Publishing - highest hierarchy - Wakefern

[nancyVigo]

Good morning team!

I've had a distributor asked me to publish one of our items to Wakefern at the PACK level, even though the highest hierarchy is the CASE.

I know that we are only supposed to publish the highest level of the hierarchy, which is the CASE in this example.

However, I wanted to reach out to have a confirmation from the Community team to share with them.

Thanks in advance!

[ana_neamtu · Accepted solution]

Hello @nancyVigo and welcome back!

Based on their implementation guide, Wakefern advise all applicable levels of the item hierarchy be published, which should mean the item is to be published at the Case level, if this product type is relevant to your item. Although this is Wakefern's ask, GDSN standards suggest that publishing at any desired/asked for level of the hierarchy is fine.

Please click HERE for  Wakefern's guide, which contains additional information on the hierarchy product types. 

I hope this helps and please let us know if you have any questions.

[nancyVigo]

@ana_neamtu, thanks so much for the help...have a great day! 🙂

[nancyVigo]

Good afternoon @ana_neamtu!

Following up with the same issue regarding Wakefern, I have another question.

I've been advised to change the Consumer Unit Indicator, Base Unit Indicator and Ordering Unit Indicator to TRUE for the PACK so that I can then publish it to Wakefern.

However, I know that you cannot have a TRUE statement for two different units (CASE and PACK).

What would be the advise I can get from you to relate to the distributor asking this?

Thanks!

[Julie]

Hello @nancyVigo it's lovely talking to you again.  

The Base Unit Indicator can be set to TRUE only on the lowest level of a hierarchy. If it is CA - PK - EA, your EA would be the base unit, however I am not sure how your hierarchy looks.

The Consumer Unit Indicator and Ordering Unit Indicator can be set to TRUE on all levels in the hierarchy where this applies:

If your PACK and EACH can be sold to the consumer and have barcodes assigned/can be scanned in the store then both would be considered consumer units. 

If your trading partner can order from you in one instance CASE and at other times PACK, then both would be considered orderable units.

I've attached a screenshot from the Current IM Participant Dictionary (IMPD) where additional information about the attributes can be found but please let me know if you have any other questions.

[nancyVigo]

Hi @Julie, nice speaking with you again!

Please, find attached screen shots showing the item's hierarchy, as well as what customers it has been published to as a CASE.

I just want to make sure that changing the unit indicators from the CASE to the PACK will disrupt our item flow.

Thanks!

[Julie]

Thank you for the screenshots, they help me understand your hierarchy better.

The Consumer Unit Indicator and the Base Unit Indicator can not be changed depending on the trading partner. They will be TRUE or FALSE for all recipients you send your data to.

The Ordering Unit Indicator, Dispatch Unit Indicator and Invoice Unit Indicator can be different depending to whom you send your data to.

As an example, I've attached a screenshot of the Dispatch Unit Indicator being FALSE for all your trading partners and TRUE only for Wakefern. When this would be published to Wakefern it would flag this product as being orderable for Wakefern but published to other trading partners it would be sent as a non-orderable item. 

Please let me know if this helps. Thank you!

[nancyVigo]

@Julie, thanks for the clarification.  They would like me to publish this item as the PACK, not the CASE (which is already published to them).

In order to do this, would I need to change the unit indicators of the CASE as well or just change the PACK, pick Wakefern, and publish it as new without addressing the CASE?

I just want to make sure before I proceed.

[Julie]

If they would like you to publish the item as the PACK, you would not need to address the CASE at all, update your PACK with the correct information and then publish the item as NEW.

Considering they would like you to publish from the PACK level only, I've attached the article for Unit Indicators in IM where it gives an example of a CA - EA hierarchy. Your hierarchy being PK - EA in this publication, please apply the same rules from the article. Please note, the Unit Indicators in the example have a value of True for every indicator but across the two different item GTINs.  If you try to publish an item where you do not have a value of True for one of the indicators across the hierarchy, you will encounter errors.

I thought it would be easier to provide an example as how your PACK can be set-up. In this example, your PACK is the ordering, invoice and dispatch unit only for Wakefern.

Thank you and please let me know if this helps.

[nancyVigo]

 @ana_neamtu and @Julie, good morning!  Thanks again for all the information...I will implement it this morning and will update you both!