GDSN - Global Data Synchronization Network

 

   Imagine, as a manufacturer or a retailer that you could continuously align product,location and program information with your trading partners. Imagine that this information could be communicated to your trading partners through simpler, faster and more accurate transactions all along the supply chain allowing for the right amount of goods to become available at the right place and at the right time.

 

Achieving this efficiency is not utopia but can be achieved NOW provided you decide

to act NOW and to prepare your company for Global Data Synchronization (GDS). Not

interested? Think again, otherwise you stand to miss this unique opportunity to be best positioned in tomorrow's global and hyper competitive market place.

The GDSN vision is being realized today by hundreds of retailers and manufacturers worldwide who are reaping the benefits of live implementations. Global Registry membership covers multiple sectors across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Don’t get left behind, get involved today and transform your supply chain into a business asset.

The vision of the GDSN is now reality!

 

 What is Global Data Synchronization (GDS)?

 In a trading relationship, the first thing you need to define is WHO and WHERE you are and WHAT you have to trade in WHICH target market. To answer these questions, EAN.UCC has developed identification keys that are the Global Location Number (GLN) and the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). These keys have to be used properly by following EAN.UCC rules such as:

o GTIN allocation rules (When to change a GTIN?)

o GLN allocation rules (How to assign a GLN?)

o Bar Code or Radio Frequency (RFID) Specifications (How is the key physically carried?)

o Other rules (Symbol placement, Physical package attribute, etc.)

 

As these keys alone do not provide sufficient information, they are completed by attributes describing them; such as item or location (party) description, price, size, pack, name, address, etc. These standardised attributes that support trading partner relationships are called Master Data (common across multiple items such as the GTIN) or Transactional Data (trading partner specific such as the quantity ordered in a purchase order). One of these attributes that play a key role in GDSN is the Global Product Classification (GPC) Code indicating which kind of product the trade item is and to which group of products it belongs. In GDSN, every GTIN has to be classified using GPC.

 In addition, all the information (definition, format, etc.) for all attributes is stored in a central repository that is called the Global Data Dictionary (GDD). This ensures the consistent use of these attributes in all e-business standards developed by EAN.UCC.

 

Why Synchronizing?

 Today, trading partners are facing high, unnecessary costs due to master data problems, such as supply chain information inefficiencies and inaccurate data in transactions. Invoices with errors are responsible for a large part of these costs. In addition, globalisation of trade has generated an accelerated need for the smooth inter-company flow of goods and better control of supply chain processes, which can be achieved through synchronised communication among trading partners.

 By continuously synchronising/harmonising the master data, between your system and your trading partner's systems, you will ensure that master data is the same in all systems. This will allow you to trade globally, increase data accuracy between you and your trading partners and drive costs out of your supply chain. It is important to note that GDS is a robust foundation upon which the full benefits of electronic collaboration can be achieved and scaled. Electronic collaboration without data synchronization will merely accelerate the exchange of bad master data between trading partners. GDS is also a pre-requisite for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) based on radio frequency identification (RFID).

   

 

 Without clean, synchronised master data, EPC and RFID technology will just enable even faster transactions of the wrong information. It is also very important to note that greater financial return can be achieved as companies expand the scope of data synchronisation and collaboration.

 

For instance, by synchronizing price information as well as item and location (party) information you can further reduce costs within the Supply Chain. Due to the fact that the majority of non-quality orders and invoice deductions are due to inaccurate pricing information, the benefits related to order quality and invoice matching are even more pronounced.

 

Of course, to enable GDS, a Network is needed; this is what we call the Global Data

Synchronisation Network (GDSN)

 

 What is GDSN and How does it work?

  The Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) is a concept that was developed by various

industry groups, including the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI), Global Standard1 (GS1), to help industry streamline supply chain transactions and reduce supply chain costs. The GDSN is an Internet-based, interconnected network of interoperable data pools and a Global Registry, the GS1 Global Registry, that enables companies around the world to exchange standardized and synchronized supply chain data with their trading partners. The GDSN assures that data exchanged between trading partners is accurate and compliant with universally supported standards. The GDSN consists of trading partners (supplier and retailers), data pools (services that hold and process trading partner data), and the GS1 Global Registry (a worldwide directory to help the GDSN community locate data sources and manage ongoing synchronization relationships between trading partners).

