Viewing a Sustainability analysis

In Sustainability mode, you can click in the toolbar to view an interactive analysis of the BoM. The Sustainability analysis calculates Climate Change and Embodied Energy impacts for the material, manufacturing, and transport phases of the product lifecycle, taking into account manufacturing location (where specified for the BoM).

  • The analysis includes graphs that summarise the results for each indicator and lifecycle phase. You can click to see more detailed information (in graph and tabular format), and save the results as an image or CSV file.
  • If you have more than one BoM open, you can view a comparison of Sustainability indicators for each BoM.
Note: To run a Sustainability analysis or report, you must be in Sustainability mode.

Before running a Sustainability analysis or report, ensure that each component in the BoM has its quantity and mass specified correctly, and has materials and other data assigned as required. See Assigning data for Sustainability analysis.

  1. If you have more than one BoM open, ensure that the BoM you want to analyze is selected as the active tab in the BoM area.
  2. Click Analyze this BoM in the toolbar.

    The mass values and indicators for each BoM item are shown in additional columns at the right of the BoM display.

  3. In the Information panel, view the Messages tab to check for any warnings and information about missing data, values that could not be calculated, or any other limitations that apply to the results.
  4. In the Graphs tab, scroll to view the Summary graphs for each indicator, and the breakdown for each lifecycle phase.
  5. Click any of the graphs to see more detailed information.
    • Use the Indicator menu to choose an indicator and lifecycle phase to view.
    • Hover over any bar or segment of the graph to see the BoM item or lifecycle phase that it represents, the indicator value, and (where applicable) the percentage that it contributes to the total amount shown in the graph.
    • The key (to the right of the graph) shows the items that make a significant contribution to the total amount shown in the graph. Click an item in the key to remove it from the graph, or click again to reinstate it.
    • When viewing an indicator at Summary level: Click in the graph to view more detail for a lifecycle phase, or click Back to return to Summary level.
    • Click View as graph or View as table to change the display format of the results.
  6. Optional: If you have more than one BoM open, you can view a comparison of the indicator results for each BoM.
    1. Click Compare BoMs (at the top left) to select the BoMs you want to compare, and choose one of them to use as the baseline.
    2. Use the Indicator menu to choose an indicator and lifecycle phase to view.
    3. Hover over a percentage comparison bar to see the increase or decrease relative to the baseline BoM.
    4. When viewing an indicator at Summary level: Click in a bar chart to view a detailed analysis for that BoM only, or click Back to return to your original analysis.
    5. To change the baseline or choose different BoMs to compare, click the Selected BoMs panel (at the top left), and change your selection.
  7. Optional: To save a copy of the graph or table you are viewing:
    OptionDescription
    When viewing as a graph Hover over the graph, then click Download plot as a png at the top right of the graph.
    When viewing as a table Select Controls and then Export to CSV.
    The image or CSV file is saved to your Downloads folder.

For more information about the analysis results, see Sustainability analysis and reporting.

You can edit the analyzed BoM and re-run the analysis, or copy it to create a new BoM to analyze.

To download a report (in Excel format) that contains the same information as the analyzed BoM, see Viewing a report on a BoM.