User Journey¶

This page describes the complete experience a user has with Carbon Connect, from first registration through successful grant application submission.

Journey Overview¶

The Carbon Connect user experience follows a progressive flow. Each step builds on the previous one, creating a richer profile that produces better grant matches and stronger applications.

flowchart TD
    A[Registration] --> B[Company Profile]
    B --> C[Carbon Profile]
    C --> D[Grant Discovery]
    D --> E[AI Matching]
    E --> F[Application Drafting]
    F --> G[Submission Tracking]

    style A fill:#059669,stroke:#047857,color:#fff
    style B fill:#059669,stroke:#047857,color:#fff
    style C fill:#059669,stroke:#047857,color:#fff
    style D fill:#0284c7,stroke:#0369a1,color:#fff
    style E fill:#0284c7,stroke:#0369a1,color:#fff
    style F fill:#7c3aed,stroke:#6d28d9,color:#fff
    style G fill:#7c3aed,stroke:#6d28d9,color:#fff

Step 1: Registration¶

Time required: 2 minutes

The user creates an account with their email and password. A tenant (organization) is automatically created, establishing the security boundary that keeps their data isolated from all other customers.

What happens behind the scenes:

• JWT authentication tokens are issued (access token + refresh token)
• The tenant record is created with a unique identifier
• Row-level security policies activate to isolate this tenant's data

Step 2: Company Profile¶

Time required: 10 minutes

The user enters their basic business information:

Step 3: Carbon Profile¶

Time required: 15-30 minutes (depending on data availability)

This is where Carbon Connect differentiates from generic grant platforms. The user builds a comprehensive carbon profile that dramatically improves matching quality.

Scope 1: Direct Emissions¶

Enter data for emissions your company directly controls:

• Natural gas consumption (kWh)
• Diesel and petrol usage (liters)
• Company vehicle fleet (km driven, fuel type)
• Other combustion sources

Scope 2: Energy Emissions¶

Enter data for purchased energy:

• Electricity consumption (kWh) -- the platform applies the correct regional grid emission factor
• District heating or cooling (kWh)
• Steam consumption

Scope 3: Value Chain Emissions (Optional)¶

For companies tracking their supply chain impact:

• Business travel
• Employee commuting
• Purchased goods and services
• Waste generated
• Upstream and downstream transportation

Carbon Goals and Certifications¶

• Reduction target -- percentage reduction and target year
• Net-zero target year -- when the company aims to reach net-zero
• Certifications -- ISO 14001, SBTi commitment, CDP disclosure, B Corp, EcoVadis

flowchart LR
    A[User enters: 50,000 kWh electricity in Germany] --> B[Climatiq API]
    B --> C[Applies German grid factor: 0.338 kgCO2e/kWh]
    C --> D[Result: 16.9 tCO2e Scope 2]

    style A fill:#f59e0b,stroke:#d97706,color:#000
    style B fill:#059669,stroke:#047857,color:#fff
    style D fill:#0284c7,stroke:#0369a1,color:#fff

Step 4: Grant Discovery¶

Time required: Ongoing (minutes per session)

With the profile complete, the user can explore grants in two ways:

Browse and Search¶

• Full-text search across 100,000+ grants in under 100 milliseconds
• Filter by country, funding amount, deadline, carbon category, NACE code, EU Taxonomy alignment
• Sort by relevance, deadline urgency, or funding amount

Recommended Grants¶

The platform automatically surfaces grants that match the company's profile, ranked by match score. Users can:

• Save interesting grants to a watchlist
• Dismiss irrelevant grants to improve future recommendations
• View details including eligibility criteria, carbon requirements, and application deadlines

Step 5: AI Matching¶

Time required: Automatic (under 500 milliseconds)

For each grant, the matching engine calculates a composite score based on five dimensions:

pie title Match Score Composition
    "Rule-Based Criteria" : 30
    "Semantic Similarity" : 25
    "Carbon Alignment" : 25
    "Collaborative Filtering" : 10
    "Recency Bonus" : 10

The user sees:

• Overall match score (0-100%)
• Score breakdown showing how well they match on each dimension
• Match reasons in plain language (for example: "Your NACE code 28.11 matches this grant's target sectors" or "Your ISO 14001 certification meets this grant's requirements")

Users can interact with matches:

Step 6: Application Drafting¶

Time required: 30 minutes to review and refine AI-generated draft

When the user selects a grant to apply for, the AI application assistant takes over:

1. Context gathering -- The system combines the company profile, carbon data, and the specific grant's requirements
2. Section generation -- Claude AI generates content for each application section (executive summary, project description, methodology, budget justification, impact assessment)
3. Quality checks -- The system verifies the generated content addresses the grant's stated criteria
4. User review -- The user reviews, edits, and refines the draft
5. Export -- The final application is exported for submission

Step 7: Submission Tracking¶

Time required: Minimal (status updates are automatic)

Once an application is submitted, the user tracks its progress through a Kanban-style workflow:

flowchart LR
    A[Draft] --> B[In Review]
    B --> C[Submitted]
    C --> D{Decision}
    D -->|Approved| E[Approved]
    D -->|Rejected| F[Rejected]

    style A fill:#6b7280,stroke:#4b5563,color:#fff
    style B fill:#f59e0b,stroke:#d97706,color:#000
    style C fill:#0284c7,stroke:#0369a1,color:#fff
    style E fill:#059669,stroke:#047857,color:#fff
    style F fill:#dc2626,stroke:#b91c1c,color:#fff

The system provides:

• Pipeline overview -- See all active applications and their current status
• Deadline tracking -- Never miss a submission window
• Email notifications -- Alerts for status changes and approaching deadlines
• Historical record -- Complete history of all past applications for learning and reporting

Journey Summary¶

Total time from registration to first application draft: Under 1 hour.

Compare this to the traditional process: 80+ hours of research, EUR 5,000-25,000 in consultant fees, and a 70% chance of applying to the wrong grant in the first place.