Quick Start: EU Companies

Welcome to kolum. This quick start guide will help your EU company get set up efficiently so you can begin managing supplier engagement, emissions data, and import records seamlessly. By following this guide, you will ensure your organization is ready to track, collect, and manage emissions data with your supply chain and prepare your reporting workflows efficiently.

What You Will Achieve

• Set up your organization and users in kolum.
• Add company and production facility data to match your operational structure.
• Manage and link suppliers and articles to your workflows.
• Track import records and link them with your articles.
• Prepare your emissions data collection workflow for all purchased and produced goods.
• Understand the steps for generating and submitting reports efficiently.

Access the Platform

Step 1: Access kolum and Set Up Your Account

• Accept the invitation email sent by your kolum admin or kolum team.
• Create your password and log in at the kolum login page.
• Set up your user profile (name, job title, phone).
• Once you are in, the footer of the sidebar always shows who you are signed in as, with your role and the client or company you belong to, and offers a Product Updates link that opens the latest product news from the documentation in your app language.

Master Data Setup

Master data is the set of foundational records that everything else in kolum links back to. Companies, Users, and Suppliers are required to get going. Articles are optional but recommended, since they make it easy to reference your products across Imports, the Dashboard, and elsewhere.

Tip: Every upload file already includes an Explanation, an Example, and a Validation tab, showing what's mandatory vs. optional, sample data, and the validation rules. It's worth a quick look before you upload.

Step 2: Set Up Your Organization (Companies)

• Go to Master Data > Companies in the sidebar.
• Add your company details including name, EORI number, address, and contact data.
• You can add multiple companies to a single account, which is useful if you manage compliance for more than one legal entity.
• The EORI number is the unique identifier used to reference your EU-based companies in the context of EU regulations. Every emissions record ties back to a company through its EORI, so make sure it's accurate.
• Each company also has an Identifier (for example COM-1), shown as the first column of the Companies overview and used as the key of the companies upload template.

Add New Company

Optional: Production Facilities. A company's production facilities are managed on the company's detail page, on its Associations tab, where you can add facilities with accurate address and identifier data (use two-digit country codes); bulk facility upload is started from the Companies page. This isn't a required step for most EU companies; add it only if you have a specific need.

Add New Production Facility

Step 3: Add and Manage Users

• Open the Settings menu (gear icon, top right) and select Users.
• Click + Add New to invite your team members (e.g., compliance, procurement, operations).
• Assign appropriate roles:
  • Client Admin manages the whole account, including multiple companies and the users.
  • Company Admin manages the data for one assigned company. This is the day-to-day working role.

Invite New Users

Assign or Update User Roles

Step 4: Add Suppliers

• Go to Master Data > Suppliers in the sidebar.
• Add the supplier's main master data (e.g., address data), individually or via the bulk upload feature.
• Ensure accurate identifiers and country codes.
• Add contact person data so you can give the supplier access to kolum, so they can submit their emissions data themselves.

Add a New Supplier

Bulk upload: Adding many at once? Use the bulk upload to get them in quickly. The upload file already contains examples, validation rules, and explanations of what's mandatory vs. optional (the Explanation, Example, and Validation tabs), so it's worth a quick look before you upload.

Bulk Upload Suppliers

Optional follow-up: Supplier Production Facility. From Suppliers, you can add a supplier's production facility individually or via bulk upload. (As with all uploads, the file's Explanation, Example, and Validation tabs show you what's required.)

Suppliers Production Facility

Step 5: Add Articles (Optional)

• Go to Master Data > Articles in the sidebar.
• Articles are product records in kolum and are optional but recommended.
• Adding them lets you analyse your data at article level in the Dashboard.
• Articles can be referenced from your transactional data (Imports), making your records easier to read and follow up on.

