This Week in IDEA | October 31, 2007

New IRD CERICOMX® Customer

IDEA, a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using IDEA's IRD CERICOMX® application. IDEA was recently assigned one supplier:

• Garland Sales, Inc.

This company will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an IDEA branded product for supporting and uploading supplier product information into the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool.

If you would like to learn more about the CERICOMX® product, please contact John Etrie, IRD Product & Customer Support Manager, at (703) 562-4624.

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New IDW Customer: Mercedes Electric Supply, Inc.

Mercedes Electric Supply, Inc., an independent electrical, automation, and data communications distributor from Miami, FL, recently signed up to use the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) to obtain their suppliers' product and pricing information. They will now be able to receive up-to-date and standardized information from their suppliers in a centralized location to increase supply network efficiencies and speed up the sales process.

If you would like to learn more about providing or receiving product and pricing information via IDW, please contact Bob Whitehouse, IDW Program Director , at (703) 562-4608.

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New IDW Data Sync Program Expected to Increase IDEA Customer Savings

IDEA recently formed a partnership with a leading data management specialist, DATAgility, to offer a data sync program as a value added service to Industry Data Warehouse (IDW). The IDW Data Sync Program will provide additional resources and tools to complete the data synchronization process between trading partners through data planning and preparation.

The new program is designed to measure how a distributor and manufacturer’s business information is aligned and to recommend ways to address trading partner data discrepancies. The program will provide custom data templates, data match reports, expanded IDW product data sets and consultative data quality services.

While the IDW data validation engine and the Data Audit and Certification (DAC) program provide great tools for ensuring that the manufacturer’s business information is correct, there is no program or process in place that enables a data match between the end user (distributor) and the manufacturer’s data. The new program is expected to be a cornerstone for true trading partner data synchronization, which will greatly lower order management costs, improve sales productivity, enhance product life cycle management, and develop better collaborative inventory planning and replenishment processes.

Once trading partners have sync’d their baseline data files through this new program, the IDW will be utilized to keep the data in sync and maintain data quality through continuous updates.

“No more important step can be taken by a manufacturer and distributor trading partner than to have their product and price files assessed in a data match program. Past data match activities undertaken jointly by IDEA and Profile Systems and now DATAgility clearly indicate that even the best intended trading partners have disparate data for the same SKU. This program will provide a specific report card on how organizations’ business information is aligned. Once the discrepancies are tackled, then the data can be maintained in a continuous synchronized state via the IDW. There is no better team to partner with IDEA on this activity than DATAgility, and the return on completing this program will provide a payback worth more than 100 times the cost of the service,” stated Mike Rioux, IDEA President.

For more information about the IDW Data Sync Program, please contact Lily Saad, IDEA, at (703) 562-4606.

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Data Synchronization: Unexpected Benefits with Big Plans for the Future

So much has been written about data synchronization, but most of the attention and interest has been from the large tier one companies. Managers and even executives from large manufacturers and distributors have been actively touting the benefits of synchronizing their business information with their trading partners, and studies conducted to date prove the value.

Many tier one companies have programs or solutions in place and are trying to sync their product and price files with their manufacturer or distributor trading partners. However, if we scan the average distributor vendor line card, many of the smaller sized supplier companies are not being pressed to become engaged in data synchronization. To get the smaller supplier engaged in data sync, it must be driven by a customer requirement. The distributor should make data sync a top priority whenever they meet with their supplier partners.

One challenge for small and medium enterprises is how to approach the technology for data synchronization activities. The smaller company may not be able to afford or may not necessarily need a licensed Product Information Management (PIM) application as they may be able to pull most of the necessary data attributes from a single ERP application. Furthermore, most small sized, and even some medium to large size suppliers are using a complete or partial manual process to produce their business data to initiate the data sync process. Companies that use manual processes for producing and delivering data will find it very difficult to keep up with the data updates and even harder to realize the true benefits of data synchronization. It certainly supports our findings as suppliers that don’t understand the benefits of data synchronization are very reluctant to change their business data processes.

The benefits realized by having your business information identical to that of your trading partner on a continuous basis (data sync) are tremendous, including:

• Lower transportation and logistics costs
• Increased sales force productivity
• Error free order management processes
• Improved invoice accuracy
• Internal company business system alignment

While each of the above benefits drive ROI, smaller companies often benefit more from aligning their internal applications which is akin to an ad-hoc master data management strategy. This benefit alone improves overall system capabilities because of the attention to data accuracy and how the data interacts with disparate software applications.

Data accuracy improves employee efficiency enabling sales, accounting and shipping to spend more time on other value based activities instead of wrestling with data problems or downstream problems caused by inaccurate data. With internal business data and process alignment, the company is now dealing with one version of the truth which makes shipments more efficient, leading to higher customer satisfaction at a lower cost to the supplier.

In last week’s edition of This Week in IDEA, the components of data synchronization were outlined. To jump start a solid data synchronization program that drives benefit, the supplier must move towards more automated processes and replace their manual methods. In addition, delivering business information to trading partners must be done on a 24X7 basis using a system/service like IDW that serves as a data synchronization hub.

