One Click LCA EPD Data Collection: A Manufacturer’s Checklist

An EPD project often slows down before the first calculation. Production, procurement and finance teams each hold a different piece of the evidence, and their records do not always describe the same product or reporting period. A structured data pack makes modelling in One Click LCA easier to review and reduces avoidable questions later.

Start with the product boundary

Before requesting spreadsheets, write a short scope note identifying the product, plant, reporting period and intended declaration. Agree the programme operator and applicable Product Category Rules (PCR) with the LCA practitioner. A building-LCA subscription and a product-EPD tool are not interchangeable; confirm the required One Click LCA product tool and publication route before committing to a schedule.

Build an evidence register, not just a bill of materials

For each input, record its quantity, unit, supplier, source document and reporting period. Keep a distinction between material purchased, material consumed and product sold; inventory changes can explain differences. Ask production staff to identify packaging, process aids and waste streams that a sales bill of materials may omit. Preserve the original records alongside the cleaned model inputs so a reviewer can trace each figure.

Reconcile production, energy and waste

One Click LCA provides an EPD data-collection/import form with a mass-balance worksheet and fields covering transport, production losses, allocation and energy. Its guidance recommends reviewing mapping rather than accepting matches without checking. Use the form appropriate to the selected tool; template versions can differ. See the official import-form guidance.

As a practical quality check, reconcile incoming mass with saleable product, waste and inventory movements. Do not force totals to agree by deleting an unexplained residual. For shared electricity or fuel, document how the facility total is assigned between product lines and have the practitioner check that the allocation follows the applicable rules.

Transport and missing supplier information

Maintain a separate transport schedule with origins, modes, distances and the basis for any estimate. If an upstream supplier cannot provide suitable product data, log the gap and the proposed substitute rather than treating it as zero impact. Give the reviewer a clear distinction between measured information, supplier declarations and assumptions.

Example: catching a unit error before import

Suppose a purchase report lists 24 tonnes of an input while the working sheet expects kilograms. Entering 24 instead of 24,000 would understate that line by a factor of 1,000. This illustrative error can survive a successful import because software cannot infer every source-document convention. A second-person unit check on the largest material flows is usually more useful than reviewing decimal places in the final chart.

What to send your LCA consultant

Send the scope note, production totals, input register, energy bills, waste records, transport assumptions and a list of unresolved questions. Name an owner for each open item. Keep commercially sensitive formulations in an agreed restricted workspace. The goal is a reproducible evidence trail, not a spreadsheet that merely looks complete.

Related guidance

• One Click LCA EPD Verification: From Model to Published Declaration
• EPD vs HPD: Where One Click LCA Fits in Material Disclosure
• EN 15978 life-cycle modules explained

Reviewed September 12, 2026. General technical guidance, not a certification or verification decision. Confirm current programme rules, standard editions and software entitlements for your project. DOE Modellers is not represented here as a programme operator or independent verifier.