Proposal — The ZAYAZ ESG Data Ladder
Onboarding minimum + progressive data requirements for the Supplier Programme
Status: Proposal v1.0 for decision · Scope: defines the ESG minimum (onboarding requirement #2, stored alongside the CoC), the progressive data levels tied to the course tiers, and their standards alignment.
1. The regulatory fact that decides the design
Under Omnibus I (in force March 2026), the VSME standard is no longer just a voluntary reporting option — it is the statutory value-chain cap: companies in CSRD scope cannot require sustainability information from suppliers under 1,000 employees beyond what VSME specifies, with the cap anchored at the Basic Module (B1–B11, ~46–51 datapoints). Suppliers may volunteer more; clients cannot demand more.
Two consequences for ZAYAZ:
- Everything ZAYAZ requires of an invited supplier must sit inside the VSME Basic envelope. A client-driven requirement beyond it would put our clients on the wrong side of the cap. Compliance-by-design here is a selling point to clients, not a constraint.
- Full VSME Basic coverage is the natural summit of the required ladder. A supplier who covers Basic can lawfully answer any client request — which is exactly the "respected" bar we need. Beyond Basic, everything is opt-in and framed as the supplier's own choice.
So we don't imitate a standard — we operationalize VSME Basic as a progression, which none of the three references do.
2. What we take from each reference (and what we don't)
VSME — we take the envelope and the datapoint skeleton (B1–B11): it's EU-endorsed, SME-proportionate, and now legally load-bearing. We don't take its form: VSME is a report template, not an engagement system. Nobody climbs a PDF.
GRI — we take modularity and public mapping: credibility comes from showing your homework. We don't take its weight; GRI is built for organizations with reporting teams.
EcoVadis — we take the UX lesson: a visible score/badge that buyers respect, evidence-backed answers. We avoid its pain points: paid gate for the supplier, black-box scoring, questionnaire fatigue. ZAYAZ scoring stays transparent ("no hidden ingredients" — already a course promise), the supplier pays nothing to be assessed, and data entry is a guided journey, not a form.
ZAYAZ's own position: VSME-anchored data model + transparent EcoVadis-style visible score + GRI-style published mapping — delivered as a tiered progression with the courses as the vehicle. That combination doesn't exist in the market.
3. Design principles
- Required ⊆ VSME Basic. Always. Anything beyond Basic is voluntary, clearly labeled as the supplier's choice, and never a condition set by a client through the platform.
- Progressive disclosure: a small, fast onboarding minimum; each course tier adds one coherent slice; the required ladder tops out at "VSME Basic complete."
- The onboarding minimum contains no published reporting datapoints. It is identity + declarations + the client assessment. This deliberately resolves the gate-collision question from our sequencing discussion: the Tier 2 gate counts published reporting data points, onboarding produces none, so the m008 "first dataset live" moment stays intact by construction.
- Applicability is honest: several Basic topics are conditional (pollution, biodiversity). "Not applicable — here's why" is a recorded, legitimate answer, consistent with the programme's present-beats-missing philosophy.
- Every level is a claimable milestone with a name a purchasing manager understands.
4. The Ladder
Level 0 — ESG Passport (onboarding minimum — required to activate the account)
Completed in the invitation flow, together with CoC acceptance. Target: ≤ 20 minutes, no documents needed.
| Block | Content | VSME anchor |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | Legal name, registration/org no., legal form, country, NACE sector, sites (count + countries), size class (employee band, turnover band) | B1 (subset) |
| Declarations | Legal-compliance confirmation; convictions/fines for corruption & bribery: none / disclose | B11 |
| Governance basics | Named contact + named responsible person for ESG/platform | B1 (subset) |
| Client assessment | The questionnaire attached to the invitation | (client-specific, cap-compliant by design) |
| CoC | Acceptance recorded | onboarding requirement #1 |
Stored with the CoC in the onboarding tables; Passport completion = account active = Tier 1 available.
Level 1 — Mapped (Tier 1 complete)
- ESG Data Snapshot (the 15-item inventory). Not VSME data itself — the map of sources. Milestone: "ESG Curious → knows what they have."
Level 2 — Documented (Tier 2 complete — unchanged from the agreed gate)
First dataset live: ≥6 published datapoints, 3E/2S/1G, sources/flags, published.
| Our gate | VSME anchor |
|---|---|
| Energy (kWh), fuel (L) | B3 (energy part) |
| Water (m³) | B6 |
| Waste | B7 |
| Headcount + split | B8 |
| Incidents | B9 |
| Responsibility note / policy doc | B1/B2 (practices) |
Platform capability that belongs here: ZAYAZ auto-computes Scope 1 & 2 emissions from the activity data the supplier already entered (litres → Scope 1, kWh → Scope 2, standard factors). The supplier does nothing extra and suddenly has emissions figures — a wow moment, a B3 completion step, and exactly the kind of feature your progressive-unlock principle says free-tier suppliers should earn. Recommendation: free at Level 2.
