December 2006 Newsletter

From the Executive Director

With the holiday season upon us many take the opportunity to clean up our desks and tie up lose ends. As well as take time to look back on our accomplishments in the year and to look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead. From ECCMA?s perspective 2006 was marked by a number of significant events both large and small. While it is hard to forget the great conference and the honor of hosting the 50th meeting of ISO TC 184 SC 4, it is easier to miss all the milestones that led up to the conference. The eOTD grows larger and more robust as we learn its true potential as not only a cataloging tool but also as a global metadata registry. Our strategy of embracing diversity amongst the standards communities and focusing on providing a central repository for terminology supported by a procedure for linking concepts as opposed to trying to ?harmonize? terminology is encouraging cooperation well beyond our expectations. Apparently the eOTD as a terminology neutral encoding solution may also hold one of the keys to the semantic web. We have completed four training courses and we end the year with over 100 ECCMA alumni. We still have a long way to go and I look forward to the publication of ISO 22745 in 2007 as well as the first parts of ISO 8000 reaching their committee draft stage. I am also looking forward to the first images being added to the eOTD as well as the development of the abbreviation tables.

As we approach the end of the year we have seen some significant retirements and promotions at DLIS where Debbie Greger takes over for Rick Maison and William (Bill) Strough takes over for Linda Marvin. We wish both Rick and Linda the best in their well deserved retirement and look forward to working with both Debbie and Bill in the years to come.

Yet again what we have achieved this year is a reflection of the support of our loyal and enthusiastic membership and the dedication of our Directors as well as what is a uniquely competent and devoted staff both here in Bethlehem and in Vellore, India.

I wish you all a great holiday season.

Respectfully submitted

Peter Benson

Industry Corner

Readers take a moment to share their experiences and stories from recent standards for cataloging & data quality. We welcome submissions to the newsletter. Be sure to send your articles to editor@eccma.org

ISO TC 184/SC 4 & 6th Annual Conference a Success The Association conducted a survey regarding the Hershey Conference. Here?s what others say about the most beneficial aspects of the conference:


George Bond elected Chair of NATO AC135

AC135 Directors elected Mr. George Bond the Director of the UK NCB as the new Chairman of AC135. The Directors joined him in the farewell to the departing Chairman Mr. Richard Maison of the USA on the occasion of his retirement, and thanked him for his outstanding leadership over many years in the development of the NATO Codification System.

AC 135 endorsed continuation of the Smart Standard for the Exchange of Product Model (STEP) Codification (SSC) Project

Phase 2 of the SSC project will test the use of the eOTD Identification guides and the eOTD catalog format as defined in ISO 22745 on a current procurement project. The SSC process will be used in the codification of spares for AMV ?Rosomak? purchased by the Polish Armed Forces from Finnish Company Patria Vehicle Oy. A total of 690 Armored Modular Vehicles will be built under license in Poland by the Polish company Wojskowe Zaklady Mechaniczne (WZM) under offset agreement.

The AC135's intent is to streamline and improve the efficiency of the codification process by establishing a process by which countries can import codification data instead of having to manually write all the item descriptions. The project involves using the data that is created in electronic design files and tagging the relevant information needed for codification to the eOTD. This tagged information could then be exploited by existing codification tools thereby reducing the manual effort required to undertake codification of any single item, with significant potential for reduced costs and improved data quality.

Peter Benson and Joe Cassel attend Richard Maison's retirement Ceremony in Battle Creek

Richard Maison's retirement ceremony was held at the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in Battle Creek Michigan on December 1st 2007. The ceremony marked a unique career of government service that began in 1976 at the Air Force Cataloging and Standardization Center (CASC) as a supply cataloger. In 1997, Mr. Maison was selected as the Program Manager for the DOD Cataloging Transition Office, charged with consolidating and centralizing at DLIS all DOD cataloging workload being performed within each Military Service. The centralization was successfully completed ahead of schedule and led to his being awarded the DLA Superior Civilian Service Award.

