Industry issues Global Commerce Internet Protocol

Citation

(2001), "Industry issues Global Commerce Internet Protocol", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 29 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijrdm.2001.08929cab.001

Industry issues Global Commerce Internet Protocol

Industry issues Global Commerce Internet Protocol

July 31, 2000 – Forty of the world's leading manufacturers and retailers met in Paris with trade associations, representing more than 850,000 companies, large and small, to announce the first global standards for Internet trading in the consumer goods industry.

The "Global Commerce Internet Protocol" establishes the first comprehensive recommendations on the management of standardised data across the world's most important trading Exchanges and other business-to-business communications via the Internet.

Luc Vandevelde, co-chairman of the Global Commerce Initiative ("GCI") and chairman of Marks & Spencer plc, said:

In recommending preliminary global data and communications standards, this move eliminates one of the biggest obstacles to effective Internet trading. Now, with this recommendation on data languages, the Internet can begin to realise its extraordinary potential as a commercial tool.

The Global Commerce Internet Protocol is the first of a series of major work products of the Global Commerce Initiative, a voluntary joint effort between consumer products retailers and manufacturers and international standards bodies. At its heart is the recognition that the business benefits of the Internet come from the instantaneous communication of information that is accurate and understood.

Dr Mario A. Corti, acting co-chairman of the Initiative and Executive Vice President of Nestle S.A., said:

We can only process data with confidence through the application of internationally recognised "open" and voluntary standards. These basic standards benefit everyone: without them, it would be as though the world was full of telephones unable to talk to each other.

In recent months, Exchanges and other business-to-business communications have evolved rapidly around the world, and companies often find themselves interacting not just with each other but with a number of different Exchanges or Internet vehicles. Concerned that non-standardised data conventions can only cause costly, unnecessary confusion between users and increase the probability of processing errors, the member companies and eight associations represented on the Executive Board of the Global Commerce Initiative have agreed to a letter of support for the development of the Global Commerce Internet Protocol. They have now been joined by the four major Exchanges presently active in the consumer goods industry: Transora, the WorldWide Retail Exchange, GlobalNet Xchange, and CPGmarket.com.

The Protocol is concerned with the standardisation of three fundamental areas: data access and security (which enables one computer to know which information it is authorised to share with another); basic data content (the numbering of products, services and locations); and basic information flow (the content and sequence of information in business messages). Without standardisation, data processing requires increased human intervention and fails to realise the high-speed potential of modern Internet technology.

The Global Commerce Initiative stresses that it is only through underlying standardisation that individual Exchanges can demonstrate intrinsic benefits.

Christian Koffmann, co-chairman of the Global Commerce Initiative and worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnson, Consumer and Personal Care Group, said:

Competitive advantage comes from what the users and the Exchanges choose to do with the information they are managing – how they present it and its functionality for their business. Each Exchange will develop at its own speed and will be driven by the needs of the business community it serves.

Peter Jordan, project leader for the Protocol and director of European Systems, Kraft Foods Europe, said:

Exchanges are independent business ventures. It is not the job of the Global Commerce Initiative to influence the speed and scope of their development. GCI will of course track their progress and, with tools like the Global Commerce Internet Protocol, will continue to support needs for standards development as they evolve.

The Global Commerce Internet Protocol and the ongoing work of the Global Commerce Initiative are expected to benefit all commercial users, irrespective of size.

Mario Corti said:

The work of the Global Commerce Initiative will not only address Internet standards. It will also provide all companies with an extraordinary fund of expertise in the modelling of business processes. The Protocol, completed in just three months, is only the first phase of a substantial body of work that will provide powerful strategic tools to all users across industry.

Following a period of trials, draft recommendations will be published as standards by the international standards bodies, EAN International and UCC, with the endorsement of the Global Commerce Initiative. The technical infrastructure standards have been developed by ebXML and form the basis of the GCI technical recommendation.

Founded in October 1999, the Global Commerce Initiative is the result of joint industry efforts in North and South America, Europe and Asia, where, since the early 1990s, strategic collaborations have been developing between stakeholders of all sizes across the complex supply chain for consumer goods. Made possible by some of the world's best-known companies, they include the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) movements in Europe, North and South America and Asia, together with the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards Association (VICS) in North America, EAN International and UCC, CIES – The Food Business Forum, FMI, AIM – the European Brands Association, and GMA.

