• Product Identification Standards
• Automated Data Capture
• E-Commerce
• Data Synchronization
• Traceability

Technology & Standards: Data Synchronization

If two or more trading partners (e.g. buyer and seller) have synchronized databases, any information pulled from those databases onto business transactions (e.g. purchase orders or invoices) will be the same, thereby eliminating errors.

Methods of Data Synchronization

Beyond simply trading information via paper documents (which requires manual labor and is not subject to the safety of checks & balances of an electronic transfer), there are two major forms of electronic data synchronization used in Electronic Commerce.

Numerous transactions such as information on price, item specifications, catalog data, promotions, contracts, shipping information, etc. can be sent via EDI. EDI requires the use of standard protocols (see Electronic Commerce) and will therefore be subject to certain “checks and balances” to ensure the data being sent has integrity. In addition, supplemental software and hardware will be needed. However, EDI will significantly reduce the labor used to manually input all of these transactions and will therefore provide a very quick ROI (return on investment).

The GDSN uses an intricate system that allows companies to synchronize their information using third party data pools. These data pools are certified by GS1’s GDSN process if they conform to GS1’s protocols. The data synchronization process works off of a “subscription-publication” model and basically works as follows:

1. Supplier contracts with a certified GDSN data pool
2. Supplier sends item information to data pool
3. Data pool performs “checks and balances” on data received
4. Data pool makes information available to buying community based on suppliers’ wishes. This part is known as “publication” as the data pool publishes information to the buying community of choice.

1. Buyer contracts with a certified GDSN data pool
2. Buyer “subscribes” to certain information of interest. This “subscription” could be by product, by category or by vendor.
3. When information is “published” that the buyer subscribes to, an email is sent to the buyer informing them that an item of interest is available for review. If after review, the buyer wants the information in their system, they press a button and it automatically gets updated in their systems.

Regardless of the method used to synchronize data, this should occur prior to using any of the other supply chain technologies (such as RFID, GS1 DataBar (formerly known as RSS), barcodes or other Electronic Commerce transactions). This is important because if you do not synchronize your data first, then you will only automate the transmission of bad data.