Responding to a Request in SciveraLENS

What is SciveraLENS?

SciveraLENS is a web-based application designed to help users better understand the chemicals in products and processes and their impacts on humans and the environment. With more efficient access to high-quality chemical hazard information, users can make safer chemical decisions, protect consumers, workers, and the ecosystem, and achieve critical sustainable chemistry initiatives.

This insight requires a better understanding of the chemicals used in products and processes. Historically, this information has been difficult to gather. With SciveraLENS, we’ve created an easy way for users to request the ingredient information needed to make safer chemical decisions while acting as a trusted third party for suppliers. We believe that transparency does not require exposing confidential ingredient information. Using SciveraLENS, users can request ingredient information and view assessment results in redacted form, meaning your proprietary ingredients and proprietary information remain secret, while your customers can view the redacted assessment results, allowing them to decide where they may need more information, what improvements may be needed, and more.

How to Respond to a Request in SciveraLENS

When a request is generated, you will receive an email from our system that will look something like this:

SCC-How to Respond to a Request in SciveraLENS

 

If you are new to SciveraLENS, you’ll also receive an email with a link asking you to sign in and confirm your account before proceeding. If you already have a SciveraLENS account, you can respond to the request using your existing login credentials.

To proceed, follow the link in the email to confirm your account, log in, and complete the request. If you’re starting from the application, look for the “Received Requests” section in your SciveraLENS account.

Here, you will see any Requests that have been sent to you using SciveraLENS:

For each request, you can choose to respond by creating a new Formulation or with a Formulation you have already created:

 

Creating a New Formulation

Requests typically require disclosure of all ingredients in your product, though the requirements may differ depending on your customer and program. We recommend coordinating with your customer directly to understand their disclosure requirements, timeline, and expectations. You are being asked to build a formulation or recipe in SciveraLENS, entering each ingredient by CAS RN and/or requesting the data, if needed, from your suppliers.

From your Received Requests table, when responding to a request, if you select “Create new Formulation”, you will enter the Formulation Builder Wizard that will provide some guidance on how to get started with the process:

 

Choose the Formulation creation method you would like to use and follow the prompts to enter your chemical ingredient information, send requests if needed to complete the disclosure requirements, and attach any supporting documents.

There are several formulation builder options. We highly recommend choosing BOS Builder to build your formulation, as it provides step-by-step guidance. If your customer is asking for specific disclosure information, this is the method where you will be able to enter the requested fields as part of the data entry process.

 

(Need more information on How to Create a Formulation in SciveraLENS? Make sure to read our step-by-step guide)
Once you’ve completed your formulation, you’ll arrive at a review screen where you can confirm that you have completed it accurately before sharing. Use this as a chance to double-check that all CAS RNs are correct, your Formulation is complete, and all fields are completed accurately.

 

Once confirmed, you can select “Complete Request.” If you’re not ready to share, you can select Save Progress and complete the sharing later. The Formulation you were working on will be available in your All Formulations menu, where you can edit and finalize it before sharing it through the Received Requests page.

If you selected “Complete Request”, there is one more screen to complete where you can confirm your sharing details (like sharing in Redacted form), add a message to your customer, upload supporting and/or requested documents, and confirm that you have met the disclosure requirements.

 

(Hint: Clicking on the “REDACTED” box on this page will preview the redacted bill of substances sent to the Requester.)

Your Received Requests panel will be updated to show “Completed”:

 

When you log in, you can always manage your sharing permissions in the Shared Formulations menu. You can also update your Formulations (under All Formulations) and share any updates with those with whom you previously shared the Formulation.

 

Responding with an Existing Formulation

Once you have created formulations in your account, you can respond to requests with your previously created formulations. From the Received Requests table, click on Respond and select “Select existing Formulation”. The next page will give you a choice of which Formulation you would like to use in your Response.

 

The dropdown will include Formulations you have already created in your SciveraLENS account and are ready to share.

Once you select the Formulation to share, you’ll arrive at a review screen where you can confirm the Formulation before sharing. Use this as a chance to double-check that all CAS RNs are correct, your Formulation is complete, and all fields are completed accurately.

