Further information about BMEcat
Explanation of procedure
The BMEcat-format was developed with the objective of standardising the exchange of product data catalogues between suppliers and purchasing organisations, thus simplifying this procedure. In the basic model, a supplier compiles a catalogue in electronic form which complies to the BMEcat standard. In the following text this catalogue is termed the catalogue document. This catalogue document also makes the integration of multi-media product data such as photos, graphics, technical documentation, video data etc. possible.
Typically, a supplier transfers the catalogue document to a purchasing organisation which further processes the contents of the catalogue document and integrates it, for example, into an existing shop system (suppliers of such shop systems for the field of procurement are, for example, SAP, Intershop, Harbinger, Ariba, Commerce One, Procure Network, Healy Hudson etc). This procedure is known as product data exchange. The BMEcat-format enables the supplier not only to transfer his complete product data using such a product data exchange procedure, but also to update price data, for example.
BMEcat offers even more possibilities for the sales side. Apart from being used to transfer data, the standardised BMEcat catalogue document can also be put to excellent use in order to compile or update a purchaser's own online shop for sales support.
In addition, the use of BMEcat represents an important step along the road to standardised eBusiness between companies. Companies which are able to draw up documents on the basis of BMEcat in doing so fulfil important pre-requisites for further areas of eBusiness, such as the automated processing of orders or the electronic exchange of invoice data.
By using the new Internet standard XML, Extensible Markup Language, BMEcat is also open to the international market. XML is already being widely accepted as the industrial standard and makes it possible to code structure and data at the same time in a catalogue document.
Advantages and possible uses
BMEcat offers a range of potential benefits both for the procuring organisations as well as for suppliers and software houses who want to design their products BMEcat-compatible. This benefits all those involved.
Purchasing companies can enjoy the following potential benefits:
- A uniform standard for the exchange of multi-media product and catalogue data for all suppliers and target systems forms the basis for the utilisation of online catalogue systems on the Intranet.
- Basis for extensive reductions in cost in the procurement process (standardised catalogues; reduction of expenditure; speeding up of processes; automatic order processing; evaluation possibilities etc.).
- Low maintenance costs for product data and catalogues.
- Quick implementation of new catalogues; additional utilisation possibility for BME-compatible supplier catalogues which already exist.
- Simple migration to other online procurement systems is possible.
- Close integration with suppliers.
- Mid-term: automatic allocation of standardised catalogue structures into internal products categories.
The following potential applications exist for suppliers:
Suppliers are increasingly having to make electronic product data and contract-specific additional data available to their business customers. For various customers, data still has to be generated in customer- or target-system-specific data formats as well as fulfil further requirements of processing procedures. BMEcat solves the problems involved with this and allows the supplier to serve his customers in a standardised way. This considerably reduces expenditure on the supplier side. Suppliers who use BMEcat are thus in a position to offer lower product prices and secure and further extend their competitive position.
The most important features of BMEcat
BMEcat offers both procurement and sales a number of advantages. These include:
- Extensive coverage of the requirements made of multi-media product data and catalogue structures;
- Structuring of the product data in several fields, e.g. basic data, packaging data, price data, multi-media additional data, article structure data, catalogue structure data;
- Recommendations for the use of standardised product classification systems (catalogue structures);
- Definition of must and can fields, data types, field lengths and additional regulations;
- Definition of several catalogue transactions: for example new, complete product catalogue, updating of individual product data, updating of prices;
- It is possible to transfer main data and multi-media additional data separately;
- The Internet but also conventional media (CD-ROM, discs, DAT) can be used for data transfer;
- Direct import into all important target systems for online catalogues used in procurement or sales;
- Definition of data structures and exchange formats with the aid of XML, the standard descriptive language for structured data exchange in the Internet environment;
- Simple expansion of the standard is possible to fulfil future requirements;
- Users can add specific fields if required.
Copyright © 2000-2009 www.bmecat.org
|
