How a figure earns its score.

What the score is — and is not

The Data-Trust Score™ is a confidence indicator from 0 to 100 attached to every figure the platform holds, and to a report as a whole. It answers one question: how well is this number supported by evidence? It says nothing about whether the number is good or bad for the organisation. It is not a rating of sustainability performance, it does not rank one organisation against another, and it is not an assurance opinion. Those remain with the professionals and authorities who verify, assure and regulate.

The four signals

Every figure is assessed on the same four signals. They are the same four that appear on the certificate.

• Recorded. The figure is bound to a source record — a meter reading, an invoice, a manifest, a supplier declaration, a sensor stream, a reference factor — with its period, unit, entity and capture time. A figure typed in without a record is not recorded.
• Reviewed. A person with the right role has looked at the figure and its record and confirmed it. The reviewer and the time are kept with the figure.
• Cross-checked. Where an independent reference exists — a second source for the same quantity, a published factor, the figure's own history — the figure has been compared with it, and the comparison and its result are kept.
• Intact. The figure and its record are unchanged since they were prepared. Any change produces a new version; the previous one is kept.

The score combines these signals. A figure that is recorded, reviewed, cross-checked against agreeing references and intact scores highest. A figure missing any of them scores lower, and the score shows which signal is missing rather than hiding it inside a single number. Follow one figure through all five steps →

Evidence classes

Not all records carry the same weight. The platform distinguishes measured evidence (a meter, a sensor stream, a weighbridge), reported evidence (an invoice, a manifest, a supplier declaration, an ERP export), reference evidence (a published emission factor, a grid factor, a standard) and estimated values (an allocation, an extrapolation, a proxy). An estimate is always labelled as an estimate and can never score as high as a measured figure with the same review and cross-check history.

PASS, REVIEW and FLAG

Alongside the score, every figure carries a status that tells a reader what to do with it.

• PASS — the evidence is complete and agrees with its cross-checks. The figure is safe to publish.
• REVIEW — a person still needs to look: a record is incomplete, a review is pending, or a cross-check has not yet been made. The figure is visible to the team and to nobody else.
• FLAG — the figure does not fit its own history or disagrees with its references beyond the tolerance set for that quantity. It is held until a person resolves it.

The console colours scores green from 85, amber from 70 and red below 70. These are display thresholds; a customer can set them per class of figure. The status, not the colour, decides what may be published.

When sources disagree

Sources are compared within a tolerance set for each quantity — for a metered figure against an invoiced one, for example, a small percentage. Inside the tolerance the sources agree and the figure passes. Outside it the figure is flagged and held for a person. Nothing is averaged, trimmed or silently corrected. The disagreement is recorded with the figure, together with how it was resolved and by whom, and that record stays with the figure after resolution.

Missing evidence and estimates

Missing evidence lowers the score; it is never filled in. An estimate is scored as an estimate, labelled as one wherever the figure appears, and shown with the basis it was made on. A report can be issued with estimated figures in it — the certificate then records how many, so the reader knows.

Recalculation

The score is recomputed whenever the evidence, the review or the references behind a figure change. A certificate is issued for a fixed version of a report; if the report changes, a new certificate is issued and the old one remains on record as superseded.

What the certificate attests

A Data-Trust Certificate™ records that, at the moment of issue, every figure in the report was recorded, reviewed, cross-checked where references existed, and intact — with counts for each, the number of estimated figures, an integrity reference and an RFC 3161 trusted timestamp. It describes the evidence chain behind a report. It is not a certification of the organisation, not a compliance determination and not an assurance opinion. The reporting organisation may share it with anyone it shares the report with; a reader may rely on it as a description of how the figures were prepared, and may check any figure through the platform's public verification address.

What is not published here

The weights behind the score and the decision rules for each evidence class are held internally and shared with customers under agreement. They are versioned, and the version used for a report is recorded on its certificate.

Demonstrations on this website use synthetic data. EcoVeraZ is not an ESG rating agency and does not issue assurance opinions.