Two ways this applies to you
Historical comparisons work slightly differently depending on whether you're entering data yourself or monitoring your portfolio companies:
Fund Manager Self-Assessment: When you're entering your own fund-level ESG data, you get the same in-the-moment historical comparison tools described below.
Portfolio company oversight: Since your portfolio companies enter their own data, you won't see this comparison button on their behalf. Instead, you monitor data quality across your portfolio using Data Validation rules, covered in the second half of this article.
Part 1: Historical comparisons in your Fund Manager Self-Assessment
Historical comparisons help you catch data entry errors before they become problems when you're completing your own fund-level ESG data. Instead of discovering inconsistencies later in your reports, you can spot and fix potential issues right as you're entering data.
How to access historical comparisons
Switch to Fund Manager Self Assessment from the platform dropdown in the top-left corner, then when entering data for any data point in the Data Collection section, look for the "Compare historical data" button below your data entry options. This only appears for data points where you have previous submissions from earlier reporting periods.
Note: If you don't see this button, you're reporting on this data point for the first time, so there's no historical data yet.
Understanding your historical data view
Clicking "Compare historical data" shows your fund's previous entries from all available years and reporting periods, giving you context to assess whether your current entry looks reasonable. The view defaults to your most recent submission, and once you switch to a different comparison period, that choice is remembered for that question.
Smart period comparisons
The system automatically adjusts for different reporting frequencies: for example, if you previously reported annually but are now reporting quarterly, you'll see the appropriate quarterly breakdown of your prior submission, so you're always comparing like-with-like even if your own cadence changes year to year.
Spotting and handling data outliers
As you enter numerical data, the system checks whether your entry falls significantly outside your historical range, specifically, a visual alert appears if your new entry is 25% higher or lower than comparable previous submissions. This 25% comparison only works for Carbon accounting data.
Outliers aren't always errors — they might reflect legitimate changes at the fund level, a reporting improvement, or a genuine error (wrong units, typo, misplaced decimal). Review the entry, confirm the units and figures, and if the change is legitimate, proceed with confidence; if not, correct it before submitting.
Copying data from previous periods
For data that hasn't changed significantly, you can bulk-copy rows from your previous submission and edit only what's different:
In the historical comparison view, find the previous submission you want to copy.
Click "Copy previous data."
The data populates your current period's entry fields.
Edit any values that have changed.
Submit as normal.
Part 2: Monitoring data quality across your portfolio companies
Your portfolio companies get the same historical comparison experience described above when they enter their own data, but since you're not the one entering it, you won't see a "Compare historical data" button on their submissions. Instead, oversight at the portfolio level works through Data Validation rules:
Set rules once, they flow down automatically: As a fund manager, any Data Validation rule you set (Year-on-Year Variance, Metric vs. Metric, or Metric vs. Threshold) automatically applies across your portfolio companies — you don't need to configure it per company.
Monitor by portfolio company: In the Data Validation tab under the Data section, you can view rule status (Passing, Failing, Incomplete Data, Not Run, Mixed, or Suppressed) broken down by portfolio company, so you can see at a glance which companies have data quality issues to resolve before submission deadlines.
AI Root Cause Analysis: For a failing Year-on-Year Variance rule on a GHG Scope 1, 2, or 3 metric, expand the rule card and click Find Root Cause for an AI-generated explanation of the variance: useful for triaging which portfolio companies need a follow-up conversation versus which have an easily explained change (requires AI Capabilities enabled in company settings).
Why this helps your fund's ESG reporting
Catch errors early, at both levels: Fix your own fund-level entries during data entry, and catch portfolio company issues before they hold up your consolidated reporting.
Reduce back-and-forth: Data Validation rules flag portfolio company issues automatically, rather than you finding inconsistencies manually when reviewing reports.
Save time: Copy stable fund-level data forward and focus on entries that have genuinely changed.
Learn patterns: Spot portfolio companies or metrics that repeatedly trigger outliers, a signal they may need extra guidance or a process check-in.
FAQs
Q: Does the historical comparison feature (Part 1) work for custom metrics?
No, at the moment this only works for metrics from the KEY ESG Metric Library.
Q: Can I see the "Compare historical data" view for a specific portfolio company's submission?
No: that in-the-moment comparison is only shown to whoever is entering the data. For portfolio-level oversight, use Data Validation rules instead, which let you monitor variance across all your portfolio companies without needing to open each submission individually.
Q: Do my Data Validation rules apply to my own Fund Manager Self-Assessment too?
Rules you set as a fund manager are designed to flow down to portfolio companies. Check the Data Validation rules article for the current scope, or contact support if you want a rule applied to your own self-assessment data specifically.
Need help?
If you have questions about interpreting historical data, setting up Data Validation rules, or handling outliers across your portfolio, our support team is here to help at support@keyesg.com.