Constructing the report

It is important to consider writing, layout and third-party assessment when constructing the report. The report will be better if it is begun sooner and more time is spent drafting it. The development phase starts when the actual work on the sustainable development report begins. This phase can be divided into four different activities that are usually performed in parallel:

• Collection, aggregation and analysis of data
• Writing and layout
• Internal quality assurance
• Third-party assessment

A sustainable development report will benefit from being released at the same as the company’s annual report. One of the problems this presents is that relevant sustainable development data often comes late in the process. This data must then be analyzed and quickly integrated into the final report.

The report becomes qualitatively better when relevant data has been aggregated early on. The more time is spent analyzing performance, the higher the quality of the final report. A detailed analysis is also perceived as important in the follow up and appraisal as well as in the review and learning part.

> See the "Step-by-step" guide for further information.