Program Operators Guide

Executive Summary

The ECO Portal operates on a decentralized, API-first architecture designed to maximize data availability, reduce friction, and eliminate unnecessary infrastructure constraints for Program Operators (POs). Rather than enforcing a single monolithic software system, the ecosystem prioritizes high data utility, autonomy, and speed of delivery.

In this architecture, Program Operators maintain complete ownership and hosting of their EPD datasets, while the ECO Portal serves as the central discovery, search, and indexing layer for global consumers, LCA practitioners, and digital tools.

Core Strategic Principles

  • Data Ownership & Hosting: POs always host their own authoritative EPD datasets on their own infrastructure, ensuring data provenance and regulatory integrity.
  • Freedom of Technology: POs are free to use any software stack—soda4LCA, custom web services, cloud APIs, or static file hosting.
  • Maximum Data Freshness: POs can publish updates to the global search index in real time via webhooks or expose endpoints for automated crawling.
  • Uniformity & Interoperability: Regardless of internal implementations, all data exposed adheres to the unified ILCD+EPD standard and ECO Platform Digital Data Requirements (DDR).

The PO-to-Portal Contract

To ensure seamless interoperability and deliver maximum value across the construction and environmental sectors, all integrations fulfill four core tenets:

  1. Uniform Data Standard: EPD datasets must conform to the ILCD+EPD v1.2 specification and the ECO Platform DDR v1.1.
  2. Authoritative Hosting: Program Operators host the full EPD documents and provide accessible URIs or retrieval endpoints so downstream users and applications can view and download them.
  3. Discoverability: Program Operators provide discovery metadata (UUID, product classification, validity, compliance, and location) either by exposing a search endpoint or pushing records via webhook.
  4. Reliability & Availability: EPD access and health endpoints must remain reliable and responsive to preserve trust and utility across automated workflows.

Explore the Guide

Continue to the dedicated sections below to integrate your organization with the ECO Platform:

Integration & Publishing →

Explore Push (Webhooks) vs. Pull (PO Node) models, custom stack endpoints without soda4LCA, and webhook publishing payloads.

Onboarding & Setup →

Initial PO organization registration, API key creation, self-service PO data management in the portal, and integration checklists.

Validation & Quality →

Pre-publication validation API, automated background validation procedure, DDR compliance rules, and quality report exports.