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Best practice: ECLASS in use at item Industrietechnik GmbH

Solingen, 22/07/2009: ECLASS is a standardized system for the classification and description of products and services. The developer, ECLASS e.V., has set itself the goal of defining, developing and promoting the ECLASS standard across industries and on an international level. A new publication, "ECLASS for SMEs", explains how notable companies such as item have successfully implemented the standard.

Central functions of the solution

The starting point

Item has been working with the PIM (Product Information Management) and cross-media solution by crossbase for four years. Photos, graphics, CAD drawings and texts are directly imported into the crossbase database and communicated via DVD, online and print catalog. As a result of the growing importance of eCcommerce, item's customers, e.g. from the automotive industry, demand electronic data in standard formats. Especially in the automotive industry, the classification standard ECLASS plays an outstanding role here.

Therefore, the existing PIM, MAM and cross-media solution was extended by the e-commerce modules of crossbase. The additions specifically concerned the modules for generating electronic catalogs in BMEcat format and the classification module with the standard classifications ECLASS and UNSPSC.

Results and benefits

Thanks to the combination of ECLASS and crossbase, item was able to fully satisfy customer expectations in relation to the quality of the product data. Up-to-date data is shared in the customer's preferred format. This creates a complete eBusiness loop between item and the customer and allows subsequent procurement processes to be transacted electronically. The standardized catalog production process means that the same process can be used for each new customer enquiry.

Because the data in the PIM system is media-neutral and the different catalog formats - print, online and DVD - are all supported, item can keep the costs of data maintenance under control. The addition of an electronic catalog further enhances the data quality because it involves reusing and checking the data once again. Any corrections that are made take effect in all the other media, because all media are generated from a single source.