With pressure on supply chains to deliver more with less, quicker and within shortening lead times, there will be an increasing need for robust consistent and timely data. This is highlighted with the birth of global data synchronisation.

According to an A T Kearney report, globally $40-billion or 3.5 per cent of sales are lost each year due to supply chain information inefficiencies. Thirty per cent of item data in catalogues used by retailers and manufacturers for replenishment of stock is in error and each of those errors costs $60-$80 to address. Companies invest an average of 25 minutes per stock keeping unit (SKU) per year manually cleansing out-of-sync item information. 60 per cent of all invoices generated have errors and each invoice error costs $40-$400 to reconcile.

Inaccurate data results in increased costs, returned shipments, lost sales and ultimately, consumer dissatisfaction. It is therefore imperative that all supply chain partners use common product descriptions and classification, etc, and maintain an effective mechanism for consistency across the supply chain.

Global data synchronisation is a global, internet-based business process through which trading partners align and synchronise master data automatically and in real-time. It helps in exchanging accurate, up-to-date and standards-compliant supply chain information.

There is a simple five-step process to the order in which companies need to approach data synchronisation:

Step 1:Publish
A manufacturer sends a unique 14-digit number called GTIN, that provides a simple way of identifying a product within an electronic system, a unique 13-digit number called a GLN that provides a simple way of identifying a company name within an electronic system and master data information to his home data pool.

In addition to unique product and party identification using globally recognised EAN.UCC numbering standards, it needs to be classified using the 'global product classification' (GPC) system. The combination of unique identifiers and universal classification system would enable information exchange across language barriers using one global language of business.

Step 2: Register
The data pool sends very basic (GTIN, GLN as defined under EAN.UCC standards) information about the item to the 'global registry' or the global yellow pages.

Step 3: Store
The Global Registry holds this basic information about all items and the location of each item's home data pool.

Step 4: Subscribe
The retailer will search the Global Registry via its home data pool. Once the retailer finds the item, it will request a subscription for a particular manufacturer's products at the retailer's home data pool. The data pool will forward the request through the Global Registry to the information provider.

Step 5: Synchronise
The trading partners synchronise the master data between their respective data pools.

Worldwide, over 4,000 retailers, manufacturers, and distributors across a wide range of industry verticals have already subscribed to data synchronisation services for 1 million products.

The Indian Scenario:
In India, the GDS movement has taken wings with the recent announcement of the launch of a common data pool by ECR India.

Major international buyers have already instructed their Indian suppliers to adopt global SCM standards in global data synchronisation since November 2003.

With Indian exporters gearing up to significantly enhance their global market shares they need to take cognisance of these international requirements to pro-actively comply with them to gain acceptance by international buyers.

GDS has also been identified as one of the single biggest reasons for inaccuracies in 'out-of-stocks' (OOS) management and is being aggressively pursued by global companies.

The benefits for the retailers and consumer product manufacturers around the world by adopting GDS has been highlighted in a recently published report, Global Product Synchronisation in the real world, published by Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) and Capgemini.

The report features case studies from retailers and manufacturers, including AEON, Albert Heijn, The Gillette Company, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Wegmans that demonstrate the actual business benefits of GDS:

Some case studies:

• Leading Japanese retailer AEON reduced their item management costs by $2 million using GDS.
  
• Johnson & Johnson has virtually eliminated data integrity related out-of-stocks at Wal-Mart in the US.
  
• At Dutch retailer Albert Heijn, an improvement in data accuracy through GDS (with four trading partners) has resulted in a 30 per cent productivity improvement in its data management department.
  
• Gillette Venezuela improved its order processing productivity and eliminated master data discrepancies by electronically aligning product information with that of their trading partners.
  
• In Guatemala, Procter & Gamble and retailer La Fragua have increased purchase order accuracy by 3 per cent just by focusing on aligning obsolete products in their respective systems.
  
• Unilever Colombia significantly reduced their data inconsistencies and improved new item speed to market by aligning product information with their trading partners.
  
• US retailer Wegmans has increased store sales by reducing speed to market on new items by two weeks.