As our project proceeds, we experience adjustments to our initial scope which initially includes understanding the company’s goal and perspectives through rigorous company interviews and broad-level company surveys. Our client decided not to proceed on surveys and interviews due to several constraints, but faced with such tremendous changes, our team quickly adapted to it and made a new client presentation. This taught me about the importance of adaptability, effective communication & listening when facing changes. After our interim presentation with our client, they asked us to proceed further. This then underscored the importance of project implementation. My teammate then created a spreadsheet that mapped the SDG goals for sectors that the client investment invested, including health care, energy, retail, logistics and agriculture.
We then divided responsibilities among team members, assigning each member two industry sectors. Our next steps involved identifying both direct and indirect SDG alignments for each industry, alongside establishing two strategic goals influenced by the UN SDG goals and the IRIS+ Framework. To streamline our efforts, we developed a standardized framework encompassing the five dimensions of impact:
- What is the goal
- Who is affected
- How much change is happening (scale)
- How much change is happening (depth)
- Contribution
- Risk
- How is change happening
For each impact dimension, we also included the object that is being monitored, the rational behinds as well as calculation guidance for reference. To facilitate further research, we also listed the data needed to compute the indicators as well as the metric code. Additionally, we colored each data cell in red, yellow, and green, which indicated the extent of estimated difficulty of data procurement. Specifically, green indicates metrics that the company is already likely to have, red indicates the companies that is likely to require setting up additional systems, while yellow is between.
During our work building up the framework, I learned a lot from my team mates on how to build a standardized impact framework and refine it so that it can be used in different industries. Moreover, I also learned how to effectively align business practices with sustainable development goals and integrate strategic goals across different sectors. Her methodical approach to data management also enhanced my skills in analyzing and categorizing data challenges, making our framework more practical and applicable.