How to Get Started with IM 101

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Why are you starting here with this 1WorldSync process? Are you a Supplier who has been asked to share product content with your retailer(s)? Are you a retailer trying to get product content from your supplier(s)? Sharing product content is what we at 1WorldSync call Data Synchronization.  Data Synchronization has its own language that new users will learn over time with practice.  Let’s discuss some foundational terms, what they mean, and how you can use them.  Keep this handy as these terms are used often in the data synchronization world.

GDSN: The Global Data Synchronization Network is used to electronically transfer standardized product and location information between trading partners.  The major components are the data pools, data providers, data recipients, and the Global Registry.

Item Management (IM): This is 1WorldSync’s primary GDSN tool that allows you to synchronize your product content with us and any other GDSN datapool.  It is a graphical user interface (GUI) that our Product and Technology teams continually work to improve to make this process as easy as possible for you.  You can access IM from our website.

Global Location Number (GLN) 13: This number is created using your GS1 company prefix and is used most often to represent your company in the GDSN.  It can be used to identify other departments, buildings, or other areas of your company as needed.  To sum it up, your GLN represents your company and your GTINs represent your products.  

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) 14: This number is also created using your GS1 company prefix and is used to represent your product content in its different configurable forms.  You will have a unique GTIN, based on your product UPC, for all levels of your item including your consumer unit (EACH), Case, Pallet, etc as appropriate for you.  

Add / Link / Validate / Publish:  As you manage your product content, you will perform different actions to meet synchronization requirements.  Start with your Item Add to create your items for IM.  Once you create your consumer unit and any other logistical units, you can next Link them together from the top-down / parent-child structure, i.e. Pallet/Case/Pack/Each.  IM allows you to Validate at the item and Hierarchy level.  Once your items validate, and you meet any of the requirements needed for your trading partner(s), you can then Publish your content to them.  You can learn more about these steps in our IM Quick Sheet and Training Videos.  

Supplier / Data Source: This is the party that sends the product content to the retailer (recipient) trading partner.

Retailer (Recipient) / Data Recipient: This is the party that receives the product content from the Data Source.

Subscription:  Before you publish to your trading partner(s), they likely asked you to contact them so they can create a Subscription to your products so that your publications will reach them.  If you publish to a retailer without a subscription, you likely will not see a CIN message (see below) and they will not receive your content.  Most retailers advise you on how to request a subscription from them in their Implementation Guide on each of their landing pages.  These are available for 1WorldSync retailers on our website HERE.

Trading Partner relationships are initiated when a supplier completes the retailer’s Trading Partner Form and submits it or by contacting the retailers to request a subscription via email or other ways to contact them which can vary by the retailers.     

Republish: This is a very important and powerful action available to 1WorldSync content providers.  When you are asked to Republish it does not mean you need to publish again rather, it provides you a way to override any previous publications you sent and any Rejection messages.  Learn more details about republishing HERE. 

CIN and CIC messages: This is where the concepts get more technical but it is a good idea to know these terms as they can come up when troubleshooting.  Simply put, the CIN messages are what the data source sends to the data retailers when they successfully publish, republish or update an item.  The CIC message is the response back from the data retailers to the data source after the CIN message. Retailers will send a Synchronized, Received, Review, or Rejected CIC message but not all retailers send a CIC.  Typically, when a retailer sends a Review or Rejected CIC, they will add a note letting the data source know what needs to be corrected.  You can learn more about this process in the IM Troubleshooting Video.

Retailers are not required to send any CIC response although it is a best practice recommended by 1WorldSync. 

Received - The retailer received the content successfully

Review – The retailer received the content and request the supplier to review and update based on the requirements

Synchronized – The content was received by the retailer and a successful connection was established for the published or updated item configuration

Reject - This message breaks any synchronization for the item and normally indicates to the supplier that the retailer  does not want to synchronize this item

Load Sheet (FUSE):  There are different ways to enter and manage your product content with Item Management,  The FUSE is the spreadsheet you can extract, update and upload to manage your content.  The idea is to extract an existing item(s) and use it as your template for future uploads.  You can learn more about the powerful operations of the FUSE that determine how and what content is uploaded via the FUSE in the Load Sheet (FUSE) Training Webinar.

Most Commonly Used Reports for Suppliers

There are different reports you can use to manage the content published to your trading partners.  When you log into IM you see the Dashboard that shows you the various statuses and actions to be taken as well as details in the Content Readiness section. In addition to these areas, we recommend you understand how to use the reports below.  All can be reached in the IM navigation bar near the top of the screen.

Worklist: The log of both internal and external activity for your company in chronological order for a running 90 period.  Links to data validation errors and schema violation details can be found along with other transactions performed for your item content.

Sync Status: This report allows you to track the progress of publications as they are sent to your retailer showing precisely when the data has been processed.  It shows the CIC responses from the retailer after suppliers successfully publish to them.  You can access it by clicking Reports > Sync Status.  

Item History: Report showing you the entire internal and external activity for an item in chronological order.  Unlike the worklist which shows just the past 90 days of item transactions, the Item History report shows all historical transactions for your item.  You can access it in IM by clicking Reports > Item History.  It requires you to enter the GTIN in question before it runs.

Manage Publications: The report you use to add and delete publications.  This is also where you can republish your already existing publications.

Recipient Responses:  The report is used to see the specific details or notes associated with any CIC response to your publications and updates.  

Current Subscriptions:  The report showing any company that has subscribed to your GLN, GTIN, etc.  You can look for Targeted (GLN, GTIN) subscriptions and General  (Target Market) subscriptions.

So Now That You Have a List of Common Terms - How Do You Add & Publish Your Items?

1. Add or create your item in IM making sure to populate all required GDSN fields and any attribute requirements from your retailer trading partners.  
2. Validate until successful
3. Link your items as needed from the Top level hierarchy down to the consumer unit.  
4. Validate at the hierarchy screen to ensure your link quantities match the values you provided
5. Complete any subscription requirements for your trading partners and publish to them once complete.
6. Check the reporting a couple of hours after you published it to see which response you received and make any corrections

One of the valuable tools 1WolrdSync provides its customers is our Community portal.  There is an abundance of helpful information to help customers through the synchronization process including knowledge articles by application, retailer, and a Library of content, peer-to-peer conversations, Post a Question to our tech teams, training in the Academy, Events Calendar, and more. Please look around, read our blog on How to Use the Community, and get familiar with all of the tools and resources we continually add to the community to improve and modernize your customer experience with 1WorldSync.  

Training & Education Videos for IM Users

The How Do You Add & Publish Your Items list simplifies this process to the bare minimum for use as an overall guide.  The details on how to perform these actions are available to you in the customer Community platform including these short training videos:

1WorldSync Training Program - 6 Steps to Success

Video: Getting Started with Item Management

Video: IM How To Tutorial Video - Item Add

Video: IM "How To" Tutorial Video - Item Clone

Video: IM "How To" Tutorial Video - Item Link

Video: IM "How To" Tutorial Video - Publish and

Documentation - Item Management Quicksheets

Documentation - Item Management Reports

Documentation - FUSE Quick Sheets 

[ana_neamtu]

Hello, @MARKEDWARDS,

It’s good chatting with you again.

Kindly take a look at the response we just sent to this issue HERE.  Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have additional questions.