A methodology for environmental information system based on multi-dimensional bookkeeping system for material & service accounts

The objective of this paper is to provide concepts and methodology in order to design an environmental information system of a company, based on a multi-dimensional bookkeeping which is described at a point of event (POE). The Multi-Dimensional Bookkeeping System for Material & Service Accounts (MDBS for MASA) based on mathematical principles of Exchange Algebra is a methodology that was developed by Deguchi (2004). This paper shows an applied methodology to transform the basic bookkeeping into the environmental one. We suggest that materials and services are categorized into four groups, and that the stage of performing environmental measures is modeled explicitly, in order to construct the system. We indicate that a bottom-up manifest system of vouchers, in which environmental burdens data are written under the environmental bookkeeping system, can be effective for collecting material balance data of a supply chain. We also discuss a possibility to link micro- and macro-environmental information.