, enter a name and description to help identify the intent to import the dataset into the Wdata table.
    
15. Enter the command's properties, and click Save:
    

    Property	Value
    Connector	Select the same Workiva connector as earlier.
    Table ID	Select the same chain variable as the Create file command.
    File ID	Select ID from the Result output of the Create file command.

16. Drag links from both the previous Conditional event and Delete file command to the Create file command.
17. To skip the Un-import file from table and Delete file commands when there is no existing dataset, double-click the link between the Conditional event and Create file command, and select Error for Edit link condition, and click Close.
    
    

Step 6. Publish and run the chain

After you set up the command groups for each data type, enable the chain to run:

1. Click Publish.
2. Enter any comment about its publication, and click Publish.

To run the chain:

1. From Build, Chains, select Edit from the chain's menu.
2. Click Chain Settings, enter the table IDs in their respective variables, and click Save.
3. Click Execute and Run with inputs.
4. Select the type of data to download from Persefoni, and click Start.
   

Step 7. Create optional chain to start concurrent runs for all data types

When you run the chain, it downloads only the data type selected for the runtime input. To download all data types from Persefoni at once, create a second chain that starts multiple runs at the same time:

1. In Chain Builder, from Chains, click Create, Create chain.
   
   
2. Under Setup, enter a name and description to help identify the chain and its intent.
   
3. To enable the chain to run multiple times at once, select Allow concurrent runs.
4. Click Save.
5. Move Command group to Start.
6. Move three Run chain events to the canvas, one for each data type—Emissions, Facilities, and Activities.
7. Drag a link from Group start to each Run chain event.
8. For each Run chain event, click Edit, set it up for its respective data type, and click Save:
   
   

   Property	Value
   Name	Enter a name to identify the context of its data type.
   Chain to run	Select the chain created earlier.
   Chain runtime inputs	Select the respective data type—Emissions, Facilities, or Activities.

9. Click Publish.
10. Enter any comment about its publication, and click Publish.