Rick supported the development of the eOTD as an open public version of the Federal Cataloging System and has provided support and guidance for the development of ISO 22745 and ISO 8000 both as the Executive Director of DLIS as well as the Chair of NATO AC135. Commenting on his pivotal role in the development of ISO 8000, Peter Benson in his short presentation comments related how when he called Rick to report on the fact that obtaining the number 8000 for the new data quality appeared to be an impossible task - Rick's reply was "Try harder" so it could be rightly said that Rick is indeed the father of ISO 8000. Rick has provided ECCMA with unique vision and encouragement that comes from a lifetime of experience in cataloging, we are deeply grateful.

eOTD Update

In December's eOTD version, you would have noticed quite a few structural changes to the database as it was updated to match the latest ISO 22745 UML model. January's version release will include the addition of terminology from ISO 15926. As we move forward, we are planning the following for the version release in February:
Please contact Dan.King@ECCMA.org with any questions regarding the above or general questions regarding ECCMA or the eOTD.

ECCMA India

We are building a cataloging training course specifically for cataloguers. The course duration will be for a period of 4 days. The course/training material is still being built, so those interested in joining and would like to have a specific content in the course, or would like to have further information on the course, please contact Sheron Koshy.

Cataloging Training Courses

Designed for inventory, procurement and supply chain mangers that are looking for better cataloging and content management. Understanding total assets availability is keeping inventory accurate.

Please contact Amber at Amber.Davis@ECCMA.org if you are interested in participating in an ECCMA training course.

Alumni List coming soon! Be sure to checkout our website for a list or our Alumni.

Next training courses:
February 5-7th 2007
Melbourne, Australia
Hosted by:
Oniqua		February 12th-14 2007
Perth, Australia
Hosted by:
PiLog

ISO 8000 Executive Briefings - What does it mean for you?
Make your reservation for a breakfast briefing and learn up-to date information from data formats (syntax) to data encoding through completeness, origin and accuracy. In 2007, ECCMA brings a two hour briefing focusing on the fundamentals of ISO 8000 compliance and the steps to data quality to your hometown. Each briefing is designed to answer questions as to the scope and compliance requirements as well as collect input for the standard developers as we put the final touches to the standard itself.
The cost of the briefing is $100 for members of ECCMA and $150 for non ECCMA members and includes a plated breakfast.

Why meetings are so beneficial:

Meetings diffuse conflict in a way that e-mails and memos cannot. Meetings are effective because the written word only carries 7% of the true meaning and feeling. Telephone conferences only carry 38% of the meaning and the feeling is carried in the way that things are said. The other 55% of meaning and feeling is carried in facial expression and non-verbal signals. (Statistics from research by Dr. Albert Mehrabian)

If you are interested in participating or hosting an eOTD cataloging course or an ISO 8000 briefing, please contact Amber Davis at Amber.Davis@ECCMA.org

For a complete listing of upcoming ISO 8000 Breakfast Briefings visit our website www.eccma.org.

Questions & Answers

As the original author of the UNSPSC I must admit to having led many down the wrong path or at least if not down the wrong path at the very least down a very windy path. As many of you are aware as we developed the UNSPSC we struggled to develop a solution to the version problem only to find that the true solution lies not in a hierarchical classification system at all but in a descriptive system. There are in fact very good reasons for this and in some respects I now know what the "ah hah" experience feels like (purportedly first felt by Archimedes in his bathtub). What we discovered is that if you know what something is you can reliably classify it in whatever system suits your need but if you classify it in one system not only do you not really know what it is but you can not reclassify it in another system or even within a new version of the original system. Yes classifications are indeed use specific and reflect a single perspective of what is in reality a very complex world. What we learnt was that data is faceted and that if we code the characteristics of an item correctly we can create as many hierarchies as we need and with today's computing power of even a humble laptop we can do so in real time.

