Sync/PDI for Distributors/Retailers – Advanced Edition
Aligntrac is pleased to announce a solution that allows larger distributors and retailers to accelerate their implementation of data synchronization. The solution incorporates a Supplier GDSN Portal that automates supplier roll-out, initial synchronization and capture of proprietary fields not yet available via GDSN.
The new capabilities allow distributors to launch a high-powered GDSN implementation with very little effort. The Supplier GDSN Portal provides a mechanism for suppliers to provide any additional data fields that are mandatory for the distributor yet the supplier may not yet have available via GDSN. Suppliers can provide these additional data fields via web screens or for many items simply uploading a spreadsheet. The solution also automates the initial synchronization of suppliers’ data to the distributor’s internal item file. A configurable data matching / data audit process highlights existing discrepancies between the supplier’s data and the distributor’s data, thus allowing the supplier to review and recommend changes that the distributor should make to their copy of item information.
Aligntrac recommends this “data audit” capability as a “best practice” for a GDSN implementation. Participants in the foodservice pilot expressed that this one-time data cleansing is a really important measure. The data audits allowed them to move from “silo’s of data” to “playing in the same sandbox”. It also allowed manufacturers to understand how distributors were handling their products – for example distributing fresh product as frozen or warehousing products with a different pallet configuration.