Onboarding & Setup

This guide walks through how organizations, workspaces, and projects are set up before EPD work begins. Every step described here is available both through the Smart EPD UI and the API.

Step 1: Accept your invite and set up your organization

An Organization is your company's identity on Smart EPD. Onboarding begins when you receive an email invite to join the platform — either from Smart EPD directly or from an existing partner organization that's bringing you in.

1. Accept the invite — click the link in the email to create your user account.
2. Enter your organization information — company name, type (see the table below), logo, website, and contact details. The organization record is created at this point, and you become its first admin automatically.
3. Invite your fellow users — send email invites to anyone else at your company who needs access. New users join your organization as user-role members by default; you can elevate them to admin later.

Step 2: Invite partner organizations

Smart EPD supports two ways to bring partners onto the platform:

• Invite an existing organization -If your partner already has a Smart EPD account, link your organizations directly.
• Create and invite -If your partner is new to Smart EPD, you can create their organization and send an invite in one step. The invitee receives an email with a link to accept and complete setup.

Partner relationships are bidirectional. Once established, both organizations can collaborate in workspaces.

Step 3: Create a Workspace

A Workspace is a shared collaboration space where two or more organizations work together. Think of it as a project room: it defines who is at the table and what role each organization plays.

When you create a workspace:

1. Name it -typically after the engagement (e.g., "Acme 2025 EPDs")
2. Add organizations -each with a role: reporting_organization, tool_provider, consultant, or verifier
3. Members cascade -all members of an invited organization automatically receive viewer access to the workspace

You can add more organizations or invite individual users at any time.

Step 4: Create a Category

A Category defines how a product category's EPDs are created within a workspace. It's the governance layer, setting the rules before any work begins.

When creating a Category, you configure:

Setting	Description
Name	The product category (e.g., "Ready-Mixed Concrete")
Mode	How EPDs will be produced (see below)
PCR Specification	Which Product Category Rules apply
Tool	Which LCA tool/model is used

How the tool selection shapes the EPD flow

The specific tool you select governs which EPD flows are available within the Category. Each registered tool carries an allows_reference_epds flag that the Category inherits at creation time:

• Tools with allows_reference_epds enabled — projects under this Category support the full reference + variant flow. A manufacturer can author a standard draft, morph it into a reference EPD (which locks a modeling envelope via an EPD Template), and then generate variant EPDs that inherit the reference's template and constraints.
• Tools with allows_reference_epds disabled — projects under this Category support only standalone standard EPDs. The "Make Reference EPD" action is hidden in the UI and the corresponding API endpoint returns a validation error.

In other words, the tool itself decides whether a Category is a free-form path or a templated reference/variant path. Choose the tool deliberately: switching later means re-authoring any EPDs that depend on the locked envelope.

Once configured, activate the Category to start creating projects within it.

Tool vs Platform

The tool (or model) is the specific LCA configuration selected at the Category level. The underlying platform (e.g., SimaPro, GaBi) goes through a separate platform pre-verification process before it becomes available for selection. See Terminology for details.

Step 5: Create a Project

A Project represents a single product being assessed. It inherits its PCR, tool configuration, and designated verifier organization from the parent Category — you do not assign a verifier at the project level.

When creating a project:

1. Name it after the product (e.g., "EcoCrete Mix 7")
2. Add external team members — invite individual users who aren't already covered by an existing workspace membership. Workspace members already get project access through that membership, so you only need to add users from outside the workspace member organizations (e.g., a consultant brought in for this project specifically, or an external reviewer). Each external member can be granted per-project permissions such as can_edit_epds.

Projects can be duplicated within the same Category for similar products.

Step 6: Upload LCA documentation

Before EPDs can be created and verified, the project's LCA documentation should be prepared. The LCA submission is closely tied to tool/model verification — the verifier reviews the LCA to confirm that the tool produces valid results within the project's scope.

• Upload documents — LCA methodology report, background data documentation, supporting files
• Submit for review — Makes the LCA available for the verifier to review

The LCA must be approved before any EPDs in the project can be approved (see approval gates).

Step 7: Create EPDs

With the project configured and LCA documentation prepared, create EPDs. For tool-based Categories, EPD creation involves resolving an EPD Template from the specification chain — the template pre-fills locked fields, defines validation constraints for unlocked fields, and is submitted for verifier review as part of the overall verification process.

EPD Type	Description	When to use
Standard	Standalone EPD	Manual Categories, individual assessments
Reference	Linked to an EPD Template with locked fields and constraints	Tool-based Categories, verification artifacts
Variant	Derived from an approved reference EPD with different parameters	Production EPDs in tool-based Categories

Step 8: Submit for verification

Bundle the LCA documentation and EPDs into a submittal package for third-party verification. The verifier reviews all items as a unit, with dependency gates ensuring the LCA is approved before EPDs.

At this point, the project is fully set up and ready for the EPD Lifecycle workflow.

API Access

Every step in this workflow is available via the Smart EPD API. Tool providers can fully automate onboarding, enabling self-service setup for manufacturers directly from within their own tools.

Putting it all together

Organization (Acme Concrete)
  ├── Partner: Green Verify Inc (verifier)
  ├── Partner: LCA Consultants Ltd (consultant)
  │
  └── Workspace: "Acme 2025 EPDs"
        ├── Members: Acme (reporting_org), Green Verify (verifier)
        │
        └── Category: "Ready-Mixed Concrete"
              ├── Specification: EN 15804+A2
              ├── Tool: SimaPro (pre-approved)
              ├── Verifier: Green Verify Inc
              │
              └── Project: "EcoCrete Mix 7"
                    ├── Team: workspace members (auto) + external consultant (invited)
                    ├── Verifier: inherited from Category (Green Verify Inc)
                    ├── LCA Version 1 (uploaded, ready for review)
                    ├── EPD Template (resolved from specification chain)
                    ├── Reference EPD (linked to template)
                    ├── Standard EPD #1
                    └── Submittal Package (bundles LCA + EPDs for verification)

What's next

• EPD Lifecycle -How EPDs move from draft through verification to publication
• Verification Workflow -How verifiers review and approve EPDs