LCIA Calculation & Results
This page covers the two common LCIA usage patterns in TianGong LCA:
- Viewing LCIA results directly inside a process or model
- Moving to the dedicated Process Analysis Workspace when you need comparison, grouping, or contribution-path analysis
What LCIA means here
LCIA converts life cycle inventory results into impact-category results such as climate change, acidification, or ozone depletion.
The platform currently supports both:
- Process-level LCIA results
- Model-level LCIA results
Both are useful for direct inspection. For cross-process comparison or path tracing, use the separate analysis workspace.
Before you run LCIA
Confirm the following first:
- The process or model has complete input/output modelling
- A reference flow or functional unit has been defined correctly
- You are reusing the platform's standard flow properties, unit groups, and elementary flows where possible
- The selected impact method actually contains matching characterisation factors
Heavy use of custom units, custom flow properties, or non-standard elementary flows can lead to missing results or incorrect magnitudes.
Process-level LCIA
Process-level entry point
Open a process in My Data → Processes and use the LCIA results area in the process editor or viewer.
Process-level best use cases
- Quickly checking the impact profile of one process
- Spotting abnormal impact categories during authoring
- Performing a single-process sanity check
Important limitation
Process-level LCIA mainly reflects the elementary-flow impacts associated with that process.
That means:
- It is useful for one process at a time
- It is not the same as a full product-system total
- It should not replace multi-process comparison or contribution-path analysis
Model-level LCIA
Model-level entry point
Open a model in My Data → Models and use the LCIA results area in the model result workspace.
Model-level best use cases
- Reviewing full product-system impacts
- Comparing alternative model setups
- Checking whether a solved model behaves as expected
Compared with process-level LCIA
| Scenario | Better entry point |
|---|---|
| Inspect one process | Process-level LCIA |
| Inspect the full system | Model-level LCIA |
| Compare multiple processes | Process Analysis Workspace |
| Trace contribution paths | Process Analysis Workspace |
When to move to Process Analysis
If your task is any of the following, the LCIA result panel is no longer enough:
- Impact comparison across multiple processes
- Grouped analysis by location, classification, dataset type, or team
- Contribution path exploration from a root process
- Switching between Current user data, Open data, and All data
In those cases, go directly to Process Analysis Workspace.
Troubleshooting
Why are some impact categories missing?
Check:
- Whether flows are linked to the correct standard flow properties
- Whether unit conversions are valid
- Whether the selected impact method contains matching factors
Why do the result magnitudes look wrong?
Common causes include:
- Incorrect unit conversion
- Custom unit groups or flow properties that do not align with platform defaults
- An incorrect reference flow or functional unit
Why should I use Process Analysis instead?
If you have moved beyond reading one result and now need comparison, grouping, or tracing, continue with Process Analysis Workspace.