As illustrated in Figure 1, a company is both a buyer and a seller. The complexity of relationships across the supply chain requires a common understanding of data and message content. The same principles apply to all models, including business-to-business transactions that do not use Exchanges.

Figure 1 A typical business/exchange model

Working groups contributing to the Global Commerce Internet Protocol

In order to develop the Global Commerce Internet Protocol, four working groups have been set up to address each of the three key areas of data access and security, basic data content and basic information flow in business-to-business communications. A fourth group has been established to make recommendations on the overall process of managing changes to standards:

• •

  Technical infrastructure. This group is working on a recommendation of standards to be used for the secure transport, routeing and packaging of GCI XML payloads (messages). With the output from the Master Data Alignment & Core Business Process groups business process models and Data Attribute definitions, this group will develop and recommend XML tags and schemata to be used to communicate messages to be exchanged over the World Wide Web in a standard format for all Exchanges. (XML stands for "eXtensible Markup Language" and is intended to facilitate the interchange of structured documents over the World Wide Web.)

• •

  Master data alignment. This group is working to define the basic business process model and data that will be required in business-to-business communications related to the products and services being traded and the parties involved in the transactions. The group is basing its work on the Global Data Alignment work carried out by EAN and UCC to act as guide.

• •

  Core business processes. This group is working to define the business process models associated in business-to-business communication. Having determined the process, it will define the key data items that make up the transactions. The initial work will concentrate on the processes of ordering, delivery notification and payment.

• •

  Standards process. The standards process group is working with existing standards bodies to determine the fastest, most effective procedures for developing and maintaining standards. This will have to happen over a substantially accelerated time scale. In the past, the development and agreement process has typically taken many months, even years. Because of the rapid development of the Internet environment, this is no longer appropriate. Internet developments, including the abundance of recently formed Exchanges, will not wait that long.

The Global Commerce Initiative

The Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) was created in 1999 to bring manufacturers and retailers together to promote global supply chain efficiency and enhance consumer value.

Its mission is "Bridging the gap between the world's foremost supply chain standards to better meet the needs and expectations of consumers around the world."

GCI operates through an Executive Board composed of senior representatives of more than 40 international companies drawn equally from the manufacturing and retailing sides of the consumer goods industry, together with eight sponsoring organisations.

GCI has built a collaborative inter-business process that will endorse a set of recommended open and voluntary standards, enabling technologies and best practices with worldwide application. Its work is intended to benefit all users, large and small, wherever they operate. This global approach will be developed and documented together with international standardisation organisations.

GCI is encouraging and facilitating dialogue between trade associations and organisations representing the 850,000 large and small companies that utilise current EAN-UCC standards. These companies, either individually or through their trade organisations, are committed to endorsing global standards.

The Executive Board of GCI has established five working groups to address some of the key issues:

1. 1.

   Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

2. 2.

   Industry extranets.

3. 3.

   Product identification.

4. 4.

   Intelligent tagging.

5. 5.

   Global scorecard.

The global working groups meet frequently to create a shared understanding of good business practices and endorse recommended business standards, enabling technologies and implementation guidelines with worldwide application.

Their common goals are to:

• •

  Simplify business processes.

• •

  Provide benefits to all users, large and small, wherever they operate.

The working groups are guided by the following principles:

• •

  Co-chairs are appointed from different industry sectors and continents.

• •

  Members of "core" groups are balanced across industry types and geographical territories.

• •

  Global "virtual" members have Web site access to ensure the widest possible representation.

• •

  Working groups operate with recognised standards bodies.

• •

  Solutions are viewed as neutral and impartial with respect to vendors, technologies and Exchanges.

Corporate members of the Global Commerce Initiative board

Retailers

Ahold.AMC.Auchan.Carrefour.Costco Corp.Delhaize Group.Federated Department Stores.Georgia-Pacific Corporation.The Home Depot.Kingfisher.Marks & Spencer.Metro.Sears Roebuck.Tesco.Wal*Mart Stores Inc.

Manufacturers

British American Tobacco.The Coca-Cola Company.Danone Group.Gillette.Henkel.Johnson & Johnson.Kao Corporation.Kodak.Kraft foods.Mars.Nestle S.A.Newell Rubbermaid.Philips.Procter & Gamble.Ralph Lauren.Sara Lee/De.Unilever.VF CorporationWarner Lambert.