expand_less Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat is a metric?A metric is a tool for measuring. On WikiRate, metrics are used to measure company performance, and they are a way of asking the same question of many companies. For example the question “What percentage of workers have access to health services for other personal health issues (not related to or caused by work) made available or paid for by the company?” will yield quantitative answers that are comparable across companies.Questions that result in qualitative answers are important as well, but metrics on WikiRate are primarily meant to help capture structured data that can be used to develop deeper insights into sustainability performance.What are metrics for?Metrics help make company sustainability data structured and comparable. The current landscape of sustainability reporting consists of companies reporting semi-transparently, where specific data is difficult to extract and use to make comparisons or analyze gaps, because it is stuck in PDFs and buried within texts.Companies often report useful data using standards like the Global Reporting Initiative’s G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. Metrics break down indicators from these standards into questions that researchers can use to extract and structure the data.How do they relate to the assignment?My company controls a few subsidiary companies. Do I need to do research on each of its subsidiaries?What is a COP (Communication on Progress)?What do we do if the metrics in our Project aren’t relevantanswered toin the company report?While it can be frustrating to find a report with little data, this is considered a nitty gritty part of the research, and actually, finding “unknown” values is See the question below for guidance on finding additional metrics in case you want to add some of the data you’ve found in the company’s report. The company reports many metrics that I cannot find on WikiRate. Where can I find them? Should I create metrics?The search functionality on WikiRate is still under development, which can make it difficult to find what you’re looking for. It may help to start by thinking about the type of data points you are looking at. For example, if it’s a company sustainability report, it may be aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. Here are the top metric designers on WikiRate, and the metrics associated with them:[[http://wikirate.org/Global_Reporting_Initiative_G4_Indicators|GRI]] for company sustainability data[[http://wikirate.org/Higher_Education_Statistics_Agency_HESA|Higher Education Statistics Agency]] for University sustainability data (*Universities, and all other [[http://wikirate.org/company+definition|non-huggable legal entities]] are considered Companies on WikiRate). Mainly used by UK institutions.[[http://wikirate.org/Sustainability_Tracking_Assessment_Rating_System_STARS|Sustainability Tracking Assessment Rating System]] for University sustainability data. Mainly used by North American institutions.[[http://wikirate.org/Amnesty_International?company_profile=contributions|Amnesty International]] Conflict Minerals metrics[[http://wikirate.org/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation|Electronic Frontier Foundation]] Digital Rights metrics.Research GuidanceOnce you've created a user account and added yourself to your seminar Research Group, you can get started on your research:From your Project page, find your company, and click the “Research” button next the company to begin.Click “Add Answer” to see the fields you will fill in, and see which sources are already on WikiRate that you can use to find relevant answers.If you don’t see the source you need, add a new source. Tag the company to the source, and *important*, tag “Corporate Social Responsibility Report” under Report Type if your researching sustainability metrics (see example here). This will ensure the source is pulled into your research page.Watch the tutorial video if you get hung up on any of the technical details around using the platformAdd values that answer the metric questions, citing sources, indicating page numbers where you found the answers, and providing as much contextual information you think necessary to support others that will be looking at your dataWhen you open your source (i.e. company’s sustainability report), do a keyword search to look for a GRI index, or scroll towards the end of the report to find this. You can use this index or keyword search for GRI codes if the company includes these. If there is not, keyword search for your metric answersWhen you do not find answers to metric questions, you can still answer the questions with “Unknown” in the value field. This allows others to see that the research has been conducted, but the company either doesn’t report this value, or reports something similar, but not in-line with the metric question. You can always leave useful additional information in the free-text “comments” box.Trouble-shootingEntered a wrong value? Double-click the value, then click the edit icon at top right. Change your value, click Submit.Error message, or Wagn Hitch? Submit a Ticket and our development team will do their best to resolve the issue in a timely manner. Some errors are temporary, so you may want to just attempt the action a second or third time.More questions? See the Using WikiRate page, Resources page, or [[Frequently Asked Questions]] page.