When filling out your product’s traceability, you will encounter two options to handle missing information: “Unknown” and “Not applicable”. These two selections have different meanings and distinct impacts on your final assessment.
When to use “Unknown”
You should select “Unknown” when you know a process or supplier exists in your supply chain, but you do not have the specific details (e.g., the company’s name or location).
- Meaning: The process happened, but the data is missing.
- Example: You are assessing a dyed t-shirt, but your supplier did not provide the name of the dyehouse. In this case, the dyeing process exists, but the specific supplier is “Unknown”.
- Impact on analysis: The system will acknowledge that this stage occurred and will use a conservative, industry-average dataset to calculate its environmental impact. On the Supply Map, this supplier will be marked as “Unknown”.
When to use “Not applicable”
You should select “Not applicable” when a process or stage does not exist at all for your specific product.
- Meaning: The process did not happen.
- Example: You are assessing a raw, undyed fabric. In this case, no dyeing process ever occurred, so you would select “Not applicable” for the dyeing stage.
- Impact on analysis: The system will correctly assign a zero impact for this stage because the process did not take place.
Summary of differences
| Option | Meaning | Example | Impact on analysis |
| Unknown | The process exists, but you lack the specific data. | A product was dyed, but the dyehouse name is unknown. | A generic impact is calculated for the stage. |
| Not applicable | The process does not exist for this product. | A fabric is raw and was never dyed. | Zero impact is assigned to the stage. |