 

Once confirmed, you can select “Complete Request.” If you’re not ready to share, you can select Save Progress and complete the sharing later. The Formulation you were working on will be available in your All Formulations menu, where you can edit and finalize it before sharing it through the Received Requests page.

If you selected “Complete Request”, there is one more screen to complete where you can confirm your sharing details (like sharing in Redacted form), add a message to your customer, upload supporting and/or requested documents, and confirm that you have met the disclosure requirements.

 

Hint: Clicking on the “REDACTED” box on this page will preview the redacted bill of substances sent to the Requester.)

Your Received Requests panel will be updated to show “Completed”:

 

When you log in, you can always manage your sharing permissions in the Shared Formulations menu. You can also update your Formulations (under All Formulations) and share any updates with those with whom you previously shared the Formulation.

 

What Happens When You Share Your Ingredient Information and Assessment Results in SciveraLENS?

We understand how important your confidential ingredient information is to your business. This is why we developed our data redaction and disclosure processes as a core feature of SciveraLENS. Within SciveraLENS, you can share your assessment results with others while protecting proprietary ingredient information (i.e., chemical name and registry number). When you share your information using SciveraLENS, redaction is turned on by default for your shared Formulations. This means all chemical ingredient identity information will be hidden in the shared report and replaced with the word “redacted.”

When you share your Formulation, it is important to know what is included in the shared report and what information is available for the recipient when you choose to share. To summarize, when you share your Formulation, the following information is included:

  • Formulation Name
  • Your contact information (first name, last name, email address)
  • Number of chemicals in the Formulation (shown as individual rows)
  • Concentration of each chemical (if provided)

Depending on your customer’s SciveraLENS subscription type, they may see:

  • List screen results
  • Comprehensive Chemical Hazard Assessment (CHA) results
  • Access to updated assessment results
  • Ability to incorporate your redacted Formulations into other Formulations

Here is an example of a SciveraLENS redacted report:

SCC-Redacted report

 

Responding to an Unredaction Request in SciveraLENS

The default sharing permissions for a user are set to sharing in Redacted form, meaning that any defining CAS RN information included in your Formulation is hidden from the recipient’s view (CAS RN, common name, detailed assessment results). Periodically, our users have questions about a CAS RN that you have included in your report and may want more information and can request that you unredact a specific row in your report or CAS RN.

You’ll receive an email from our team informing you about the request and guiding you on how to respond. You can follow the prompts in the email or visit your Shared Formulations table to view any unanswered unredaction Requests.

To respond, click on your Formulation Name and navigate to the Details tab. From here, you’ll see a yellow dot next to the CAS RN with the pending unredaction request.

You can choose to accept or deny the request. If you didn’t initially enter the CAS RN, you can send the request to your supplier for a response.

 

Updating your Formulations and Sending Updates

You should update Formulations any time you have a supplier or formulation change. For those Formulations you have shared in response to a request in SciveraLENS, you will be prompted to send updates whenever you change your formulation or included information. (Please see our article on editing Formulations (LINK)).

When you click “Send Updates,” you’ll be prompted to confirm your updates as your Formulation changes may have been shared more than once, and the change will impact all shares.

If you choose not to send your updates and return to them later, you can always do so from your Shared Formulations page.

 

How to Respond to a Certificate Request in SciveraLENS

When sending a product request in SciveraLENS, users can indicate whether the request is related to a product they want to get certified for Screened Chemistry or scored for EIM.

These programs have certain disclosure requirements. Certification requires Confidential Full Formulation Disclosure (CFFD) and has additional fields that need to be filled out, as well as required documentation. To respond to a request for certification use the steps outlined in Responding to a request in SciveraLENS. The last step will provide a preview screen showing all required fields for the certification request. The SCIL Function (if applicable), Designation, Type, and Concentration must be filled out before completing the request. CFFD also requires documentation such as Safety Data Sheets and PADC forms for polymer reviews. Please see the User Guide on Assessing Polymers in SciveraLENS if your product contains a polymer.

If you have not completed all the required fields, you can save progress and return to finish the Formulation later.

SCC-save progress and return later

You can only complete the request once all required fields are completed and the required documents have been uploaded.