Glossary

Automatic Basic Stock. Computer generated orders.

The ASN is sent by the supplier, via EDI, to inform the retailer of incoming deliveries and to allow preparation for receipt of goods. The ASN advises ship date, purchase order number, number of cartons, carton contents etc. It is used with a SCM label i.e. SCM is matched against the ASN. It enables the retailer to anticipate and better plan for:-

• Receipt Processing (Validates the purchase order)
• Order Reconciliation (highlights incorrect supply and enables action to be taken before the merchandise arrives.
• Scheduling (Manage delivery bookings and cater for merchandise preparation)

American National Standards Institute is a non-government organisation responsible for the development of voluntary standards.

The dominant EDI standard in North America.

Historical term for retail trade item number. Now referred to as GTIN.

Any variable information required over and above the product identification eg, Use-By Dates, Batch No’s etc. All Attribute information is represented with the EAN-128 bar code symbology.
Examples:

• 00 – Serial Shipping Container Code
• 10 – Batch or Lot number
• 310 – Nett weight
• 17 – Use-By-Date

Australian Retail Association

A representation of a group of numbers and/or letters (alpha or numerical digits) in a form suitable for reading by machines. Refers to the bars and spaces, and the human readable characters underneath.
A Retail item must be bar-coded with either an EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A or UPC-E barcode. A trade unit can be bar-coded with either an EAN-128, ITF-14, EAN-13 or UPC-A.

The party that is responsible for allocating EAN•UCC numbering and bar coding on a given trade item. The administrator of an EAN•UCC company prefix.

A Bureau is a company that provides file transport and file formatting services between trading partners.
Typically, a bureau will be used where:-

• It is more suited for external consultants to come in, sort out the required integration or extracts, formatting and data transport, and have ongoing (short or long term) responsibility for those components.
• It is not strategic to modify your current systems, and your internal teams are all focussed on other projects.
• You currently have no staff available to train up on what is required to create and send an electronic invoice.

For information on available bureaus, please click here

Category Management is a philosophy which recognises that the basic building blocks for sales and profits, within a business, are product categories. It is the performance and mix of these categories and the items within them that ultimately determines success or failure within the industry. Category Management facilitates retailer/supplier co-operation in building overall category growth.

A type of EDI application where the centre is not well defined as there are many buyers and sellers interacting. A clearing house comprises a network and central computer based mailbox service enabling many trading partners to send documents electronically and to receive messages from a single central systems, independent of time or traffic

A component of the EAN•UCC company prefix. EAN and UCC assign company prefixes to entities that administer the allocation of EAN•UCC identification numbers. These entities may be commercial companies, not for profit organisations, governmental agencies, business units within organisations, etc.

Refers to the linking of several bar codes into a single bar code.

A procedure whereby supplier prepared pallets/containers of homogenous products and/or pallets/containers of mixed products have been identified for specific end destinations. Here each pallet/containers assigned a unique identification tag i.e. SSCC, which is attached by the supplier before the delivery. Some level of conveyor and automation sortation technologies are involved.

The period between the "not before" date and the "not after" date shown on the purchase order.

A document is a form, such as an invoice or purchase order, which trading partners have agreed to exchange and which the EDI software handles within its compliance checking logic.

European Article Number. (European equivalent of UPC Barcode).

The body that administers the internationally recognised numbering system known as the EAN system. It is represented in Australia by GS1 Australia, a member of EAN International.

Various EAN Identification Numbers and Barcodes. For more information please click here.

A subset of EDIFACT specifically developed to support supply chain management.

EANnet has been developed as an online industry catalogue to ensure the integrity of data by providing a single, standardized record of product details and other information needed for electronic commerce transactions.

The Standard for how Coles Group want to operate in each stage of the Supply Chain.

The unique numbers allocated by GS1 Australia to every company responsible for numbering its items. The EAN•UCC company prefix, item reference and check digit constitute the global trade item number.

A number with two or more digits, co-administered by EAN International and UCC denoting the format and meaning of particular data encoded in an EAN/UPC bar code.

The specifications, standards and guidelines co-administered by EAN International and the UCC.

A family of bar code symbols including EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC-A and UPC-E versions. Although UPC-E symbols do not have a separate symbology identifier, they act like a separate symbology through the scanning application software.

Efficient Consumer Response. This is an initiative aimed at providing consumers with the best possible value, service and variety of products through a collaborative approach to improving the supply chain

Electronic Data Interchange. The intra and inter-company electronic exchange of business information in a computer readable, structured format. The information represents standard business documents such as invoices, purchase orders and logistical information.

The GEIS proprietary EDI network

A GEIS PC based workstation that allows users to start EDI activities with a simple, low cost approach

EDI for Administration, Commerce and Transportation. An EDI standard. Born in 1995 as a merge between UNTDI & ANSI X.12. The only international message set.

Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale.

Electronic information which groups a set of transmitted documents being sent from one sender to one receiver.

A term used to refer to the place where an EDI transmission is stored for pickup or delivery within a third party service provider's system. Trading partners can also maintain mailboxes within their own domain.

A technique for protecting information within a computer system, on magnetic media and during data transmission. An algorithm transforms the data to render it unintelligible. The process can be reversed to regenerate the original data for further processing

A procedure whereby stock is received from the supplier then picked and processed immediately into store dispatch lanes, bypassing PUTAWAY to warehouse storage and usually involving conveyor and automation sortation technologies.

Can be used when there could be one or many 3^rd party consolidators between the supplier and the final customer and where the configuration of the suppliers shipment is re-configured.

An automatic response by the EDI server that a message, or batch of messages, has been received intact at the intended mailbox.

