Custom software for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive: data point management, ESRS coding, scope 1–3 calculations and XBRL export to ESEF. For corporations and consultancies that find a standard CSRD platform no longer sufficient or that need to account for a sector-specific data set.
From the 2024–2026 financial years, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive requires large companies to report under the ESRS standards on climate (E1), environment (E2–5), social topics (S1–4) and governance (G1). In practice, that means well over a thousand data points per organisation, each with an owner, a source, a calculation rule and an audit trail. That is not an annual reporting exercise; it is a continuous data process that carries the same weight as your financial administration.
We build custom software for groups that hit the limits of a standard SaaS platform. Not a full replacement of Position Green, Workiva, Watershed, Plan A or EcoVadis for a corporate that is perfectly happy with them, but the layer around them, the integration layer or the sector-specific module that covers your situation and where the SaaS roadmap has stalled.
Our clients are industrial groups, real estate and infrastructure companies, food producers, retail groups, listed companies and sustainability consultants who serve multiple clients on one platform. What we keep seeing: the standard CSRD tools cover the generic ESRS data points broadly, but leave gaps where your sector or structure differs, such as scope 3 categories unique to your supply chain, an ERP integration that does not exist, or a multi-entity consolidation too complex for the standard flow.
Two obligations that draw on the same data: the WPM report on work-related mobility and, when importing steel, aluminium or cement, the CBAM declaration on embedded emissions.
What we deliver depends on your reporting obligations, your IT landscape and the extent to which you need to consolidate by sector or across multiple entities. If you are also subject to a producer responsibility scheme, such as UPV textiles, that applies to specific product streams with fixed percentages and has nothing to do with your annual report. In the first conversation, we will advise which approach fits.
You use Workiva, Position Green or Watershed but have to enter data manually from your ERP, MES or HRIS. We build the ETL layer that retrieves the data automatically, validates it, converts it to ESRS format and passes it on — with data ownership, error notifications and an audit trail your assurance auditor can follow.
For manufacturing with a complex scope 3 chain, real estate with a CRREM pathway, food supply chains or multi-site groups with different data sources per location. Your own data model, your own calculation rules, your own consolidation logic — integrated with your ERP and accounting system, but without the generic limitations of an off-the-shelf package.
For sustainability consultants, accountancy firms or franchise organisations that want to support multiple clients on a single platform. Multi-tenant architecture, tenant-specific materiality analysis, a branded portal per client and an assurance portal in which the external auditor can review reports and data points per client.
Reporting is not the same as acting. For the due diligence side, where you identify and follow up on risks at direct business partners, see CSDDD software.
A production-ready CSRD application plus everything your sustainability team, IT department and external auditor need to run and defend the reporting cycle themselves.
Standard CSRD platforms such as Position Green, Workiva, Watershed, Plan A, ESG Book, Sphera and EcoVadis cover the basics well for most large companies. We only recommend custom software when you recognise one of these patterns. Otherwise, you're better off with a SaaS licence and a good implementation partner.
Your scope 3 chain has categories that don't exist in an off-the-shelf package — a manufacturer with complex upstream data, a property portfolio steered along a CRREM pathway, or a food chain with agricultural emission factors per supplier. The calculations are unique, and so is the data model.
Entering data points by hand in a SaaS portal doesn't scale when you have hundreds of measurement points per quarter. You want energy, production and workforce data to flow automatically from SAP, Dynamics, Exact, AFAS or an MES — validated, with error alerts and without shadow spreadsheets.
Your sites run different ERPs, have different measurement infrastructure and supply data in different units. A standard package requires everything to be delivered uniformly; custom software leaves the complexity at each site and consolidates it at group level without local teams carrying the burden.
You advise dozens of clients on their CSRD journey and don't want to put each of them on a separate SaaS licence. One multi-tenant platform with your branding, your methodology and your materiality assessment — and an audit portal where you and the external auditor can work per client.
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →A CSRD application is rarely a single screen with a single purpose. Under the hood sits a set of modules that feed each other. Which ones you need depends on your reporting context and existing tooling — not every module is relevant for everyone. Below are the building blocks we most often deliver or connect to an existing platform.
A register of all ESRS data points with an owner per point, source system, frequency and retention period. Every change is logged, with version history so a figure can always be traced back to who changed what and when — the basis for any assurance discussion with your external auditor.
Automatic data feeds from ERP, MES, HRIS, energy suppliers and logistics. Validation on unit, range and completeness, with error alerts routed to the right data owner. See also our page on smart API integrations for the broader integration approach.
A configurable calculation engine for scope 1 (direct emissions), scope 2 (purchased energy, market- and location-based) and scope 3 (fifteen categories, covering the whole chain). Emission factors from DEFRA, IEA, sector databases or your own supplier-specific data. Version history per factor.
Data point owners submit figures, a reviewer checks them, a manager approves and the controller signs off. Status updates per data point, escalations when things are delayed, and a dashboard showing for each reporting period which points are still open and who needs to act.
A separate review environment for the external auditor — access to figures, audit trail, underlying source documents and the calculation rules that applied at the time of reporting. Ask questions, leave comments and record approvals without access to your production systems.
Automatic report generation in the ESRS format, with inline XBRL tagging in line with the ESRS taxonomy. Output ready for ESEF filing with the Dutch AFM, plus a published HTML version for your stakeholders. Validation checks before submission.
Tooling for the double materiality assessment — impact materiality (your effect on people and the environment) and financial materiality (sustainability risks to your business operations). Stakeholder research, scoring per topic, thresholds and a substantiated materiality report for the annual accounts.
Year-on-year comparisons, progress against reduction targets, and gap analysis against sector benchmarks and internal targets. Visual reports for the board, the sustainability team and external stakeholders, fed by the same auditable data as the official CSRD report. See also our page on a custom KPI dashboard.
Aggregation of data from multiple sites, subsidiaries or joint ventures with different ERPs and metering infrastructures. Elimination rules for intra-group transactions, unit and currency conversions, and an auditable consolidation trail from site to group.
Role-based access per data point category, GDPR-compliant handling of staff and supplier data in ESRS S1–S4, encryption in transit and at rest, and a DPIA for every larger project. Access and exports are logged, and retention periods are applied automatically to archived data.
A conversation to understand whether you fall under CSRD and from which reporting period, which SaaS platform you may already be using, what your IT landscape looks like and which ESRS topics are material. We also discuss which standard packages you currently use and what we would integrate with rather than replace.
Workshops with your sustainability coordinator, controllers, IT and, depending on your materiality, HR and facilities. We map out the ESRS data point register, map source systems, identify data owners and determine which modules are in scope. At the end you have a validated scope, a first screen flow and a calculation rules document.
Every two weeks, a working build that your team and your external auditor can test. We integrate with your source systems early so that integration risks don't blow up at the end. A first module, such as energy and scope 2, is up and running after a few sprints, while a full multi-entity consolidation takes several sprints.
Pen test, DPIA and an audit dry run with your external auditor on real data. Phased rollout: first one entity or one ESRS cluster, then scaling up. After that, ongoing maintenance with security patches, monitoring and further development whenever EFRAG or the European Commission tightens the standards.
What sustainability coordinators, controllers and IT managers usually want to know before we start.
A no-obligation introductory call of half an hour. We listen to your reporting obligations, your source systems and your materiality context, and give you useful direction, even if a standard SaaS platform turns out to be the better choice. See also custom ERP system for our approach to related data-heavy projects.
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