GS1 Ireland EDI Standards Spotlight

GS1 Ireland EDI Standards Spotlight

As a long standing partner, we continue to work with GS1 Ireland in creating greater awareness and understanding of EDI within the Irish market.

As part of its role to promote the use of internationally recognised supply chain standards, GS1 Ireland has introduced a useful monthly educational series where they demystify key aspects of GS1 standards. So far they have shone the spotlight on some commonly used identifiers and standards within EDI – GLN’s, SSCC’s and GTIN’s, which may be of interest to you if you are new to EDI.

Before we have a closer look at the standards spotlights…

Who are GS1?

GS1 are a not-for-profit standards organisation best known for providing a system of unique numbers, data carriers and information sharing standards for business communication.

Whilst perhaps best known for introducing the barcode in 1974, GS1 standards now extend far beyond just the barcode, they improve the efficiency, safety and visibility of supply chains across physical and digital channels in 25 sectors including food and grocery, retail, logistics, DIY and healthcare.

GS1 standards provide a foundation for business, creating a common language that supports systems and processes across the globe. They help organisations involved in making, moving and trading goods automate and standardise supply chain processes.

EDI Standards Spotlight

In the first standards spotlight, GS1 Ireland provides an overview of what is EDI, including the EDI Beginner’s Guide that was created in conjunction with TrueCommerce and our ‘What is EDI?’ webinar.

The spotlight then takes a closer looks at GLN’s or Global Location Numbers. But what is a GLN? Quite simply a GLN is a globally unique number used to identify locations and legal entities. In the context of EDI, the GLN plays an important role – it is located in the header of EDI messages and is used to identify the sender of the EDI message. The purpose of a GLN is to improve the efficiency of message exchange as it negates the need to include full names and addresses in each electronic message.

Standard Spotlight: GTIN

The second installment of the series, focuses on GTINs or Global Trade Item Numbers which uniquely identify services and products. These are the 13 digit numbers you see under most barcodes.

In the context of EDI, much like GLN’s the use of GTIN’s instead of proprietary identifiers improves the efficiency and accuracy of message exchange. GTIN’s are also now a requirement of many of the leading global online marketplaces.

Standards Spotlight: SSCC

The last installment takes a look at the SSCC or Serial Shipping Container Codes, which are used to identify a logistics unit, which is simply items which have been packaged together for storage or transportation, for example outer cases, pallets or entire shipments.

In the context of EDI, SSCC’s can be used in conjunction with ASN’s or Advanced Shipping Notices to improve the efficiency of the receiving process. The ASN provides details of what you will be sending to your trading partner and then when the units arrive, the SSCC label can be scanned and matched against the ASN. The TrueCommerce platform includes the ability to create ASN’s with compliant SSCC labels. Contact us to find out more.

GS1 Ireland run EDI online training courses which you may find interesting. You can also contact one of our EDI experts if you are ready to start trading via EDI or are looking to change providers. There is also a wealth of information in our EDI FAQ’s.

Contributor

Claire Gibbons is a Marketing Director here at TrueCommerce. With over 15 years’ experience in the IT sector, Claire’s specialises in market analysis, supply chain strategy and educational articles. Claire is based in our Coventry office