The table U.N. SDGs contains all 17 sustainable development goals that are defined by the United Nations. These goals are part of this template to offer some guidance and recommendations to organizations when they define Targets, Initiatives and Actions.

The first step your organization needs to take is defining Targets. Each target must be linked to a sustainable development goal (SDG) and must be defined using the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) methodology. If a target is not SMART, it’s not possible to set a Target value and calculate the Percentage completed.

Once the targets are defined, you set up Initiatives that will help you to reach the targets. Each initiative must have an Estimated impact. The Actual impact can be calculated once the initiative has finished.

To support the execution of the initiatives, you need to define one or multiple Actions for them. An action is a detailed step that is either completed or not. Each action has a staff member that has the final responsibility for the execution of the action.

Database: ESG Management

U.N. SDGs

A table with the sustainable development goals (SDG) that are set by the United Nations.

Fields

• Name. The goal’s name.
• Category. The goal’s category which is either environmental, social or governance.
• Description. The goal’s description.
• Icon. The goal’s icon.
• ESG Targets. This linked field to the Targets table indicates which goals have targets assigned to them.
• Amount of ESG targets current year. This formula field calculates the number of targets that are set for the goal in the current year.
• Total amount of ESG targets. This formula field calculates the number of targets that are set for the goal in the past, current year or future.

Views

• All sustainable development goals. Displays all SDGs in the order that they are set by the U.N.
• Social goals. Displays the social SDGs.
• Environmental goals. Displays the environmental SDGs.
• Governance goals. Displays the governance SDGs.
• Sustainable goals with targets. Displays the SDGs that have one or more targets in the past, current year or future.
• Sustainable development goals by category. Displays all SDGs in a kanban stacked by their Category.

Targets

The targets are set by your organization. This is the major difference with the goals that are set by the United Nations. It’s important to set SMART targets so that it is possible to measure the progress and check if they have been reached.

Fields

• Name. The target’s name.
• Description. The target’s description.
• From. This rollup field shows the earliest start date of the Initiatives that are linked to the target.
• Until. This rollup field shows the latest end date of the Initiatives that are linked to the target.
• Baseline. A number without a unit that describes the current situation in the organisation. The Unit is not mentioned here so that the field can be used in formula’s to measure progress.
• Baseline unit. A single select field that offers meaning to the Baseline field by setting an absolute or relative unit.
• Baseline with unit. A formula field that concatenates the baseline and the unit. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in the application builder.
• Target. A number without a unit that must be reached to complete the target. The unit is set in the field Target unit. The reason to split these values is to use the field in formulas to measure progress.
• Target unit. A single select field that offers meaning to the Target field by setting an absolute or relative unit.
• Target with unit. A formula field that concatenates the target and the unit. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in the application builder.
• Target reached at. This formula field calculates the increase or decrease that is needed to successfully complete the target. This is normally done by subtracting the Target from Baseline. However, the formula uses a different calculation when the Target unit is set to % reduction or % increase. In that case it calculates the absolute value that must be reduced or increased based on the percentage set by the Target unit. This ensures flexibility in the definition of the targets.
• Current state. This rollup field summerizes the Current impact from all the Initiatives that are linked to the target.
• Target %. A formula field that calculates the percentage of the target that has been reached based on the Current Impact from all the Initiatives.
• Time %. A formula field that calculates the percentage of the time that has passed to complete the target.
• Status symbol. A formula field that returns a coloured dot indicating of the target is on schedule or not. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in the application builder.
• ESG Initiatives. This linked field to the Initiatives tables sums up all the initiatives that has been taken to reach the target.
• SDG. This linked field refers to the U.N. SDG that is associated with the target.
• Icon . A file field that holds an icon for the target.
• Short. The target’s short name. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in the application builder.

Views

• All ESG targets. Displays all targets sorted in chronological order of the earliest start date of an initiative indicated by the From field.
• Targets that look completed (> 75%). Displays the targets where the Target % is higher than 75. Depending on the type of target, this is a good indication that the target is completed, however you should always double check this because not every target’s progress can be calculated.
• Targets that have passed the deadline. Displays the targets where the deadline of the latest initiative is in the past. This is indicated by the Until field.
• Target without initiatives. Displays the targets that have no initiatives defined.

Initiatives

Initiatives define the major actions you plan as an organization to reach the ESG targets. Each initiative must have an impact. The sum or averages of these impacts determine if a target is reached or not.

Fields

• Name. This formula field concatenates the Title of the initiative together with the Short name of the Target.
• Title. The initiative’s title.
• Description. The initiative’s description.
• From. This rollup field hold the start date of the earliest action defined for the initiative.
• Until. This rollup field hold the end date of the latest action defined for the initiative.
• Status. This formula field shows a status depending on the Time progress % and Impact progress % fields.
• Estimated impact. The initiative’s estimated impact.
• Current impact. The initiative’s current impact. This field holds intermediate results and should be updated on a regular base.
• Unit. This formula field serves as a lookup field to the Targets table showing the unit of the Estimated impact and Current impact.
• Actions status. This lookup field shows a checkbox if an action is completed and a cross if the action is not completed.
• Impact progress %. This formula field calculates the percentage of completion of the initiative.
• Time progress %. This formula field calculates the percentage of time that has already elapsed for the initiative.
• ESG Target. This linked field refers to the Target that must be reached with the initiative.
• ESG Target name. This rollup field returns the name of the ESG Target. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in a group by view.
• ESG Actions. This linked field holds all Actions the are defined for a successful completion of the initiative.
• All actions completed. This rollup field is checked if all Actions for the initiative are marked as completed.
• All actions completed symbol. This formula field shows a corresponding symbol for the All actions completed field. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in the application builder.

Views

All views have a coloured border to indicate the Status.

