The Assessment Correction is a post-submission service carried out during the review period and designed to strengthen the reliability of our Assessments and Benchmark Results. The service can be used during the first two weeks of September once the preliminary results are launched. The service is used in cases where a participant realizes there was an error in the data input, allowing them to correct the input, leading to better data quality.
Making an Assessment Correction request
The Assessment Correction can only be requested by contacting the Member Success Team at [email protected]. Requests can be made by submitting a Typeform survey prior to 23:59 UTC on Monday, September 16, 2024.
The link to the form will be provided by the Member Success Team after it is determined that an Assessment Correction will be used. Once the form is submitted to GRESB, the Member Success Team will de-submit the Assessment, allowing the participant to correct their response. If new documentation is added to manually validated indicators, it will be re-validated by the Validation Team.
When reviewing your preliminary results, participants may have questions on why they missed points on an indicator or the reasoning behind specific validation decisions. The GRESB Member Success Team will work together with participants during the review period to answer participant questions, prior to using the Assessment Correction Service. This is to ensure that they understand the process and what corrections they will make once the Assessment is de-submitted. In some cases, the Member Success Team may direct participants to request a Results Consultation if the questions are not relevant for an Assessment Correction.
Assessment Corrections must be made at the reporting entity level. This means there should be one form submitted per reporting entity making corrections to their Assessment. It is necessary to have one form per entity so the GRESB team can ensure proper processing and invoicing.
Pricing and invoicing
GRESB is excited to announce a reduced fee structure to make Assessment Corrections in 2024.
The Assessment Correction service results in two tiers of pricing:
- Assessment Correction for non-validated indicators – EUR 3500 / USD 4200
- Assessment Correction for validated indicators and non-validated indicators – EUR 5000 / USD 6000
Non-validated indicator corrections include adding a missing building certification or energy data that was inadvertently left out of the original submission. Validated indicator corrections include, for example, adding a new document to support PO1 – Environmental policy.
The Assessment Correction fee is charged per reporting entity and covers all changes the participant wants to make to the entity. GRESB incurs re-validation costs for new information that is subject to manual validation. Manual validation includes all datapoints that receive a validation decision, such as indicators that require documentation or ‘Other’ answers.
Submitting a form for an Assessment Correction means GRESB has permission to invoice the entity using the bill-to-party information provided in the form. Submitting a form will result in the de-submission of the entity, allowing the participant to make the correction and re-submit.
For a list of manually validated indicators, see section “Manual Validation” below.
Change to the Assessment Correction in 2024
Participants no longer need to submit a form to challenge a validation decision. When participants reach out to GRESB to inquire about a validation decision and the exact reason an indicator was partially or not accepted, the Member Success Team will provide additional information for the participant to understand the logic behind the decision. If the participant still believes that the Validation Team missed something in the evidence, it will be immediately clear. In the rare case that an error has been made by the Validation Team, the decision will be rectified.
In all other cases, the participant can use the Assessment Correction service to add additional documentation or change the indicator response to match the existing documentation. The Member Success Team will advise the participant on what exactly needs to be amended to lead to a positive validation outcome.
What can and cannot be corrected?
Participants can use the Assessment Correction service to amend indicator responses such as checkbox selections and hyperlinks, add additional documentation, or correct performance data that was inadvertently left out in the original submission.
IMPORTANT: Participants cannot use the Assessment Correction service to supplement their response with data that was collected after the GRESB submission deadline (i.e., July 1). For example, if additional energy data (or any performance data) relevant to the submission was made available to the participant any time after July 1, this data cannot be added to the Assessment. This is to ensure that the GRESB dataset is based universally on what is available as of July 1, 2024.
Assessment Correction request process
The GRESB Member Success Team will be ready to answer your questions regarding your preliminary results when launched on September 1.
If an Assessment Correction is the best pathway forward, you will be provided with a link to the Typeform survey. The participant must submit the Assessment Correction form prior to 23:59 UTC on Monday, September 16, 2024, but ideally the participant submits as soon as possible.
Once GRESB receives the submitted form, the Assessment will be de-submitted for the participant to make the corrections. The participant will have three business days to re-submit the Assessment with the corrections. Note that if Assessment Corrections are requested closer to the September 16 deadline, you will have less than three business days to make the corrections, and the timeline will be communicated in the confirmation email. For example, there will only be two days to re-submit if submitted on Monday, September 16.
It is the participant’s responsibility to indicate the exact amendments made to the response in the Assessment Correction form. GRESB will not be held responsible for validating new information not explicitly indicated in the submitted form. In addition, GRESB reserves the right to check that additional edits have not been made beyond what was indicated in the Assessment Correction form.
We will only consider requests submitted within the official Assessment Correction process.
Note on correction: this section was updated on August 29, 2024 to correct the reference “five business days” to “three business days”.
How to request an Assessment Correction
Participants that want to take part in the Assessment Correction should contact the Member Success Team at [email protected].
- The Member Success Team will provide answers to your questions.
- If an Assessment Correction is the best pathway forward for the participant, you will be provided with the Typeform survey.
- Submit the form before 23:59 UTC on September 16, but ideally earlier, to allow more time to correct the Assessment.
- GRESB will quickly de-submit the Assessment in order to be corrected.
- Once re-submitted, GRESB will re-validate, re-score, and re-benchmark your Assessment.
- Final results are launched on October 1.
Manual Validation
For specific information on the Manual Validation process, please refer to the following direct page links from the associated reference guides. There is a table in the Validation Appendix that lists the manually validated indicators:
2024 Real Estate Standard and Reference Guide
2024 Infrastructure Fund Standard and Reference Guide
2024 Infrastructure Asset Standard and Reference Guide
2024 Infrastructure Development Asset Standard and Reference Guide