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Rosl Veltmeijer Head of Sustainability Research:

“The new system has yielded a time savings of twenty percent”

Triodos Research examines the sustainability of listed companies


Rosl Veltmeijer, head of the research department of Triodos Bank, explains how the system TRITAS helps them identify the degree of social responsibility (CSR) of companies. COOLProfs built the system that yielded a significant stroke efficiency, allowing more research and better enabled to make companies aware of the importance of social and environmental responsibility.
 
Corporate social responsibility has gained attention in recent years. More and more companies recognize the importance and number of companies have discovered the New Enterprise is growing strongly.
Triodos Bank is a bank that from the moment of inception in 1980 focuses on corporate responsibility. The bank, which is sustainable and transparent banking, shows that focus on people and nature and financial returns are not opposed and mutually reinforcing in the long term correctly. Triodos Bank is today the only independent bank in the Netherlands and is sustained by Financial Times named "Sustainable Bank of the Year.

Labor Intensive
For its investment grants, the research department of Triodos Bank's intensive research on socially responsible behavior of listed companies. The department ensures that only invested in companies that are leaders in the sector .. In addition, the companies meet the strict minimum requirements of Triodos.
 "The companies which we MFA degree mapping, are generally large listed companies operating in various sectors. We repeat such a study every three years. If companies meet our criteria, we monitor them constantly. These companies must always and at any time to our criteria, "Veltmeijer to light.
Monitoring of companies is based on values - How do they deal with their employees, their customers, the environment, what is the company in society, etc. - which in turn consist of a large number of indicators. You can guess that this is a very labor intensive process.

The system TRITAS
Starting from the analysis provides a ranked list of companies active in the stock market, as is provided by Sustainalytics, a company that provides durability data for the financial sector. Sustainalytics verifies a wide variety of sources including course information from the companies themselves, but also from the press. . Based on 75 criteria such Triodos Research is a private ranking and assigns them the "leaders" in a sector.
Veltmeijer: "This is the information in TRITAS imported and where additional analysis using the system to be implemented. It only included sustainability issues. The outcome of the process is a reasoned list of companies which can invest in our funds. In practice, approximately one quarter of the companies surveyed, the so-called investment universe. "
The list of companies adopting Research is behind, goes to the external asset manager. There is still a financial analysis made and the final investment decisions. The distinctive character lies in the fact that the asset manager can only choose from the list of companies which research is provided.

The analysis now in the system TRITAS be performed, were done several years ago in Word and Excel. The tables were then copied to Word. Veltmeijer paints a picture that is not particularly efficient to call: "We had full time employ someone who was largely engaged in changing the sheets and formulas. The probability of error was always present. And the result has been reports of up to 150 pages. Although these books were much impressed, we knew that we for the future had a more professional system. "
More than a simple developer
Since the focus of its own IT department is fully focused on the management of the banking system, the assistance of an outside software developer. When selecting an appropriate IT vendor they consider Veltmeijer not take any chances: "We are with six software-development companies are talking to see if our work and aspirations in a system could be integrated. One of these parties was COOLProfs. They sprang from the first moment because they really compete with us in order to consider the best system to come. "
This 'thinking' is done in an extensive brainstorming session initiated by COOLProfs invested. Veltmeijer thinking here with a good feeling back, "We in the analysis section were obviously not accustomed to thinking in databases. Then is it when someone with an understanding of your business at hand and takes pains to share with you the matter of making it together so you can further process. Such proactive attitude and will to cooperate is more than you normally would expect an IT supplier. Certainly at that stage of the process. It made it directly to trust. On top of that COOLProfs well understood what we wanted and not many extra features by which we pushed and did not need that we would never use. "

Fixed Future
The system is TRITAS COOLProfs fixed price and delivered in modules. According Veltmeijer is the way of working and thinking of the research department in a mounted model. All the steps the system when making the analysis runs, trace back to the thought and knowledge flows of the researchers. It captures a variety of sustainability indicators based on data and performs calculations based on weights and figures collected.
"Because with time boxes worked, it was built very quickly," said Veltmeijer. Access is controlled through roles with the corresponding authorizations. The analysis can easily be converted to Excel and advanced charts and PDF reports according Veltmeijer in a snap to generate.

Recently, a new data provider Sustainalytics source system into use. TRITAS because this would no longer compatible with the system of Sustainalytics, had first to be adjusted. Veltmeijer commented: "With the change of the source system while a functional change was made. Of the eight subjects for which is currently being worked, was switched to the internationally accepted standard topics as Environmental, Social and Governance. "
COOLProfs TRITAS adapted the system so that it matches the new technical and functional requirements. Striking point is that COOLProfs again organized a workshop, now about how the three themes with a graphical analysis can do better.

One-on-one conversations
The advantages of the TRITAS system compared to the old situation according Veltmeijer evident: "The probability of error is minimized by manually copying data no longer needed and the system verifies that everything is completed. The system is built by COOLProfs leads the staff as through the process. In addition, our researchers in the Netherlands, England, Spain and Germany now always start from the same data as a web-based system. "
The added value of TRITAS lies in the fact that according Research Veltmeijer an efficiency of twenty percent is realized and this time is used to further dialogue with companies. . "We analyzed not only business, we really encourage them to undertake sustainable. Reflecting the time savings we now have more time to one-on-one conversations with the companies the results of our analysis to provide feedback. With TRITAS we simply retrieve the relevant information, tailored to a specific sector or a particular company, the top table. Because we have more time to research on monitoring and more targeted and relevant give feedback, you see that companies are more open to adapt their behavior toward social responsibility. "