Data pools, designed to be repositories of all industry knowledge and the cure for what ails the global supply chain, are continuing to grow in number. But have they truly reached their potential or are they simply becoming redundant?
Elsevier Food International Vol.9, Number 4, November 2006 Len Lewis

In theory, the continued globalisation of the food industry could be supported by a single data pool that would synchronise all product information from suppliers, thus guaranteeing accuracy, according to industry observers. The reality is that since their inception, data pools have continued to fragment by country, making truly global standards nearly impossible to achieve and data quality and accuracy spotty at best.
Perhaps the biggest issue here is the lack of interoperability between data pools, according to some observers. “That’s a very popular question,” said Miguel Lopera, worldwide CEO of GS1. However, it may not be as big an issue as some think. “Our subsidiary GDSN (Global Data Synchronisation Network) manages global data synchronisation and they have a certification process that represents the entire industry. This guarantees that the data pools are fully interoperable when they use global standard attributes,” said Lopera.

Five hundred standards
“We have 500 standard attributes in the global directory – more than enough for the majority of companies. But there are trading partners that need more functionality that are not now included in GDSN. It would be very expensive for us to certify individual requirements of all trading partners. So, interoperability has to be done outside of GDSN,” he noted. “We’ve had meetings with Sinfos and tried for two years to achieve interoperability. It wasn’t about technical but business reasons. However, there are many global companies which have full interoperability with Sinfos so collaboration is becoming a reality,” Lopera said.
“It’s a challenge which has yet to be resolved,” said Natascha Pottier, head of sales and business development for Sinfos, the data pool arm of Pironet NDH in Cologne, Germany. “In all the years of establishing standards on what and how to communicate, data pool language is still so different that interoperability is still a theory,” she said. “Technically, it’s possible. But the main obstacles are data structure and content. A supplier may believe that the information he is sending is correct and understandable, that doesn’t automatically mean the receiver understands everything the same way. Furthermore, technical solutions within some of the data pools are very different, she said. “For example, a European-based data pool relies on message communications based on EAN communication standards. Others use a different one.”

Quality varies
Kees Jacobs, principal consultant, global sector, consumer products and retail for Capgemini, agreed, noting that the main issue around data pools and global synchronisation is data quality. “It may sound trivial, but up to 80 per cent of dimensional data – product length, width and height – is incorrect,” he said.
Whether the consolidation of country data pools would help in terms of accuracy and standards is debatable. “I ask myself that over and over. Technically, the easiest solution is to have one big data pool with different country profiles and translation functions for content,” said Pottier.
One data pool could do the job, particularly among companies with multinational operations, said Jacobs. “All data pools are conforming to global standards. But once you have certain practices in place, changing is not that easy. It’s difficult to say when everyone will be on the same system.”

Deepening pools
Meanwhile, the number of data pools are growing. “We’re still in an expansion phase and I expect we’ll see an increase over the next few years – especially in smaller European countries where solutions do not currently exist,” Pottier said.
In the past year alone, the number of companies using the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network (formerly EAN International) rose to more than 5,000 from about 200. GDSN is the conduit through which companies transfer standards-compliant data. At present, GDSN has 19 certified data pools.
However, GSX, which is GDSN certified, is establishing a data pool for more than 22,000 South Korean retailers and suppliers in conjunction with the Korea Ebusiness Association. The new pool, in cooperation with GS1 Korea will enable companies to synchronise product data as well as share pricing and promotional information.
Lopera agrees that consolidation would be a positive move toward generating economies of scale and reducing costs and it would be good if basic data synchronisation was provided by a single data pool. “One of our principles is to tell local GS1 organisations to use existing data pools and not try to reinvent the wheel. I think that’s happening because there are more local organisations acting more as marketing and distribution agents of these data pools.”
“People say we have 27 different data pools. But the reality is that there are really about five and the rest are distribution agents. We also urge organisations to create a cluster of companies using one data pool. One of the best examples of this is in the Middle East and Africa where 14 countries are using GXS, which is doing the translations for different countries. This is the approach we should follow,” Lopera said. “In reality, it’s one data pool with different user interfaces for each country.”

