Improve Your Corporate Sustainability Reporting with SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management

by William Newman, Managing Principal, Newport Consulting Group (November 2009)

Walk through the key features of SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management and see how you can use it along with other parts of your SAP system for your corporate sustainability reporting needs.

Categories: Compliance, Enterprise Performance Management

Key Concept

SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management allows you to quickly aggregate information and develop the required documents to meet the goals of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for corporate sustainability reporting. Pre-selected dashboard views allow for presentation, reporting, and management uses. SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management also integrates with the SAP BusinessObjects solutions, providing reporting, dashboarding, and analytic features.

Corporate sustainability as an element of strategy and planning for corporations has been gaining ground significantly over the past decade. Buoyed by environmentally focused laws led by the EU, sustainability programs have also taken on economic elements such as access to capital and liquidity, as well as operational components from traditional quality programs. Most sustainability programs have three major components:

Economic and financial: These include the ability to reduce the consumption of raw materials into the products or services delivered to customers, the ability to access capital markets, and the long-term viability of a company vision and mission
Environmental: These include Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) along with regulations and environmental welfare, the effect the carbon footprint of an organization may have on its operations, and the effect of “cap and trade”
Social responsibility: These include the welfare of worker rights, adherence to local labor laws, fair wages in developing countries, and workplace health and safety

For a global organization, this goes beyond its identity as a good corporate citizen. In 2006, the Global Reporting Initiaitve (GRI) was created to provide guidelines and audit recommendations for organizations participating in corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) activities. These guidelines ensure a level of consistency and governance in the practice of corporate sustainability.

Despite several years into the GRI guidelines, what defines sustainability strategically to most companies depends on the company’s point of view. Figure 1 illustrates how several Fortune 500 companies running SAP ERP position their corporate sustainability programs. Although each company considers the three primary areas the GRI supports, each has a different orientation and set of actions associated with its respective program.

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