Downers Grove, Ill.-based iSeries application developer LANSA last week rolled out the newest release of its data synchronization suite, Data Sync Direct. The company said it features advanced transaction functionalities and meets the industry's latest compliance requirements.
According to LANSA, Data Sync Direct V2.5 -- which is used mostly as a supply chain management tool -- makes it easy for manufacturers and distributors to exchange item information via the Global Data Synchronization Network, a network of interoperable data pools for communicating between trading partners.
Data synchronization, the standardization of data across supply chain partners, started a few years ago, much in the same way as the radio frequency identification initiative. Major retailers pushed for suppliers to adopt the standards.
Randy Mercer, manager of product solutions at LANSA, said the basic point of Data Sync Direct is to make sure the supply chain between manufacturers and retailers is running smoothly based on standardized channels for exchanging information.
If it isn't, he said, glitches can lead to invoice and product ordering mistakes that can cause financial and logistical headaches neither side of the equation wants to deal with.
V2.5 also enables manufacturers to compile data on consistent past transactions, and then use that information to automate that process to save time and money down the road.
"This makes sure everyone is on the same page in relation to the products," Mercer said. "This interface gives them a way more to more reasonably select products that, based on past history, they can do it en mass instead of having to run one at a time."
LANSA said the real value of item data synchronization is in managing Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) activity behind the firewall to maintain ongoing data alignment with trading partners.
The key new component of V2.5 is a new transaction management tool, which LANSA said provides users with a better way to mass-process GTIN uploads; Registry Catalog Items (RCIs) and notifications; catalog item confirmation and explanation support; and hyperlinks to enhance navigation.
LANSA currently has over 300 customers using LANSA Data Sync Direct. The company said that V2.5 is up to date with Global Standards Management Process (GSMP) standards, a compliance organization that maintains standards-based solutions for global trade.
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