Level 3 — VSME Basic Complete (Tier 3 complete)
- the remaining Basic datapoints, applicability-filtered, + the registered target:
| Addition | VSME anchor | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Practices/policies/initiatives summary + registered target | B2 | The Tier 3 course gate lives here |
| Pollution to air/water/soil | B4 | Only where legally reported already — else "n/a + reason" |
| Sites in/near sensitive areas | B5 | Usually a guided yes/no + location check |
| Training hours, collective bargaining coverage, pay-gap where size permits | B10 | Training data already exists from Tier 2 records |
| Full B3 | B3 | Completed by the auto-computed Scope 1+2 |
Milestone: "ZAYAZ Verified — VSME Basic aligned." The supplier can now answer any lawful client request in the EU. This is the respectability claim, and it's checkable — which is what makes it respected.
Level 4 — Performing (Tier 4 complete — voluntary layer begins)
- reduction initiative(s) with baseline (the Tier 4 course gate), intensity metrics, refined emissions (supplier-specific factors), optional Comprehensive-style items. Labeled: "Beyond the required standard — shared by [COMPANY]'s own choice." That label is itself a differentiation signal to buyers.
Level 5 — Leading (Tier 5 complete)
- own-supplier engagement via E-C-O invitations (the Tier 5 gate), Scope 3 screening of top categories, value-chain view. Fully voluntary; the supplier is now on the buyer side of the cap and ZAYAZ keeps their requests cap-compliant too — the cap protection becomes a feature they inherit.
5. The respectability strategy (how "our own" earns trust)
- Publish the mapping. A public ZAYAZ ↔ VSME (B-datapoint) ↔ GRI disclosure ↔ EcoVadis theme crosswalk. Anyone can audit what our levels mean. This single artifact does more for credibility than any marketing claim.
- Generate the VSME Basic report from platform data. At Level 3, one click produces a formatted VSME Basic report — the ultimate "answer once, share everywhere." Decision needed (§7): free vs subscription.
- Client-side pitch: "Data requests through ZAYAZ are value-chain-cap compliant by design." Legal comfort as a product property (positioned as design alignment, not legal advice).
- Transparent scoring stays. Score inputs per level are documented; no hidden ingredients — already promised in Tier 1 m005 and now a standards-facing claim too.
6. Data model sketch
onboarding_requirements: CoC record (version, accepted_at, actor) + Passport record (B1/B11 fields, versioned annually — declarations re-attested yearly).data_ladder_levels(0–5): each level = a set offield_requirements(field, VSME ref, applicability rule, required/voluntary flag).- Applicability engine: sector/size/site-driven rules mark conditional fields (B4, B5, B10 pay-gap) as required, optional, or n/a-with-reason.
- Milestone events: level completion → badge update, client dashboard, email (same event pattern as tier completion — they are the same events).
- Emission factors table: platform-maintained standard factors for the Scope 1+2 auto-computation, versioned per year.
7. Decisions needed
- Naming. "ESG Passport" for Level 0; level names Mapped / Documented / VSME Basic Complete / Performing / Leading — or keep tier names only? (Recommendation: Passport as a distinct named thing — it's the front door; levels otherwise invisible vocabulary, tiers remain the public identity.)
- Scope 1+2 auto-computation free at Level 2? Recommendation: yes — flagship progressive-unlock reward, huge perceived value, and it completes B3 which Level 3 needs.
- VSME report export. Options: (a) free — maximal answer-once-share-everywhere goodwill; (b) subscription — arguably the conversion feature at exactly the moment of maximal supplier pride. Recommendation: in-platform sharing free (network effect, data stays in ZAYAZ), formatted standalone report export = subscription. Keeps the free promise honest inside the network and monetizes the off-platform artifact.
- Annual re-attestation cycle for Passport declarations (proposal: yearly, aligned with reporting-period rollover and the "data care" routine).
- Non-EU suppliers: the ladder works globally unchanged; VSME anchoring is presented as "EU-grade" elsewhere. Confirm no separate track needed at launch.
8. Impact on work already produced
- Tier 1 & Tier 2 specs/scripts/assets: no changes required. The Passport contains no published datapoints, so the Tier 2 gate and the m008 payoff stand exactly as built. Tier 1 m006 gains one contextual fact (the account was activated via the Passport) — a script-neutral detail.
- Quick-starts: unchanged (assessment + basic reporting); the Passport is part of the invitation flow itself, before the quick-starts.
- Tier 3 spec (next): inherits its completion shape from Level 3 — registered target (B2) + Basic gap-fill with applicability filtering. The target-ladder design we discussed slots into B2 cleanly.
- m006 CoC placeholder: unblocked once the CoC half of onboarding is designed (the remaining onboarding work item).
- Platform requirements list gains: Passport flow, applicability engine, Scope 1+2 auto-computation + factors table, level/milestone events, VSME report generator, annual re-attestation.