Management as a principle, trust as a result
A well-designed ESG information system isn't about producing a document; it’s about informing a decision. After twenty years spent designing project and portfolio management solutions at Sciforma, Fabien joined Ascend with a firm conviction: non-financial data only creates value if it helps an organization make trade-offs, track its choices, and take action. This approach guided the design of Harnest, which was conceived as a management support tool rather than a reporting platform.
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Episode 5 of our "Why Harnest" series.
Companies today have access to more and more ESG data. They use it to drive their sustainability strategy, produce ESG reporting, meet CSRD requirements, or engage with their investors. Yet, the systems that manage this data are often designed around the documents to be produced rather than the decisions to be made.
Before joining Ascend, I spent over twenty years at Sciforma, a project and portfolio management software provider, designing and deploying project and portfolio management solutions for organizations with thousands of users.
This experience taught me that an information system only truly creates value when it helps an organization make trade-offs, track its choices, and take action.
This approach guides the design of Harnest: turning non-financial data into a tool for management and decision-making, with a level of reliability that makes it truly actionable.
Management spans the entire organization
Designing a system dedicated to non-financial data is not about transposing the methods used for ESG reporting or CSRD. It is not about producing a document, but about organizing a decision-making asset designed to support decisions made by different business lines, at different times, and for different objectives.
Non-financial data has a unique characteristic: it cuts across the entire organization. A climate trajectory involves industrial departments, procurement, finance, and executive management. ESG indicators fuel sustainability management, risk management, investor relations, and reporting obligations alike.
Managing means observing a situation, assessing a gap, understanding its causes, deciding on an action, monitoring its execution, and measuring its effects. This cycle is common to a decarbonization plan, a health and safety policy, a compliance program for CSRD, or even the day-to-day management of non-financial performance. Data is the starting point, indicators provide an interpretation, and action plans organize the response. Each business line retains its expertise, but all share a common view of data, responsibilities, and decisions.
An architecture designed around decisions
This approach leads to several design choices: Harnest relies on a data catalog of non-financial data that preserves the specific data points for each framework.
The platform then reconciles these points to identify correspondences and similarities. A labeling principle highlights the bridges between frameworks such as CSRD, GRI, VS, or investor questionnaires, making it possible to identify information already collected that can satisfy multiple requests.
The relationships between a data point, an indicator, a risk, a policy, or an action plan are preserved over time; data governance (responsibilities, approvals, access rights, and history) is an integral part of how the system functions.
A decision is never based on a single piece of information.
It draws on indicators, objectives, risks, action plans, and historical data produced by various departments at different times, all underpinned by the company's specific strategy.
Connecting actions to strategy
An ESG action is most meaningful when it is tied to a clear strategic direction. To achieve this, Harnest includes a Strategy module, structured around Strategic Plans, Strategic Pillars, and Initiatives.
Every Issue, Target, and Action can be linked to these, making the connection between an operational decision and the strategy that justifies it visible.
This visibility changes how you prioritize. An action linked to a Strategic Pillar carries a different meaning than an isolated one: it demonstrates its contribution to an overall trajectory.
Prioritizing an action plan therefore means balancing three elements:
- its materiality to the company,
- its strategic alignment,
- and external constraints—whether from a client, a regulator, or an industry standard—which are represented in Harnest as Targets.
Harnest's architecture is organized around these relationships rather than the documents that report them: ESG reporting becomes a result of this organization, not its starting point.
Decisions are no longer just documented; they can be understood within their context.