A point of interconnection between one electronic network and another

The body that administers the internationally recognised numbering system known as the EAN system. It is represented in Australia by GS1 Australia, a member of GS1 International.

The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is a unique identification number for a trade item.

Within the Australian retail industry, trade item numbers have historically been referred to as APNs and TUNs. Whilst this terminology may still occasionally be encountered, the correct term for both is global trade item number (GTIN).
For more information please click here

Hypertext Markup Language. The language used to create and define a WWW web page. This language is used to define the locations and characteristics of each element of the page.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol. The protocol used for transferring html and related files, usually from WWW sites.

Major EDI user, commonly known as a HUB.

A type of EDI application where documents are not created at single point. Instead they pass through a chain of intermediaries each of which adds to the information in the document.

An interchange in an EDI sense is comparable to a paper envelope containing a number of different documents all destined to the one addressee.

The existence of communication links between two networks for the purpose of document transfers from a sender on one network to a recipient on the other network.

International Standards Organisation. They supervise areas such as OSI, EDIFACT and X.400

Interleaved two of five. (Barcode standard)

This is one way to bar code EAN 14 numbers (the other way is to use the EAN-128 bar code). The ITF-14 is a very robust bar code and is capable of being printed on the sort of cardboard used for outer cartons

The Just in Time philosophy is based on the idea of ordering supplies of parts in small batches, for delivery more or less directly to the production as and when they are needed.

A repository for messages in an electronic mail system or EDI server. Only authorised messages are allowed into mailboxes

Message Implementation Guides

Central hub for EDI communications which provides computer power, communications facilities and interfaces with trading partners.

Trade Unit. Is any item or standard grouping of items made up to facilitate the operation of handling, storing, order preparation, shipping etc. Can be a single item, a shrink-wrap pack of items, cardboard case, a tray, a pallet etc.

Open System Interconnect

Traditional Warehouse set-up where operators will pick the items and re-pack them for the store.

The technology which involves scanning of a consumer item, where at point-of-sale the scanner reads a structured bar code configuration and registers its sale.

EDIFACT document which will allow trading partners to exchange catalogue and pricing information via EDI. It will also allow the industry to upload and download data from the EANnet catalogue via EDI.

Rules for communicating, particularly for the format and transmission of data.

A business practice, ensuring the ability of a supplier to deliver both the product and the information about the product to a desired location within a time frame as designated by the buyer. This practice is usually supported by technology and management practices to mutual benefit of all participants. A manufacturing equivalent to Quick Response is 'Just In Time' or JIT manufacturing.

Any item which is intended to be sold to the final consumer through retail point of sale

Used to uniquely identify goods on the way from sender to final recipient. Each shipping container or transport unit, at the time of its creation is uniquely identified with a SSCC. A barcode label encoding the SSCC is applied to the transport unit using the EAN-128 symbol. The SSCC should be handled as an 18-digit non-significant number.

See Advanced Ship Notice

The SCM contains textual information and a scannable bar code which uniquely identifies each carton and cross references carton contents back to the ASN. When the goods physically arrive, the retailer scans the products and reconciles the details against the ASN. The SCM incorporates the bar-coded Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) which uniquely identifies cartons and when scanned will cross reference the ASN for verification. Each SCM must be unique within the ASN and when scanned must cross reference back to the ASN

Small to Medium Enterprise

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The protocol used to transfer E-mail between computers on the internet. It is a server to server protocol, so other protocols (like POP) are needed to transfer the E-mail to a client machine.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The networking protocols used on the internet.

A trade item is any item (product or service) upon which there is a need to retrieve pre-defined information and that may be priced, ordered or invoiced for trade between participants at any point in any supply chain.

Electronic Commerce Australia serves business and government as an informed and unbiased source which offers education and training and promotes and facilitates the implementation of EDi consistent with world-wide standards.

The sending and receiving parties involved in the exchange of EDi transmissions, ie. receiving parties of Coles documents. In this document, trading partners also refers to Coles Supermarket suppliers.

TUN is now known as GTIN. Click here for more information.

Uniform Code Council. Previously the Uniform Product Code Council.. The organization that administers the U.P.C

Used for the bar-coding of a retail item and the trade unit (if trade unit can be sold as a retail item). USA System.

Used for the bar-coding of a retail item. USA System.

A value-added network (VAN) is a private network provider (sometimes called a turnkey communications line) that is used by a company to facilitate electronic data interchange (EDI) or provide other network services. Many companies find it more cost-efficient to move their data over the Internet instead of paying the minimum monthly fees and per-character charges found in typical VAN contracts. In response, value-added network providers focus on offering EDI translation, encryption, secure e-mail, management reporting, and other extra services for their customers.

The production 'pipeline' from raw material to the finished product for the consumer. Within this value chain, manufacturers, suppliers and retailers for integral components to a products life cycle. This value chain also include support organisations like banks, third party distribution centres and services companies.

Voluntary Inter-industry Communications Standard for Electronic Data Interchange. This is a sub-set of the ANSI X.12 standard for Retailers.

A virtual private network (VPN) is a data network that uses a secure technique known as "tunnelling", to provide a virtual connection between Coles Group and a supplier through the use of telecommunication and Internet technologies.

Any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in the country, State or Territory of your address shown on the purchase order.

An ITU-T standard protocol suite for the DTE-DCE interface in a packet-switched network, approved by ISO. X.25 defines standard physical layer, data link layer and network layers (layers 1 through 3). It was developed to describe how data passes into and out of public data communications networks. X.25 networks are in use throughout the world.

CCITT and ISO standard for communications protocol. X.400 is a message handling facility.

The equivalent of the ordinary ‘phone book’ but in electronic database form.

U.S. ANSI standard for inter-industry electronic interchange of business transactions.