Add New Article

Bulk upload: Adding many at once? Use the bulk upload to get them in quickly. The upload file already contains examples, validation rules, and explanations of what's mandatory vs. optional (the Explanation, Example, and Validation tabs), so it's worth a quick look before you upload.

Bulk Upload Articles

Transactional Data

Transactional data is the record of what your company actually brings into the EU. Where master data describes who you are and who you work with, transactional data captures the individual movements of goods. In kolum this is your Imports, each tied back to a company (via its EORI), a supplier, and optionally an article, so every shipment can be tracked and linked to its emissions data.

Step 6: Add Imports

• Go to Transactions > Imports in the sidebar.
• Add import records using correct CN codes. Each import needs:
  • a company reference (EORI), required,
  • a supplier reference, required,
  • an article reference, optional,
  • a Quantity together with its Measurement Unit (kg or t for goods, MWh for electricity), required.
• Every import carries its own Identifier. It is optional: leave it empty on the form or in the upload file and kolum generates one (kolum-ImportID-n). In the upload file it is the first column and lets you update imports later by uploading the same file again.
• Linking imports to the appropriate company, supplier, and (optionally) article gives you clear emissions tracking.

Tip: Import upload files include Explanation, Example, and Validation tabs. Check them before uploading to confirm what's mandatory vs. optional.

Manage Imports

Bulk upload: Adding many at once? Use the bulk upload to get them in quickly. The upload file already contains examples, validation rules, and explanations of what's mandatory vs. optional (the Explanation, Example, and Validation tabs), so it's worth a quick look before you upload.

Bulk Upload Imports

Glossary for Bulk Upload

CBAM-Relevant Data

CBAM-relevant data is the emissions information attached to your imported goods, and the reporting you build from it. This is the heart of CBAM compliance: the embedded emissions for each CN code, collected either by you or by your suppliers, and then compiled into the report you submit to the EU.

Step 7: Manage Emissions Data

You manage this under CBAM > Emission Data in the sidebar. There are two ways to maintain your CBAM emissions data:

Option A: Do it yourself. If you already have verified values, enter them directly. You can do this two ways:

• Manually, using the input masks inside kolum.
• By file upload, using the Upload Emission Data from CSV or Excel option. Download the emission data template, fill it in, and upload it to enter many records at once. As with the other templates, the file's Explanation, Example, and Validation tabs show you the format, sample rows, and what's mandatory vs. optional, including the reporting timeframe each row applies to.

Option B: Give the supplier access. Invite the supplier and link each import to the supplier and the CN code in Imports. The supplier then submits the emissions data, and you accept or decline it.

How it works in either case:

• Linked CN-code goods appear on the supplier's Purchased CBAM goods page for data entry.
• Suppliers can provide direct and indirect emissions at CN-code level using measured values.
• If the same CN code covers goods from different countries of origin, suppliers add a separate entry per country.
• You'll be notified when data is submitted; accept or reject it. Only accepted data populates your Purchased CBAM goods table.
• Data stays linked to the correct articles and imports for analytics and follow-up.
• You can also accept supplier Excel/CSV uploads if that's how they share data.
• One CN-code entry applies to all articles under that code, so you don't need a new request for every shipment if the data remains valid for your agreed period (often up to one year).

Manage Emission Data

Step 8: Generate and Submit Reports

• Once your data is complete, generate your report in kolum under Reporting.
• Review, validate, and prepare for submission.
• Submit the generated report to the EU CBAM Registry. Quarterly reports cover the transitional period up to 2025 Q4; from 2026, one annual declaration covers the full calendar year and is due by 30 September of the following year, so report creation for 2026 opens in January 2027.

Create CBAM Reports

Submit CBAM Reports

Common Questions

What's new

Getting started is more consistent: production facilities are managed from the company's Associations tab, imports carry their own Identifier and a Quantity with its Measurement Unit, the Reporting page prepares you for the annual CBAM declaration from 2026, and the sidebar footer always shows who you are signed in as alongside a Product Updates link.