By: Mike Rioux, President, IDEA

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IDEA Standards Committee Completes First EDIFACT-Pro Transaction

The IDEA Standards Committee (ISC) is pleased to announce the completion of the first EDIFACT-Pro transaction. EDIFACT-Pro is an electrical industry subset to the European EDI Standard, UN/EDIFACT, and was created similar to the ANSI X12 EDI subset, EDIPro.

The EDIFACT-Pro ORDERS transaction subset was approved by the IDEA Standards Committee, and is now available for industry use. The ORDRSP and the INVOIC transactions have also been completed and are now undergoing final approval, with release anticipated in early November.

The ISC is constantly striving to enable eCommerce within the electrical industry and beyond. In order to successfully achieve that goal, the requirements of our global manufacturers and distributors need to be met. Manufacturers like ERICO, Rockwell, Panduit, and Siemens, and distributors like Rexel and Hagemeyer, all conduct commerce in the European and global marketplace. The global marketplace most often does not conduct commerce through the ANSI X12 Standard outside of North America, but supports Standards like EDIFACT, EANCOM and RosettaNet XML.

The EDIFACT-Pro Guidelines, or subset, will enable IDEA trading partners to achieve the benefits of eCommerce in a global marketplace with Standards Guidelines the industry is familiar with and helps create.

If you are interested in using these transactions or would like to be involved with their creation through the EDIFACT Subcommittee, please contact Mary Shaw, IDEA Standards Director, at mshaw@idea-esolutions.com for more information.

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Relive the E-Biz Forum 2007

The 2007 E-Biz Photo Slideshow and the General Session Videos are now live on the E-Biz Forum Site and the attendee feedback is in! Utilize these resources to discover why the E-Biz Forum is called “an outstanding educational and networking opportunity”.

And the survey says…

We received many positive comments about the E-Biz Forum 2007 from our attendee survey and 97% of our survey respondents are planning to return next year. Check out what the attendees are saying and start making plans to "Celebrate the Past and Accelerate the Future" at the E-Biz Forum 2008 for IDEA”s 10 Year Anniversary Celebration in Washington, D.C!

“The E-Biz Forum is one of the best industry events focused on the benefits of e-Business for our industry. The active participation of industry leaders from manufacturers, distributors and technology suppliers facilitates a balanced perspective on key topics. I would highly recommend this event to e-Business, IT / Business process managers, Sales & Marketing executives and Senior Management.”
Phil Barrios, Sr. Director, Sales & Distribution Dev, e-Business, Hubbell Incorporated

“This is the place to come to meet and network with fellow distributors and manufacturers in our industry. Many good working relationships are formed here which help us all.”
Lorraine Mott, Project Leader eCommerce, Cooper Crouse-Hinds

“Being this was my first time, I really enjoyed the sessions and sharing experiences with others. What a great way of helping and understanding how we are all in the same 'boat' and that we need to work together to make things easier and better for everyone.”
Vicky Charette, Supervisor System Administrations, Thomas & Betts

“It was great!! The location, the hotel, the networking opportunities, the presentations were all outstanding!!!”
Ann Adams, Channel Operations, SQD Schneider Electric

“The Forum gets better each year, which I attribute to IDEA's ability be as dynamic as e-commerce itself.”
Mark Richards, eCommerce Manager, Leviton

"The E-Biz Forum is an outstanding educational and networking opportunity."
James Bannon, Director of IT, NEMRA

“The E-Biz Forum is a nice place to connect with current customers and prospect new contacts all while learning more about the electrical industry.”
Tom Hoar, Director of Sales, Datalliance

"The passport program increased the traffic flow to our booth. We had several companies interested in our services and have received new business as a result of our participation in this event. We will definitely return for the 2008 E-Biz Forum in Washington, D.C."
Denise Keating, President, DATAgility

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November IDW Training Schedule

IDEA continues to offer distributor and manufacturer trainings and Net Pricing sessions. The November dates for these trainings are:

IDW Distributor Training Sessions:
Wednesday, November 14: 1:30-3:00PM
Wednesday, November 28: 1:30-3:00PM

IDW Manufacturer Training Sessions:
Thursday, November 8: 1:30-3:30PM
Tuesday, November 20: 1:30-3:30PM

Net Pricing Training Sessions:
Thursday, November 1: 1:30-2:00PM
Thursday, November 15: 1:30-2:00PM
Thursday, November 29: 1:30-2:00PM

Additional training sessions are announced each month in This Week in IDEA.

To sign up for a training session, please contact Supriya Reddy, IDW Tech and Training Representative, at (703) 562- 4616.

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Did You Know? IDW Hot Fact

With the IDW Outbound mapper, it is easy to transpose data fields for specific brands or manufacturers. This is especially useful when distributors need to swap descriptions and catalog numbers for lamp manufacturers. This is a standard customizing feature with IDW, available to all users.

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