 One of the key advantages of the GDSN is that trading partners have a single point of entry to the GDSN through the certified data pool of their choice therefore avoiding having to pay subscriptions to multiple data pools either within the same geographic location or across multiple geographic locations. Therefore, trading partners access to the GS1 Global Registry is only available through a certified data pool. It has to be noted that trading partners can act as their own certified data pools. Within the GDSN, Catalogue Items are identified using the GTINs and GLNs of the data source (supplier), and target market while Parties are identified using a GLN.

  

                                        

 

  

Some key aspects of the GDSN are:

o This model supports a rich network of interoperable data pools

o Suppliers and Retailers have a single point of entry to the GDS Network

o Suppliers and Retailers do not have direct access to the GS1 Global Registry, unless they act as their own data pool

o Trade Items are identified in the GDSN using the unique combination of GTIN, GLN of the data source, and Target Market (TM).

o Parties are identified in the GDSN using GLN.

-  EAN.UCC Standards – GTIN & GLN.

- The Global Data Dictionary (GDD).

- Global Product Classification (GPC).

- Global Registry.

 

 Benefits For Manufacturers & Retailers

 In a recent case study (The Case for Global Standards) performed by Cap Gemini Ernst &Young under the leadership of the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) Steering Group, it was demonstrated that adopting and implementing GDS would lead to a one to three percent savings in supply chain costs. As indicated earlier, long-term benefits are even greater, as GDS is a corner stone for large scale implementation of collaborative business processes and also for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) based on radio frequency identification (RFID). Identification of the benefits makes it apparent that retailers and manufacturers stand to gain in equal measure. What is more, it is not only global players that will benefit from global standards such as GTIN, GLN, GPC and GDSN. Trading partners of all sizes will reap benefits from increased reach and synchronization.

  

      

Item Data Pools

 Item data pools are electronic catalogues of standardized item data. They serve both as a source and/or recipient of master data and can be run by an EAN Member Organization, supplier, customer, exchange or service provider. Today, several catalogues exist that have been operating for several years Eight of these catalogues are already on the GDSN. These are CABASnet, Click Commerce (formerly bTrade Inc.), Global eXchange Services (GXS), Sinfos, Sterling Commerce, Transora, UCCnet and Worldwide Retail Exchange (WWRE). In time it is expected that many more electronic catalogues will become compliant with the EAN.UCC standards.

 

List of the electronic catalogues available in the GS1 community – Click

 

 GS1 Global Registry

 The GS1 Global Registry is the central directory for providing information for subscription sharing for achieving data pool interoperability and Catalogue Item uniqueness by the registration of items and parties.

The GS1 Global Registry became operational on August 1, 2004 and has the following roles:

 o Guarantees efficiently the uniqueness of the Catalogue Item (GTIN + GLN + target market) for a particular data source.

 o Holds the information on the source data pool where the details of the GTIN reside. This data is only held once in the network.

 o Ensures that all the data pools in the network are complying with a common basic set of validation rules that support data integrity in the system. This is achieved by allowing only data from EAN.UCC certified data pools to be registered in the GS1 Global Registry.

 o Holds the information about who has subscribed to Trade Item or Party data. This data is only held for the purpose of acting as a central repository. Data pools receive subscriptions based on a match of the Trade Item or Party data Registered with the GS1 Global Registry.

 o Allows data pools to direct global search requests to the GS1 Global Registry subscription service.The search can work on GTIN, GLN, target market and Global Product Classification

(GPC) schema.

A new legal entity named GS1 Global Registry Inc. (GRI) has been created to provide the GS1 Global Registry service. The Oversight Committee, which currently includes seventeen senior executives from manufacturing, retailing, and GS1 Member Organisations, governs this legal entity and ensures that the EAN.UCC Information Network and the GS1 Global Registry service meet the needs of the entire global community.

 

For Additional information contact GS1 Jordan.