Handbook/Reports

Review and approve a report

Two models work on every chapter before you see it: one writes it, a second one reads it against the figures and the study, and the two settle what the second one objects to. What reaches you is the finished chapter, a question where only you know the answer, and — rarely — a sentence the two could not settle. This page explains what you see, what only you can judge, and how a report stays true after the model changes.

What the two models do#

Before a chapter is stored, PrismLCA checks it against the calculation: every figure comes from the study, a placeholder resolves, the unit beside a figure is the one it carries, and no number is typed in by hand. These checks are exact, and a chapter that fails them is not stored.

Everything else is read by the Review model (Settings → AI → Models): whether a figure is attached to the right process, phase or variant, whether "the largest", "twice" or "lower than" is true of the numbers, whether a cause is backed by something the writer looked up, whether the chapter contradicts the study record or another chapter, and whether it recommends, prefers or praises where it may not. The reader quotes the sentence it objects to; the writer fixes it, or answers why it is right, and the reader decides. Up to three readings per chapter.

The reading is always on. Should the Review model fail — a provider error, an empty answer — the chapter is not lost: an automatic word check decides on its own for that chapter, as in earlier versions.

What a chapter row tells you#

A row shows at most one word: what to do next, if anything. Hover it for the reason; click it to go where you can act.

No word means the chapter is written, current and approved.

Answer the writer's questions#

When the data and the study cannot settle something that changes what a chapter may say — the study records 300 km of transport and the model a parameter of 1200 km, say — the reader asks you. The questions stand above the chapter list, each with the answers it proposes as buttons, its suggestion, and a field for your own. Nothing waits on you: the chapter stands as written until you answer.

Your answer is kept with the report, and every chapter written afterwards knows it. The chapter that asked is updated with it straight away, once it has no other open question. If another chapter is being written at that moment, or the chapter is locked, it shows Needs update instead, and the next Update report works the answer in. Where the answer means the model is wrong, correct the model too — the report can only say what the model computes.

Read, then approve the report#

1. Read each chapter as it will print#

   Open the chapter with the pencil and press Show with the numbers. Every placeholder is worked out; hover a figure to see what it points at. Below the text, Read by … shows what the reader raised and how each point ended.

2. Settle what is left#

   For a sentence the reader still doubts: Keep as written if you have read it and it is right, or Have it fixed to let the writer change it and the reader read it again. You can also edit the wording yourself, keeping the {{…}} placeholders.

3. Approve the report#

   Approve report under the list says: you have read the chapters marked New and the report says what you want it to say. A chapter that changes afterwards — by an update, a rewrite or your own edit — is marked New again, and clicking the mark shows word by word what moved since your approval.

The earlier wording of a chapter is kept after every change: open the chapter's diff and press Put it back to restore it. One step only; the next change replaces it.

Keep the report true after the model changes#

Numbers look after themselves: a sentence holding a placeholder prints the new figure. The words around the numbers do not — after a recalculation "transport dominates" may no longer be true. PrismLCA compares each chapter with what it was written against and marks the ones whose wording is at risk Needs update. A value that was only renamed is re-linked on the way, without changing a word.

Update report shows the plan first — which chapters are updated, written or kept — and then runs it. An update is not a rewrite: the writer is shown the chapter, what changed under it and any point the reader left open, and changes only the sentences that are no longer true. Every sentence it does not touch keeps its wording and keeps pointing at the process it was written about. The reader then reads the result like any new chapter. Where more than about a quarter of a chapter has to change, the writer may replace it as a whole.

A chapter you wrote yourself is not compared and not updated — tick it in the plan to have it written anew.

What an LCA may not claim#

Some sentences are not a matter of style. A chapter is refused when it:

• combines two impact categories into one figure — a sum of kg CO2-eq and MJ-eq is a single score, which ISO 14044 does not allow for a comparative assertion (the same holds for two categories that happen to share a unit);
• scales a figure by a constant other than a unit conversion;
• types a figure in by hand instead of taking it from the study.

The reader also holds a chapter to these, and settles them with the writer:

• no absolute value judgements such as "environmentally friendly", "green" or "sustainable" outside a quotation, and no claims of climate or carbon neutrality;
• no recommendation outside the conclusions, and no preference between the assessed variants where the report does not support one — a public comparison without a critical review, or two values closer than the Difference worth reporting (5 % by default, under Scope & indicators);
• no everyday comparisons (car kilometres, households) and no claims about how consumers behave;
• nothing about how the report was made — no assistant, model, tool or check in a chapter.

Lock approved chapters#

The padlock is stronger than an approval. A locked chapter refuses every change — your edits, updates and runs alike — until you unlock it (the padlock then shows closed). Use it for chapters a reviewer has signed off.

Export#

Render PDF and Export sources stop when chapters are new since your last approval, and say how many; they also stop when placeholders are unresolved. Approve the report, or press Export anyway — meant for drafts you send round for comment. Such a document says DRAFT across every page, in the report's language, so it cannot pass for the finished one.

• No question is open and no chapter says Needs update or Couldn't finish.
• The report is approved: no chapter says New.
• The preview shows no [missing: …].
• The goal, scope and limitations say what you would say to a reviewer.

See also: Write a full report · Languages, themes and PDF