Who this is for
Anyone who has imported activity data into a category and now has to attach an emission factor to each row. Nothing can be calculated until this is done.
Before you start
Matching runs whether or not your data came with units. Where units are missing, ODOS assumes kilograms while it works out which rows matter most, then asks you to review the units afterwards and shows you the unit the emission factor you picked expects.
Steps
Check your review settings
You do not review every row. ODOS proposes an emission factor for all of them and then flags the ones material enough to be worth your attention. Settings, at the top right of the category page, decides which those are.
- Select Settings.
- Threshold % is the share of your data you review. At the default of 80, the rows that together account for 80% of the selected metric are the ones flagged — your largest contributors, not a sample.
- Top matches is how many candidates the matcher offers you per row. The default is 5.
- Language of the descriptions is set to detect automatically. The emission factor catalogue is in English, and telling ODOS which language your descriptions are written in produces better matches than letting it guess.
- Metrics decides what counts as material: Emissions (EF × Quantity) by default, or Quantity, or Emission factor. Tick more than one and Match review gives you a tab for each.
- Select Save.
These settings apply to the whole assessment, not only the category you are on. Different business units buy different things, so the right threshold for one is not always right for another.
Run matching
- Select Calculate, then Run matching.
- Choose All items to go over every row, or Only unconfirmed to leave matches you have already confirmed alone.
- Wait for the progress count to finish.
Rows that are identical in your file — the same product description from the same vendor, say — are collapsed into one row here. You make the decision once, not once per line.
Review the units
If your data arrived without units, a Unit review button appears with a count of what needs attention. Select it, add or edit the units, and the button disappears once they are all done.
You can do this before or after reviewing matches. Changing a unit can change which rows are material, so the review list may look different afterwards.
Review and confirm the matches
- Select Review matching.
- Each row shows its description, the emission factor ODOS matched it to, and a Matching score — confidence from 1 to 100%.
- Keep the match, or open the actions dropdown for a shortlist of the next closest candidates.
- If none of them is right, use Search to find a specific emission factor. You can also create a custom emission factor, if your vendor has given you their own figure, or use the category average instead.
- Select Confirm. The row leaves the review list, and ODOS records who confirmed the match and when.
Calculate the category
Select Calculate, then Calculate category. If any flagged row is still unconfirmed, ODOS returns an error rather than calculating.
How to confirm it worked
A success message tells you the calculation has run and offers you a route straight to the results.
Any row still without an emission factor keeps its Alert on the category page. A scope reaches Completed once every category in it has been collected and matched.
Common problems
A high-scoring match that is the wrong thing. The matching score measures how closely the wording fits, not whether the factor suits your purchase. Producing a mineral and buying one are different activities with very different emission factors, and a confident match can still be the wrong one. Read the factor, not just the score.
Calculate category returns an error. Review matching is not finished. Go back and confirm the rows still on the list.
You change the data after calculating. You are free to, but the figures do not update on their own. The assessment's Overview tab shows the category as New data, not recalculated until you run the calculation again.