Challenge: organizational complexity, not the standard itself
GRI Standards define the reporting framework, but they do not provide a ready-made data collection model for the multi-layered structures, diverse responsibilities and public-sector processes of municipalities. At metropolitan scale, the real challenge is collecting the right data from the right unit, in the right scope and format.
Under a manual approach, this structure means many files, emails, meetings, reminders, data checks and repeated coordination tasks.
Bring the data request to the right user—not the full standard
iatro mapped responsibilities and activity areas within the organization to GRI requirements and distributed questions and data requests to the relevant units. Instead of seeing the full standards set, participants received only the questions, tables, numerical fields, options and explanations related to their own activities.
“Without requiring every user to be a GRI expert, structured data can be produced at source within the organization.”
Distributed, parallel data collection across 200+ units
Data collection from more than 200 units and departments within İzmir Metropolitan Municipality was managed in a distributed model. Instead of sequential tasks waiting on one another, different units could enter their data at the same time.
Incoming information was incorporated into the reporting structure while data collection was still underway, so data collection and report construction were no longer two completely separate phases.
Outcome: approximately 90% less operational reporting effort
Compared with the previous manual approach, the operational effort required to distribute data requests, follow up, consolidate responses and transfer them into the reporting structure was assessed to be approximately 90% lower with iatro.
When parallel activities by different users were normalized as a single linear workload, total active operational processing on the platform—from the start of data collection through reporting—was approximately three hours.
Making deep GRI knowledge unnecessary as a prerequisite
For the İzBB sustainability team, the process became easier to manage with less coordination burden than the previous manual cycle. Distributing question structures and data types by activity area allowed participants to contribute data without needing detailed knowledge of the technical structure of the standards.
A scalable structure from one municipality to a municipal ecosystem
In the 2026 implementation, reporting scope was limited to the core municipality; subsidiaries and affiliated organizations were outside the scope. The experience demonstrated that the same architecture can be extended hierarchically from the parent institution to affiliates, subsidiaries and their sub-units.