Profit centres?
While governed by GS1, it is becoming increasingly common for data pools to be separate profit centres. “It differs by GS1 organisation. In some cases, funding for the data pools comes from the organisation so the fees paid by GS1 members includes access to the data pools,” Jacobs said.
Others are required to at least break even so GS1 can focus on standards and developing other services for members, he said. “Running a data pool is very much a commodity consisting pretty much of neutral logistical data. This justifies it being a side business for GS1. This may be changing as more data pools offer value-added services, such as marketing information and commercial data like pricing conditions.
“We are focusing on expanding the data set with new types of information for all parties. However, we have also developed private areas for things like bilateral price information where suppliers can submit data to specific retailers through the data pool,” she said.
Jacobs added that data pools are also expanding their data sets to provide more marketing related information such as information on pricing conditions. “If you look at global standards you will see they are only made up of neutral logistical data – not sensitive information like buying terms, pricing and promotions. However, some data pools are now offering it and by mid-2007 those standards will become part of GDSN and less of a value-added service,” he said.

Local pools for small to medium sized enterprises
Even so, local data pools with limited functions are not going to disappear. The global data pools like 1Synch, established in 2005 by the consolidation of Transora and UCCnet, will continue to be used by global retailers and manufacturers. Small and medium size firms need a more specific data pool or frame and a local point of entry which is not easily met by an organisation like 1Synch,” said Jacobs.
However, the activities of smaller data pools can also make global synchronisation more challenging, said Jacobs. For example, Sinfos has a slightly different way of working compared with regular GDSN standards. This centres around a function called “versioning”—a requirement in Germany that refers to different information in the data pool on the same product, according to Jacobs.
Pottier called the practice “futurisation”. Suppliers change product specs all the time and send new information to the data pool even before changes take place. However, when some data pools send out new information they override the existing version even though that’s the one still in effect. “Sinfos provides the actual version and the future one in parallel with no overlap between the two,” said Pottier.
At present, industry sources are also debating whether data pools should remain as not-for-profit entities under the GS1 umbrella or operations with their own profit and loss statements.

Maintaining neutrality
“I think operating as non-profits guarantees our neutrality,” said Lopera. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t embrace principles like operational excellence and cost control used by profit-making companies. Basically, we have to combine neutrality with the high professional standards of the most profitable companies,” he said.
For example, Sinfos still operates as an integral part of GS1 Germany even though Pironet acquired 75 per cent of the operation at the end of 2004. “Being part of a non-profit organisation can be difficult when it comes to distinguishing customers from members. GS1 treated members like customers but the data was not qualified enough to help them. “Sinfos is quite an old solution in the world of data pools and for a long time it was not a high level solution in terms of technology. “ But being close to a technology provider like Pironet has brought about a lot of changes and many improvements,” Pottier said.
However, this does not mean that data pools should break off from GS1. “When it comes to standardised master data and identity standards, data pools should work under the GS1 umbrella. The best approach may not have been found yet. All the respective data models are trying, in their own geographic area, to find the best commercial solution,” she said.

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GDSN Certified Data Pools

Company	Data Pool	Website
1SYNC	1SYNC-legacy Transora- item management	www.1sync.org
1SYNC	1SYNC-legacy UCCnet-data pool services	www.1sync.org
Agentrics	Agentrics WorldSYNC	www.agentrics.com
Big Hammer Data Services	Big Hammer Data Services product registry	www.rrgroup.com
Commport Communications Int’l	Comport Global Synchronication Datapool services	www.commport.com
GS1 Argentina	Data.cod v1.1	www.gs1.org.ar
GS1 Australia	GS1net Australasia	www.gs1.au.org/
GS1 Canada	GS1 Canada Data Pool	www.gs1.ca.org/
GS1 Colombia	CABASnet	www.gs1co.org www.cabasnet.org/
GS1 France	Parangon	www.gs1fr.org
GS1 Hong Kong	GS1 HK Data Pool	www.gs1hk.org/
GS1 Malta	MEMA Data Pool	www.gs1mt.org
SINFOS GmbH	SINFOS GDSN	www.sinfos.de

^{Source: GS1}