• All ESG initiatives. Displays all initiatives sorted in chronological order of Until.
• All ESG initiatives grouped by target. Displays all initiatives grouped by their ESG Target.
• All ESG initiatives grouped by status. Displays all initiatives grouped by their Status.
• All ESG initiatives grouped by status and target. Displays all initiatives, first grouped by their Status, next by their ESG Target.
• ESG initiatives with all actions completed. Displays only the initiatives where all the Actions are marked as completed.
• Completed ESG initiatives. Displays all initiatives that are finished.
• Active ESG initiatives. Displays all initiatives that are active.
• Scheduled ESG initiatives. Displays all initiatives that have not been started.

Actions

Actions describe the detailed steps that are taken by Staff members to make an Initiative to a success. The final result of an action can either be completed or not.

Fields

• Name. The action’s name.
• Description. The action’s description.
• Start. The action’s start date.
• Deadline. The action’s deadline in a date field.
• Days until deadline. This formula field calculates the number of days until the deadline is passed.
• Status. This single select field holds the current status of the action and is set manually.
• Completed. This formula field returns a boolean is the status is set to Successful completion.
• Status symbol. This formula field shows a corresponding symbol for the Completed field. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in the application builder.
• ESG Initiative. This linked field refers to the Initiative where the action is part of.
• ESG Initiative name. This rollup field returns the name of the ESG Initiative. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in a group by view.
• ESG Target. A formula field that looks up the name of the corresponding ESG Target for the action.
• Responsibility. This linked field refers to the Staff member that has the responsibility over the execution of the action.
• Responsibility name. This rollup field returns the name of the Staff member. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in a group by view.
• Comments. Comments that are made about the action.
• Action updates. This linked field to the Action updates table shows an overview of all updates that have been written about the action.

Views

All views have a coloured border to indicate actions that are not completed and where the deadline has past.

• All actions. Displays all actions sorted in chronological order of the Deadline.
• All actions grouped by target and initiative. Displays all actions first grouped by the ESG Target, next by their Initiative.
• All actions grouped by staff. Displays all actions grouped by the responsible staff member.
• Actions with deadline this month. Displays the actions with the deadline in the current month.
• Actions with deadline this year. Displays the actions with the deadline in the current year.
• Active actions. Displays the actions where the current date is between the start and deadline.
• Completed actions. Displays the actions that are marked as completed.
• Incomplete actions with beyond deadline. Displays actions that are not marked as completed and where the deadline has passed.
• Actions by status. Displays all actions in a kanban view, stacked by their Status.
• Actions start date. Displays all actions in a calendar view, based on their Start date.
• Actions end date.Displays all actions in a calendar view, based on their Deadline.

Action updates

This table contains updates about the Actions. Each update describes a step that is taken to complete the action.

Fields

• Message. The update’s message.
• Action. This linked field refers to the Action table that is related to the update.
• Action name. This rollup field returns the name of the Action. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in a group by view.
• Staff member. This linked field refers to the Staff table and holds the staff member that made the update.
• Staff member name. This rollup field returns the name of the Staff member. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used in a group by view.
• Created on. This created on field shows the date and time the update was created.
• Created on format. This formula field format the date. This field is hidden by default since it is mostly used by the application builder.

Views

• All action updates. Displays all action updates sorted in descending order of the Created on date.
• All action updates grouped by action. Displays all action updates grouped by the action.
• All action updates grouped by staff member. Displays all action updates grouped by the staff member that wrote the update.

Staff

A staff member is someone who works in the organization. The table contains both personal information and information about Actionsand Action updates.

Fields

• Name. The staff member’s first and last name.
• Picture. The staff member’s profile picture.
• Phone. The staff member’s internal phone number.
• Email. The staff member’s email address.
• Password. This password field is by default set to template. This password field is used by the Application Builder.
• ESG Actions. This linked field to the Actions table indicates the actions that are assigned to the staff member.
• Assigned Actions. This count field shows the number of Actions that are assigned to the staff member.
• Action updates. This linked field to the Action updates table shows an overview of all the updates the staff member made.

Views

• All staff members. Displays all staff members sorted in chronological order of Assigned actions.
• Staff members with assigned actions. Displays the staff members that have one or multiple actions assigned to them.
• Staff members without assigned actions. Displays the staff members that do not have any action assigned to them.
• Gallery: all staff members. Displays all staff members in a gallery sorted in chronological order of Assigned actions.

Application: ESG Portal

Login

This page allows to user to identify themselves.

Events

• After login: the authenticated user is redirected to the Homepage.

Homepage

This page serves as the dashboard for the application. It shows an overview of all the targets and their current progress, actions that are assigned to the authenticated user and actions with deadlines in the current month or year.

It is possible to click on a target, initiative or action for further details.

Data sources

• All targets. All Targets in the database.
• To me. All Actions of the authenticated user.
• This month. The Actions with a deadline this month.
• This year. The Actions with a deadline this year.

Target

This page shows all the details of a target together with the initiatives that are defined to reach the target.

Data sources

• Target. A single Target based on the ID.
• Initiatives. All Initiatives that are linked to the target.

Initiative

This page shows all the details of an initiative together with the actions that defined to complete each initiative.

Data sources

• Initiative. A single Initiative based on the ID.
• Actions. All Actions that are linked to the initiative.

Staff

This page shows all the details of a staff member together with the actions that are assigned to the staff member.

Data sources

• Staff. A single Staff member based on the ID.
• Actions. All Actions that are assigned to the staff member.

Action

This page shows all the details of an action together with all the updates made for the action. It is possible to add a new update.

Data sources

• Action. A single Action based on the ID.
• Updates. All Action updates that are made for the action.

Events

• On submit:
  • adds a new update to the Action updates table.
  • Refreshes the data source to show the new update.