Understanding Report ‘Audit trail’ sheets – Scaler

Purpose of this article

This article explains how to use the audit trail sheets that accompany Scaler reports to verify data accuracy, trace calculations, and provide documentation for auditors and consultants.

When to use this guide

You need to verify that report values match your expectations

External auditors or consultants are reviewing your sustainability data

You want to understand how a specific metric was calculated

You need to trace back the source of a particular value in a report

You're troubleshooting unexpected numbers in a report

Generating reports with audit trail

When you generate a report in the Data Collection Portal, you have the option to include audit trail sheets alongside the standard report output.

To generate a report with audit trail:

Navigate to Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Reports

Select your desired report and configure the interval settings (monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or annual)

Click Generate report

When prompted, select the option to include audit trail sheets

Wait for processing to complete, then download the report

The downloaded file will contain the standard report sheet plus several additional audit trail sheets that provide transparency into calculations, factors, and source data.

Warning

Generating reports with audit trail takes longer to process than standard reports due to the additional data included.

What's included in audit trail exports

Audit trail exports include the following sheets:

Meta-data — Report characteristics and configuration settings

Conversion factors — Volume, area, and weight conversion factors used across the platform

Location based factors — Emission factors applied for location-based GHG calculations

Market based factors — Emission factors applied for market-based GHG calculations, including supplier assignments

[Report] explanations — Calculation formulas for each metric in the report

Data export — All input data and calculated variables at asset level

Understanding the Meta-data sheet

The Meta-data sheet provides an overview of the report's configuration settings and characteristics. This helps you understand which settings influenced the final report outputs.

Key information in Meta-data:

Download timestamp — When the file was generated and processing time

Company and portfolio information — Organization name and portfolio scope

Reporting period — Year or date range covered by the report

Unit system — Metric or Imperial (determined by portfolio settings)

Location-based emission factor configuration — Which emission factor set was used (e.g., Scaler emission factors - CRREM + EPA + NGA + ESPM for the default configuration)

Market-based emission factor configuration — Which market-based factors were applied (defaults to Manual inputs or falls back to location-based if none are configured, at the meter level). This fallback behavior ensures that calculations can still proceed even when market-based data is unavailable.

Incomplete data flag — Whether the report was generate with Data Completion < 100%. If the incomplete data flag shows true, some assets do not have all required fields completed. This can result in missing values or metrics that don't add up as expected.

Emission factor configurations are managed under Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Emission Factors. The configuration selected there determines which factors appear in the audit trail.

Using the Conversion factors sheet

The Conversion factors sheet contains all conversion factors available in the Scaler platform. This includes volume-to-energy conversions, volume-to-mass conversions, area, and other unit conversions.

What's included:

Standard conversion factors (e.g., liters to kilowatt-hours, cubic meters to tonnes)

Waste-specific conversions when Waste type is filled in (e.g., glass, pallets)

Energy-specific conversions for different fuel types (e.g., propane, natural gas, fuel oil)

Source references where applicable

Important notes:

This sheet shows all conversion factors available in the platform, not just those used for your specific portfolio

Waste volume-to-mass conversions only apply when the optional Waste type field is completed in the Data Collection Portal; otherwise, Scaler uses a generic volume-to-weight conversion

Energy type-specific factors (Column F) and waste type-specific factors (Column E) are never filled in together for the same row

Tip: Use this sheet as a reference when you need to understand where conversion values come from or if you're calculating expected values manually.

Understanding Location-based factors

The Location-based factors sheet displays all location-based emission factors available in the platform for the selected set, organized by country, resource type, and year.

Key details:

Reporting year factors — Emission factors corresponding to your report's year (e.g., 2025 factors for a 2025 report)

Historical factors — Prior year factors used for like-for-like comparisons

Forward-looking factors — Future year projections used for pathways (not applied in current year reports)

Source references — Where each factor comes from (e.g., NGA, EPA, CRREM projections)

The emission factor configuration selected in the Meta-data sheet determines which factor set is displayed here. If you're using the default Scaler emission factors, the sources are automatically populated. If you're using a manual configuration, the factors you entered will appear here.

