Successfully managing your Sustainability program in ServiceNow ESG Management (#ESGM) involves a series of structured steps, each with specific tasks and responsibilities. Here’s a simplified checklist to guide you through the process and ensure your program gets up and running smoothly.
1. Installation: Get Started
The first step is to install the ESG Management application. Program managers (with the sn_esg.program_manager role) are responsible for downloading and setting up the software. This is the foundation that enables you to begin managing your ESG data and tasks. If you’re not sure which users should be assigned to which roles, this list of the tasks each role can perform can help you ensure you’re giving the right permissions to the right team members.
2. Program Manager Tasks: Define Your Core Components
The first step after installation is for program managers to define the core elements of the ESG program. Key tasks include:
- Creating material topics: Document the most relevant ESG issues for your organization
- Setting goals and targets: Establish measurable objectives and targets to guide progress in alignment with your material topics
- Creating emission activities and emission factors: Outline activities related to emissions and add appropriate emission factors. Curious about what emission factors are available through ServiceNow? Check out the Content Accelerator in your instance to see the full list!
3. Entity Management: Organize Your Data
Effective entity management is crucial for structuring your ESG program. Program managers create entities, entity types, and entity classes to categorize and organize the various components of your ESG efforts. Entities can be people, processes, departments, or applications. For example, if your goal is to reduce the carbon emissions from the datacenters, then you can consider datacenters as entities. Or you may collect employee demographic data for different departments within your company, so you may choose to set up each department as an entity. More examples of entities, entity classes, and entity types can be found in the ESGM Documentation.
4. Metrics Management: Set Performance Indicators
Metrics are key to tracking your ESG performance. Some may be quantitative, such as electricity consumption, and some may be qualitative, such as a description of a social impact initiative. Metrics managers (with the sn_esg.metrics_manager role) define different types of metric definitions to collect (or calculate) metric data:
- Manual Metric Definitions: Data that will be provided manually by a user with the Data Owner role (sn_esg.data_owner)
- Automated Metric Definitions: Data that will be automatically collected from another table within ServiceNow or through a third-party integration
- Calculated metrics: Data that is calculated using multiple metrics or other values such as emission factors
5. Disclosure Creation: Share Your Progress
Transparency is key in ESG. Program managers and reporting disclosure managers (with the sn_esg.reporting_disclosure_manager role) are responsible for creating disclosures to report ESG performance to stakeholders.
Reporting and analytics created in ServiceNow through Platform Analytics or Performance Analytics can provide data to internal stakeholders through dynamic dashboards that can be shared for greater collaboration.
External disclosures, such as those for investors or the general public, will require a more formal disclosure writing process. The Microsoft 365 integration allows you to create documents in Microsoft Word and embed your ESG metric data inline into the document through a side panel that opens within Word. Live links back to the audit trail for every data point included in the document help prepare Finance and Sustainability teams for assurance.
6. Integration: Enhance Your Program
To maximize functionality, consider integrating ESGM with third-party systems that house your ESG data, such as HRIS/ERP systems, or point solutions for managing utility data, external carbon accounting, or third-party ESG scoring data sources.
In addition, you may also consider empowering your Sustainability team with other ServiceNow applications, such as Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), Integrated Risk Management (IRM), or Third-party Risk Management (TPRM). This can streamline workflows and improve overall efficiency.
By following this checklist and assigning roles effectively, you can build a strong, automated, and transparent ESG program within ServiceNow ESGM.
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