Material topic workflow and states

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Material Topic Workflow and States

    Material topics serve as the foundation for sustainability initiatives within your organization. Identifying these topics is essential for tracking and measuring their success. The workflow states for each material topic vary depending on its creation process.

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    Key Features

    The default workflow for material topics includes the following states:

    • Draft: All material topics start here. You can update fields such as Name, Classification, Importance to Business Success, Importance to Stakeholders, Priority, and Approver.
    • Approval: The Operational Sustainability program manager reviews and confirms the accuracy of the material topic details before moving it to the Monitor state.
    • Monitor: The topic stays in this state until a modification is required. If updates arise from materiality assessments, the topic can revert to Draft without impacting downstream goals.
    • Retired: The material topic is no longer relevant and is not tracked.

    For material topics imported from Socialsuite, the workflow does not require approval and uses distinct states:

    • Draft: Corresponds to the Not started state in Socialsuite; details are read-only.
    • Materiality Assessment: The ESG program manager reviews data in this state.
    • Monitor: Only topics in this state appear in the materiality matrix on the Operational Sustainability Workspace home page.

    Key Outcomes

    By effectively managing material topics through these workflows, customers can ensure accurate tracking of sustainability initiatives, streamline the review process, and maintain alignment with organizational goals. Understanding and utilizing these states enables better decision-making regarding sustainability efforts.

    Material topics are the point of origin for sustainability initiatives. A material topic must be identified before it can be tracked and measured for success.The workflow states for a material topic depend on how the material topic was created.

    Default workflow

    The states of a material topic are:
    1. Draft: All material topics begin in this state. The following fields can be updated in this state:
      • Name
      • Classification
      • Importance to business success
      • Importance to stakeholders
      • Priority
      • Approver
    2. Approval:The Operational Sustainability program manager reviews the material topic and ensures that all fields are accurate and complete. After the review completes, the material topic moves to Monitor. For example, if the material topic is Carbon emissions, the reviewer might verify:
      • The material topic is accurately defined.
      • The description of the material topic is accurate.
    3. Monitor: The material topic remains in this state until a modification is needed. If an update is necessary, you can return the material topic to the Draft state. This may occur after a subsequent materiality assessment, where there could be a shift in the following attributes:
      • Priority
      • Significance to business success
      • Significance to stakeholders

      Moving a material topic back to the Draft state does not affect downstream goals and targets.

      Only material topics that are in the Monitor state are shown in the Materiality matrix on the Operational Sustainability Workspace home page.

    4. Retired: The material topic is no longer tracked by the organization as a relevant sustainability issue.

    Socialsuite workflow

    Material topics imported from Socialsuite do not require approval in your ServiceNow instance. These topics use different workflow states than the default workflow. The following table shows how Socialsuite states map to states in your ServiceNow instance:

    Table 1. Socialsuite to the ServiceNow instance state mapping
    Socialsuite state ServiceNow instance state
    Not started Draft
    Open for input Materiality Assessment
    Input closed Materiality Assessment
    Complete Monitor
    Historical Monitor

    Material topics imported from Socialsuite progress through the following states in your ServiceNow instance:

    1. Draft: Material topics in the Not started state in Socialsuite appear in Draft. The material topic details are read-only and cannot be updated.
    2. Materiality Assessment: The ESG program manager validates and reviews the materiality assessment data in this state.
    3. Monitor: Only material topics in Monitor appear in the materiality matrix on the Operational Sustainability Workspace home page. Material topics imported from Socialsuite cannot be moved back to Draft.

    Fields for Socialsuite material topics

    Material topics imported from Socialsuite include additional fields that store materiality assessment data. These fields are visible and read-only for topics imported from Socialsuite. All data for these fields is managed through Socialsuite. For a complete list of fields, see Socialsuite material topic fields.