Accurate purchasing data is essential to measure and track your Scope 3 emissions.
To make the process easier, our AI-powered import tool will help clean and structure your data. Our AI will also try to understand what products you are uploading and calculate the correct weight based on the data you provide. The more relevant information you can include, the more you can support these calculations.
Step 1: Gather Your Purchase Data
To get started, you’ll need purchase records for all food & drink items purchased throughout your full reporting year.
You can normally source this information directly from your purchase orders or supplier invoices, often accessible through your procurement or accounting systems.
Data can be uploaded in
.xlsx,.xls, or.csvformat. Our tool will process and convert it as needed.
Our AI tool requires columns that help calculate weight, such as total weight, quantity, or unit columns. If you don’t have exact unit weights for some items, our platform will estimate them, but providing as much detail as possible improves accuracy.
A standard purchase dataset may look something like this:
ID | Supplier | Name | Quantity | Unit | Total Weight |
FD001 | Seafood Direct | Salmon | 16 | kg | 16.65 |
FD002 | Meat & More | Jam | 40 | kg | 40.00 |
FD003 | Local Market | Black Tea | 500 | g | 0.5 |
FD004 | Beverage Co. | Bottled Water | 25.84 | L | 25.84 |
FD005 | Fresh Farms | Carrots | 45 | each | N/A |
Step 2: Upload Your Spreadsheet(s)
How to Structure Your Data
You can:
Upload one file containing the full year (with an optional purchase date column), or
Upload multiple files split by month or quarter
For example:
Jan.xlsx → Food items purchased in January
Feb.xlsx → Food items purchased in February
Note: If you include a date column, the format must be dd/mm/yyyy.
You can upload data multiple times, even for the same period, so you don’t need to complete everything in one go.
Assigning Sites and Tags
During upload, you can:
Assign the data to a site, and/or
Add a custom tag (for example: supplier name such as Bidfood, or sub-site such as London – London Bridge)
If you are working with a large dataset, we recommend splitting it into smaller, more manageable files (for example by month, quarter, site, or supplier).
Why Split Large Files?
Smaller files are easier to review and check
If an error occurs, you won’t lose all your progress
You can filter your data later using the same time periods or tags
To import, upload an .xlsx, .xls, or .csv file containing your food and drink purchase data. The AI tool will guide you through selecting the relevant columns.
Step 3: Select the Quantity Mode
When uploading your file, you will need to choose how the platform should interpret your quantities.
Simple Mode: Use if your data already includes total quantities in:
Mass units (e.g. kg, lb)
Volume units (e.g. litres)
This mode does not use AI estimations. It relies only on the quantities you provide.
Assisted Mode: Use if your data does not include total mass or volume, and instead uses units such as:
Each
Case
Pack
12 × 330ml
This mode uses AI to estimate total weight based on the item name and unit information.
If you are unsure which mode to use, contact our support team via the chatbot or at [email protected].
Step 4: Map Your Data Columns
Once your file is uploaded, you’ll need to select the correct columns in the platform:
Required Columns:
Name – Product name or description.
Total weight - Select if using Simple mode
Quantity - Select if using Assisted mode
Unit -
If using Simple mode this will be the column with the mass or volumetric units (e.g. kg, lb, litres)
If using Assisted mode this will be the column with non-standard units (e.g. each, 1 x 5L, 40CT)
Optional Columns:
Supplier – Useful for filtering
ID – Useful for tracking internal product references.
Site -
Your file can contain multiple sites, as long as each row clearly references one site only
The site name must exactly match the name in your site list
This can be used instead of assigning a single site during upload
Date -
Can be used instead of selecting a month during upload
Must be in the format dd/mm/yyyy
If your dataset contains additional columns such as cost, don’t worry - we don’t need these. Simply unselect any columns you do not want to import.
Error Rows: If your file contains errors (for example, rows with zero quantity or empty rows), the platform will flag them.
To remove error rows:
1. Click “Show only rows with errors”
2. Select the checkbox next to the flagged rows
3. Click “Discard selected rows”
Once error rows are removed, your data is ready to upload.
Step 5: Let the AI Tool Process and Import Your Data
Our AI-powered import tool will:
• Extract the relevant data from your file
• Convert all units into our standard format
If you used Assisted Mode and included non-standard units (such as “each”, “case”, or “pack”), the tool will estimate the unit weight and pack weight to calculate the total weight.
If any required information is missing (for example, units for individual items), the platform will attempt to calculate the correct values using the information available.
Once processing is complete, your data will be automatically imported into the platform.
Step 6: Review Your Data
After your data has been imported, any items that require review will appear under the Review tab in Food and Drink. See our article on Reviewing your Imports for more detailed information.
Items are flagged for review if:
The pack weight needs checking (based on individual item weight × number of items per pack), or
The food match needs verification
Flagged items are highlighted in orange.
How to Review an Item
Click on the item to edit:
Food match
Item weight
Number of items per pack
If the item details are correct, confirm it by selecting the green tick.
You can edit items at any time, including items that were not flagged, by clicking into them and updating the relevant fields.
Note: Reviewing your data is strongly recommended, but it is not mandatory before generating Purchase Reports or a Company Carbon Footprint (CCF) Report.
The AI validator flags items that may require review, but it does not guarantee that every item needing review will be identified.
Step 7: Generate reports
Once your data has been imported, you can generate either:
• Purchase Reports, or
• Company Carbon Footprint (CCF) Reports
Select the data you would like to include, then click Create Report.
You can choose to include a subset of data based on:
• Time period
• Sites
• Tags
You can also choose to add an intensity metric to provide context for emissions. Available options include:
• Number of people served
• Money spent
• Money earned
When you are ready, click Create Report to generate your report.