How to use this sheet for verification:

Identify the resource type and location for the consumption you're verifying

Find the corresponding emission factor for your reporting year

Multiply your consumption value (in kilowatt-hours or other energy units) by the emission factor (in kilograms CO2e per kilowatt-hour) to calculate expected GHG emissions

Note on projected emission factors

Regional databases (e.g., NGA, EPA) only publish factors for past and current years. Future projected factors come from CRREM and are used for Scaler's Roadmap Tool, not for historical reporting. Only factors matching your reporting year are applied to calculate emissions.

Checking Market-based factors and supplier assignments

The Market-based factors sheet shows market-based emission factors relevant to your organization, broken down by resource type and year.

What's included:

Market-based emission factors entered manually by users

Supplier assignments that activate market-based calculations

Asset-level meter supplier connections

Critical requirement for market-based factors:

Market-based emission factors only apply to consumption data when the corresponding meter has an assigned Supplier. If a meter does not have a supplier assigned, Scaler defaults to location-based emission factors for that meter's consumption.

Understanding supplier assignments:

The sheet includes a table showing each asset and how many of its meters are connected to suppliers. If an asset shows zero active meters with suppliers, that asset is using location-based factors for all its consumption, even if market-based factors have been configured.

To activate market-based factors for a meter:

Go to Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Emission factors → Market-based emission factors

Configure emissions

Go to Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Asset List

Select the asset and navigate to its meters

Edit the meter and select the appropriate Supplier from the dropdown

See article: Configuring market-based emission factors for more detailed instructions.

Why market-based factors might not be applying: If you've configured market-based emission factors but they're not being used, meters lack supplier assignments. Check the supplier assignment table in this sheet to identify which assets need meter-level supplier configuration.

Tracing calculations with GRI explanations and Data export

The [Report] explanations sheet and Data export sheet work together to provide complete transparency into how each metric is calculated.

Using the GRI explanations sheet

The explanations sheet lists every metric in the report and provides:

Metric location — Row number or section reference in the report

Metric name — What the metric represents

Calculation methodology — The formula used to calculate the metric

Filter conditions — Any filters applied (e.g., like-for-like asset selection)

Variable names — The specific variables from the data export used in the calculation

Example formula structure:

TOTAL_ENERGY = ELECTRICITY + NATURAL_GAS + DISTRICT_HEATING

The formula uses variable names that correspond to columns in the Data export sheet.

Using the Data export sheet

The Data export sheet contains all input data and calculated variables at the asset level. Each row represents one asset, and columns contain variable values used in report calculations.

Key features:

Asset-level granularity for identifying outliers or missing data

Aggregated values for the reporting period (monthly for monthly reports, annual for annual reports)

All variables referenced in the explanations sheet formulas

Reporting year filter to separate multi-year data

To verify a calculation:

Find the metric in the GRI explanations sheet and note the formula and variable names

Go to the Data export sheet and filter by the relevant reporting year

Locate the variable columns referenced in the formula

Sum or aggregate the values according to the formula to verify they match the report output

Example verification workflow:

If you want to verify total energy consumption for 2025:

Find the formula in GRI explanations: total_energy = electricity + natural_gas + district_heating

Go to Data export and filter Column A (Reporting year) to 2025

Locate columns for electricity, natural_gas, and district_heating

Sum each column across all assets

Add the three sums together to get total energy

Compare this value to the report output

Tip: Use the Data export sheet to identify specific assets driving unusual values. Filter or sort by variable columns to find outliers, missing data, or unexpected patterns.

Troubleshooting & common mistakes

Report values don't match expectations → Check the Meta-data sheet for incomplete data flags. Assets with missing required fields may produce incomplete metrics.

Market-based factors aren't applying → Verify that meters have suppliers assigned in the Market based factors sheet's supplier assignment table. Without supplier assignments, location-based factors are used instead.

Can't trace a formula back to source data → Ensure you're filtering the Data export sheet by the correct reporting year. Multi-year reports include data for multiple periods, and filtering is essential.

Conversion factors seem incorrect → Check whether optional fields like Waste type are filled in. Generic conversions apply when optional fields are empty, while specific conversions require field completion.

Forward-looking emission factors appear in location-based sheet → These projected factors are used for pathways analysis, not for calculating current year emissions. Focus on the factors corresponding to your reporting year.

Additional resources

Link to article: "How to generate reports"

Link to article: "Configuring location-based emission factors"

Link to article: "Configuring market-based emission factors"