Just as we have the Department of Defense to thank for funding the ARPANET project that evolved into the internet we have to thank them again for the Federal Cataloging System (FCS) and its international equivalent the NATO codification System (NCS) which is rapidly evolving into a global standard descriptive method. From working together to create a simple classification tool, the ECCMA membership is leading the way in a new descriptive technology that is already demonstrating that it has the capability of revolutionizing how we create, store and retrieve data. The fundamentals of the codification system are essential simplistic in nature, a central concept dictionary used to identify data (a metadata registry), a method for defining data requirements (Identification Guides) and a simple data exchange format. The simplicity of the system is not however by chance but rather the result of an investment of over $3 billion and over 50 years of continuous refining of a proven technology. Many have asked what the Department of Defense and NATO has to gain in making the technology available to industry, the answer is simple - access to better industrial data at a lower cost. With the cost of cataloging a single item coming in at an average of $35 the prospect of lowering this to $5 to validate pre-coded vendor data is certainly attractive if not in lowering total costs then in increasing the amount of additional data that can be processed. As we know with current data accuracy running at around 20% increasing the availability and the quality of data is not hard to justify, not only in inventory rationalization, spend analysis, procurement and life cycle management but fundamentally better data leads to better decisions.

One of the significant contributions ECCMA membership brings to the table is not only industrial validation of the NATO cataloging system but also its modernization (XML) and its extension to the description of services, individuals, organizations and locations. With services taking over as the largest expenditure not only of government but also of commercial companies, better (more accurate) descriptions are essential. It is clear that the extension of the NATO codification system is up to the task and those services (procedures) can be defined by a class name and a series of property value pairs just as we do for tangible items.

So having started with hierarchical classifications does that mean we should abandon them, absolutely not but rather we should recognize that there can never be such a thing as a "Standard" hierarchical classification. In the eOTD we have the tool to provide a more accurate class that is in itself classification neutral but that can easily be mapped to any one of many hierarchical classifications (or any version of a hierarchical classification). The only problem that we are facing is that with a general recognition of the importance of data quality and the power (and availability) of faceted search, descriptions have become more valuable than hierarchical classifications. As a result many of the common classifications are not being maintained at the commodity level. So as my sister would say "what to do" the answer is actually relatively simple and consists in using a combination of the eOTD and the target hierarchical classification (the UNSPSC for example). The solution to the problem of a buyer that is requesting a UNSPSC is to give one but only at the high level of the Segment and family level (xx.xx.00.00) and provide at the same time a standardized description in the form of the eOTD class name (typically in the form of a noun qualifier) followed by the key properties. It is important to keep in mind that this description will most likely end up as the short name in an ERP system so it is important to keep the character count down to 40 characters using standardized abbreviations that are relevant to the domain or class (the abbreviation gl would be interpreted as gloves or galvanized depending on the class). Of course it also makes sense to provide a longer description and this will be stored in the long description. The difference between the two is that in many ERP systems only the short description can be used for searching, the long description is used to confirm you found the right item amongst other uses.

So in conclusion is the eOTD class is the starting point of all cataloging, you should assign it first and use it to look up the hierarchical classification and if a better description is required it will be your key to the selection of cataloging templates (Identification Guides). There is however a hidden bonus in the eOTD class in that it is far easier (more reliable) for an untrained cataloguer to assign an eOTD class than it is to assign a classification and finally the eOTD class codes are version independent ? they never change!

Contributor Guidelines

Want to send in your cataloging projects, news or tips to share with other readers? We'd love to hear from you. Here's how to get involved:

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Important Dates


Member Reminders
Executive Director
Peter Benson
Chief Operating Officer
Daniel King
Membership Manager
Amber Davis
Program Coordinator
Melissa Scheib

ECCMA
2980 Linden St. Ste. E2
Bethlehem, Pa. 18017
+1 (610) 861-5990
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