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ASN
VICS
Static Routing
Dynamic Routing
EAN UCC Standards
SSCC
UPC
GTIN
2005 Sunrise compliance

ASN - Advance Ship Notice Requirements Document

This document helps Christian-retail industry suppliers better understand the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Advance Ship Notice. (reference  http://www.cpsg.org/docs/docs_finished/cpsgdocslibrary.cfm)

VICS – Voluntary Inter-industry commerce standard (Standardizing the Bill of Lading)

Bill of lading numbers can be typed in or assigned automatically. VICS compliant setting generates 17 digit number using shipper’s UCC code and prints it as UCC/EAN 128 barcode. VICS supplemental form is automatically printed when necessary. Convenient order and package tally pinpoints order and package mismatch. The objective of standardizing the Bill of Lading is to ensure that the shipper, the carrier, and the customer (the consignee) are all getting the information they need for the processing of the goods through the supply chain. Included with the standard Bill of Lading form is a standard Bill of Lading number. The Bill of Lading number has become a critical data element with the advent of the EDI 856 Ship Notice Manifest. The standard Bill of Lading form and number will ensure that all key data elements are present and documented in a uniform manner. This will support the needs of all parties in the supply chain as well as support accurate EDI 214 Carrier Shipment Status transmissions.   
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Static Routing  

Dynamic Routing

With a struggling global economy and shrinking company margins, a strong focus is being placed on trimming costs related to controllable functions in the supply chain. One recent area of focus has been transportation and handling costs. Retailers have invested significant amounts of capital to implement transportation-planning solutions with the goal of making freight movement more efficient and ultimately cheaper. One way in which retailers are working to trim transportation costs is through dynamic routing. This strategic initiative enables retailers to achieve significant transportation savings as well as reduce replenishment times.

Only few WMS supports both EDI753 & EDI 754 standards for shipping orders as per dynamically routed by the customers.  These WMS provides interface to create EDI753 based on the orders in hand and the estimated total weight, volume, etc.  As the EDI754 is received back into system, the carriers and destination addresses are updated accordingly and bill created as per the instructions received from customer in EDI754. Some WMS are completely flexible as when should EDI753 be created (though within constraint of 48 hrs before shipment). Some retailer may choose to create it well ahead of shipment so as to minimize reprinting of labels or some retailer may choose to create it as orders are being processed or already processed.  
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EAN.UCC STANDARDS

The EAN.UCC System provides identification standards to uniquely identify trade items, logistic units, locations, assets, and service relations worldwide. The identification standards define the construction of globally unique and unambiguous numbers that make supply chains much more efficient and responsive to customers in any industry. As the barcodes are scanned in any module of WMS, the system automatically applies the processing rules as per the defined standards. For example as any UCC 128 Id is scanned the system automatically detects that it is a label for shipping container and applies rules for checking check digit, etc.  
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Serialized Shipping Container Code (SSCC)

With the prevalence of e-business, there is an increasing need to exchange information electronically as well as track the movement and location of logistics units. A logistic unit is defined as any composition established for transport and/or storage, which needs to be tracked through the supply chain (cartons or pallets). When used as the “license plate” to identify specific information about cartons and pallets the SSCC will help accomplish the task of moving products from one trading partner to another quickly and efficiently. In WMS as any shipping carton/ pallet is created, the system assigns an SSCC to that carton/pallet. The SSCC is cross-referenced in the database with the contents of that particular carton/pallet. This SSCC (or license plate) is then encoded in a UCC/EAN-128 bar code on the shipping label and placed on the carton/pallet.  
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Universal Product Code (UPC)

The essence of this standard is that each product should have a unique product identification numbers. These are 12 digit numbers assigned by the UPC council, which are globally unique. WMS Solutions supports handling as well as creating barcodes of these UPCs on the basis of standards defined. WMS also ensures that these UPCs are unique across system and pass all the criteria specified in the standard (e.g. company prefix, application identifier, check digit, etc)  
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Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN)

GTIN is an umbrella term used to describe the entire family of data structures that identify trade items (products and services). GTINs consist of four data structures that are 8, 12, 13 and 14 digits in length. For example, the EAN-8, EAN-13, U.P.C., and RSS symbols on products all encode GTINs. As per GTIN WMS supports the 14 digits data length of UPC (this accommodated both 12 digit UPC and 14 digit GTIN) --- 6-10 digits are company prefixes, 3-7 is sequence which can vary and last digit is check digit. As any barcode is scanned in the system at any level of processing the system automatically checks check digits for UCC and UPC and other patterns enforced by the UPC & GTIN standards. The 12 digit UPCs imported into the WMS from any third party system are automatically padded to create 14 digit GTINs and processes accordingly in the system.  
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2005 Sunrise Compliance

Since the introduction of the 12-digit Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) more than 30 years ago, the use of the EAN.UCC System has expanded rapidly to facilitate global commerce.  To meet the need for improving commerce efficiency, the Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC) has announced that by January 1, 2005 all U.S. and Canadian companies must be capable of scanning and processing EAN-8 and EAN-13 symbols, in addition to 12-digit U.P.C. symbols, at point-of-sale.  The UCC announced this initiative, named 2005 Sunrise, in 1997 to allow U.S. and Canadian companies ample time to address all conversion issues. For the appreciation of need for being 2005 Sunrise compliant please refer to: http://www.uc-council.org/ean_ucc_system/stnds_and_tech/2005_Sunrise_Flyer1.pdf
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