Uploading Data as a Supplier

If a customer has asked you to fill in the template

You've been sent a CSV template to complete and return. You don't need an XYCLE account for this.

What to fill in

Fill in every column marked (required) in the template, or without an "(optional)" tag.

Use one row per product.
Don't rename, reorder, or delete the column headers—the file is read by column name.
Numeric columns need a plain number, with no units or text mixed in.
Leave a column blank if you don't have that figure; you don't need to fill in every impact category, only the ones you can support.
Ignore the Precision column if your template has one—it isn't used and won't be imported.

Required columns

Column	Type	Notes
Product Name	Text
Unit	Text	e.g. kg, MJ, m³
Source Name	Text	Your company or facility name. Older templates label this "Supplier Name"—both work.

You also need at least one impact category value filled in with a non-zero number (see below).

Recommended columns

Column	Type	Notes
Source Email	Text	Older templates label this "Supplier Email"
Description	Text
Activity or Process Name	Text
Region	Text

Data quality columns (all optional, all numeric)

Column	Type
Date of Study	Number (year, e.g. 2024)
Geographical Representativeness	Number
Time Representativeness	Number
Technological Representativeness	Number
Data Quality Rating	Number

Impact category columns (all optional individually, all numeric, at least one non-zero value required overall)

Column	Unit
Climate Change	kg CO₂-Eq
Acidification	mol H+-Eq
Freshwater Eutrophication	kg P-Eq
Terrestrial Eutrophication	mol N-Eq
Freshwater Ecotoxicity	CTU
Marine Eutrophication	kg N-Eq
Ionising Radiation	kg U235-Eq
Photochemical Ozone Formation	kg NMVOC-Eq
Carcinogenic Human Toxicity	CTUh
Non-Carcinogenic Human Toxicity	CTUh
Particulate Matter Formation	disease incidence
Ozone Depletion	kg CFC-11 eq
Minerals and Metals Use	kg Sb-Eq
Fossils Use	MJ
Water Use	m³ world eq.
Land Use	points

More granular breakdowns are also accepted if you have them—for example splitting Climate Change into fossil/biogenic/land-use-change components, or Ecotoxicity and Human Toxicity into organic/inorganic components. Use plain numbers only, no units or text, in every numeric column.

What to send back

The completed CSV.
If you have one, a verification or certification document (PDF, under 5 MB) as a separate file. Your customer attaches this to the row alongside your figures.

N.b. once you've sent the file back, your customer uploads it on their end. You won't see it in XYCLE or get a confirmation from XYCLE directly. Follow up with them if you need to check if it arrived.

If you're compiling and uploading supplier data yourself

Use this whether you're uploading a CSV a supplier sent you, or typing their figures into the template yourself from an email, report, or PDF they shared.

Uploading the data

Go to My Database and select Import data → Upload CSV file.
If you're starting from scratch, download a template from the link in the dialog and fill in the supplier's data—required fields are Product Name, Unit, and Source Name.
Upload the completed file.
Tick "Is this supplier data?" so the rows are tagged with source type "Supplier"—this is what lets you filter and sort them later.
Select Import. Any row that fails validation is reported with the row number and column so you can fix it and re-upload.

Once imported, rows are filterable by product name, region, source name, and source type from the My Database table.

Attaching proof of verification

In the My Database table, find the row and select Upload in the "Proof of Verification" column.
Choose a PDF file (under 5 MB).
Select Import to attach it. Use the same column to download or remove it later.

Mapping it into a project

Open the project's LCA table and open the background database panel.
Switch to My Database.
Select the inventory item you want to assign it to, then click the supplier row to map it.

What does NOT get uploaded

No automated mapping. A row lands in My Database as a flat data point; mapping it to a project's inventory item is a manual step.
No in-app editing. There's no way to correct a row's values after import. Fix the source file and re-upload.
No deleting rows from the table.
The proof of verification file itself isn't parsed. XYCLE checks it's a genuine PDF under 5 MB; it doesn't read or validate what's inside.
No direct supplier access. Suppliers can't log in, upload, or see their data in XYCLE.

N.b. a self-service supplier portal, where suppliers submit data directly through XYCLE, is in development and not available yet.

Troubleshooting

"The '[column]' column is missing or misspelled" Product Name, Unit, or Source Name isn't present with that exact header. Check it against the downloaded template.

"At least one impact category must have a non-zero value" Every impact column in that row is blank or zero. You need at least one LCIA figure (Climate Change, Water Use, and so on) but it doesn't have to be every column marked "(required)" in the template; the app only hard-blocks on Product Name, Unit, Source Name, and this rule.

"The following unexpected columns were found..." The file has columns XYCLE doesn't recognise. This is a warning, not a blocker, and the import still completes. The Precision column always triggers this; it's a known gap between the template and what's imported, safe to ignore.

"This file isn't recognised as a PDF" / "exceeds the 5 MB limit" The verification upload only accepts genuine PDFs under 5 MB. Re-export or compress the file and try again.