The Quest for Data Synchronization Begins with Data Accuracy . . .

In the last few months, Data Quality has once again come home to roost as the root cause denying the industry access to meaningful Data Synchronization.  Exchanging inaccurate data through current Trading Partner methods is frustrating and expensive.  Exchanging inaccurate data more efficiently via Synchronization may be more damaging due to the aura of “certification” provided by the data pool processes.

The U Connect conference last month followed quickly by the joint session on Data Quality here in Chicago this week have once again reaffirmed results from studies done by Procter & Gamble, Wegman's (with a number of trading partners), Clorox and many others.  Information about products from the salable unit level up through cases, pallets and truckloads is often inaccurate (dimensions, weight, UPC/GTIN, description, categorization, pack-out, etc.).  Even when trading partners undertake great efforts to upgrade the accuracy on current products, the information quickly becomes dated and, over time, again inaccurate.

Gladson Interactive is in a unique position to study the issues surrounding data accuracy.  We are exposed, everyday, to the state of the product information in use today for core decisions.  We also understand: the rapidity with which data becomes dated, how it changes, and finally the degree of difficulty in generating consistently accurate product level data at scale.

With this in mind, Dave King, author of the book Selling with Space Management©, and I began a study on this subject in November of 2005.  We studied over 200,000 salable products gathered from top retailers and manufacturers and compared their information to the Gladson Product Information Masterfile.   We re-measured thousands of products to verify our findings.  We compared product height, width, depth, UOM, size and label details.

We then took a look at the tolerance standards used at Gladson and compared them to proposed industry standards with an understanding of the impact these various standards will have in the everyday lives of category managers, store stock personnel and consumers.

Finally we sat down and examined the task of building and maintaining accurate data for each of the four different solution approaches available to Industry Participants.

While the study results are based on product information at the item level we can reasonably assume that case level data results would not fare any better.

The study is now ready for review.  I asked Bill Bishop, President of Willard Bishop, to look it over and here is what he had to say:

This major, new White Paper by Gladson Interactive brings a broader definition of the problems related to maintaining database integrity and investigates the benefits of using accurate data in certain key applications.

We believe that the facts and insights contained here represent a significant contribution to industry efforts to improve data accuracy and position the grocery business to capture all of the potential benefits from emerging technologies and trading partner collaboration.

I will happily share the study with any Industry Trading Partners who wish to receive it.  Just send an email with your name, company and address to salesteam@gladson.com, and we will ship both a hard copy and electronic version of the report to you promptly.

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