The Analyst project has made the beta version of Analyst-Digi available for testing. The digital platform has been developed to support plastics companies and other stakeholders in comparing chemicals, materials and alternatives under safer and sustainable-by-design, SSbD, criteria. The tool brings safety, environmental, social and economic assessment into one digital environment, reflecting the fact that selecting a safer or more sustainable material rarely depends on a single indicator. An alternative may reduce environmental impact but increase costs, improve safety while introducing supply-chain or social concerns, or create trade-offs that are difficult to assess when each factor is examined separately. Analyst-Digi is intended to provide a transparent workflow that helps users identify strengths, risks, data gaps and the assumptions influencing the final comparison.
A digital workflow for SSbD decisions
Analyst-Digi has been developed to transform the methodologies and guidelines of Analyst-Box into a practical digital workflow. The platform enables users to assess and compare alternatives across four interconnected dimensions: safety, environmental, social and economic performance. This structure is intended to support a clearer view of the trade-offs involved in developing or selecting safer and more sustainable chemicals, materials and processes.
The launch follows a development process focused on one central challenge: how to combine complex information on safety, environmental performance, social impact and economic viability in a way that supports clearer and more informed decisions. To address this, the Analyst consortium first developed a common methodological foundation for assessing chemicals, materials and processes across the four dimensions. This methodology was then translated into a digital structure supported by harmonised data, a shared ontology and a modular platform architecture.
The next stage involved turning this foundation into an operational decision-support workflow. Analyst-Digi uses a structured multicriteria approach, bringing evidence from the four SSbD dimensions into a common framework. According to the project information, the platform is designed not only to produce results, but also to keep them transparent and traceable, allowing users to understand which indicators, assumptions and criteria influence the comparison.
The tool also addresses practical issues that often arise in sustainability assessments, including missing information, uncertainty, different priorities and trade-offs between dimensions. Its decision-support logic is designed to help users explore how results may change when scores, weighting preferences or assessment scenarios are adjusted.
Functions available in the beta version
The current beta includes the main functionalities presented to project partners during the M30 Consortium Meeting in Aveiro. Users can register and begin exploring available assessment workflows across the safety, environmental, social and economic dimensions.
At this stage, the economic and environmental dimensions are operational at the chemical level, while their extension to process-level assessment is being finalised. Uncertainty evaluation has already been implemented for the safety dimension. Uncertainty functions for the social, economic and environmental dimensions are under development. The development team is also working on options to save assessments for later use, as well as data-export and reporting functions.
The platform has been developed around real PVC applications in the construction and automotive sectors and is designed to evolve through industrial testing and feedback. As a beta release, it remains under active development. Its purpose is not only to demonstrate the progress achieved, but also to gather practical feedback that can guide further improvements, including process-level assessments, expanded uncertainty analysis, saved assessments, data export and reporting.
Stakeholder testing
Companies, researchers, industry associations, policymakers and other stakeholders interested in exploring the platform are invited to participate through the Analyst Stakeholder Board. Board members can test the latest developments, provide feedback on the usability and relevance of Analyst-Digi, and contribute industry and stakeholder perspectives to the validation of the project results.
