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June 2006 Newsletter
From the Executive Director
Dr. Gerry Radack (CTC) and I have just returned from Santiago, Chile where we have conducted the second ECCMA cataloging training course. Mr. Steve Arnett (DLIS) and I delivered the first course in Johannesburg, South Africa last month. The training course ranges from basic data modeling to planning and managing a data cleansing project. The objective of the course is to provide an understanding of the eOTD sufficient to design and manage eOTD implementation projects. While a majority of the attendees were from the mining industry, attendees also came from transport, chemical and paper manufacturing companies, content factories, and application developers as well as representatives from both government and commercial marketplaces.
Conducting the courses provided a good opportunity to review the current or intended applications of the eOTD. Beyond improving inventory management, applications included the use of the eOTD to improve the capture of data associated with ERP "free text spend", to improve the ratio of contracted to uncontracted spend and to improve the ratio of generic to single source (OEM) spend. Other specific applications of the eOTD were focused on improving the efficiency of bid based systems where inadequate or incomplete descriptions are responsible for low supplier response and higher contracting costs.
Personally I have been reminded of the critical importance of localizations and our need to focus on this issue. I am grateful to South Africa for providing yet another perfect example of the problem ? the answer to the question of how long does it take to get from Johannesburg to Pretoria is that it depends on the "robots". There was no science fair in town at the time and as I was to learn robots are in fact a permanent and vital part of the South Africa infrastructure just as they are in every other country.
A side benefit of the trips is that South Africa will be joining ISO TC184/SC4 as a new voting member and it is possible that Chile will do likewise. New ISO TC184/SC4 voting members increases the support for ISO 22745 and ISO 8000 within ISO and the international standards community.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Benson
Executive Director, ECCMA
ECCMA Research Laboratory
Don Hillman, Lehigh University
We are pleased to announce that the ECCMA Research Laboratory at Lehigh University was selected to be a member of the Technical Solutions Research Council of the Defense Logistics Information Research organization. This came about in response to a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) issued in March, 2005. The Council will meet twice per year to help formulate and provide advice on a research agenda for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLIS), with which ECCMA has been working on the development of the Open Technical Dictionary under the ISO 22745 designation.
The Laboratory will also make a technical presentation on a short-term project it submitted as part of its BAA proposal. The project is entitled ?Integration of Taxonomies using Ontology Structures?. This addresses the problem of mapping from one cataloging scheme to another so as to minimize semantic mismatches and improve online querying.
It is expected that the new DLIR program will provide further research opportunities. ECCMA members are encouraged to submit research suggestions that can be considered by the Technical Solutions Council. Please contact either Peter Benson, or myself, for this purpose.
6th Annual ECCMA International Cataloging Conference
The ECCMA conference is rapidly taking the shape of a truly unique event bringing together international cataloging experts and catalog users from government and industry as well as the industry leading cataloging application and service providers. The traditional Tuesday night ECCMA speaker's dinner is being combined with the ISO TC 184/SC4 awards ceremony that celebrates the 50th meeting of the committee and its exemplary work in driving the international standardization of industrial data; this promises to be an exciting start to the ECCMA conference. The Wednesday evening dinner will include a presentation and chocolate tasting led by Ed Seguine the Vice President of research and development at Guittard Chocolate to ensure that the conference attendees and ISO experts leave the meeting with yet another unique expertise.
If you have not already registered for the conference now would be a good time to do so. If you wish to stay at the Hotel Hershey early reservations are highly recommended. You may make reservations on line by going to the link posted on our website or you may call the hotel for reservations at 717-534-8668.
There will be supplier exhibitions set up in the Starlight Terrace Ballroom on October 25th from 12:30 to 5:30 PM. There are no other events scheduled at this time to ensure maximum attendance in the exhibition hall. If you wish to be and exhibitor this year please download the Exhibitor Registration form from the ECCMA website. Early registration is recommended so we may include your company?s profile in the pre-conference newsletters and press releases. Any questions regarding the exhibitions can be directed to dan.king@eccma.org.
Companies that have already registered as Exhibitors for this years conference are as follows:
ECCMA Global Item Registry
ECCMA has partnered with Partnet to produce and operate the ECCMA Global Item Registry. The Registry is a pooled material and service master, essentially a database of product and service specifications with associated manufacturer or supplier part numbers. Adding and retrieving records to the Registry is free to anyone through the user interface found at http://registry.eccma.org/. The Registry is designed to provide manufacturers and suppliers with free ISO 8000 certification and to help buyers standardize their item masters. Partnet is also responsible for the development and management of the web services interface to the Registry. Companies wishing to subscribe to the web services may integrate the registry with their ERP, inventory management, procurement, or cataloging systems thereby permanently improving their data quality.
Endeca
Endeca is a next-generation search and information access company. Combining patented intellectual property, breakthrough science and a deep focus on user experience, the Endeca Information Access Platform helps people find, analyze and understand information in ways never before possible.
Powered by Endeca's MDEX Engine technology, it fuses the ease of search and browsing with the analytical capabilities of business intelligence, bringing Endeca's trademark Guided NavigationR user experience to new classes of applications. Leading global organizations rely on Endeca to power business-critical applications that increase revenue, reduce costs and streamline operations by helping their customers, employees and partners answer high-value questions with unprecedented ease and confidence. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Endeca is a private company with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information: www.endeca.com or info@endeca.com.
sparesFinder
sparesFinder's solutions help large organizations manage their inventory more efficiently. The company has extensive experience in bringing together data from multiple sources and transforming this data to be presented in useful ways over the web. The company is based in Surrey, England with a US office in Houston and is an international leader in advanced solutions for maximizing the benefit from inventory management, procurement and ERP systems. sparesFinder uses a proprietary utility to upload and link inventory data to an internet server that provides a sophisticated search tool for people needing to find immediately available spare parts or other asset classes. Searching takes place either within a corporation or in co-operative communities according to agreed visibility rules without limit as to physical location.
sparesFinder also offers an aggregated reporting tool used to pro-actively redeploy inventory and leverage supplier relationships. It incorporates an overview of key indicators, several bespoke analyses and a user friendly query builder. It is very effective as a benchmarking tool and is often used to drive ROI from where an integrated ERP is not yet available.
Finally sparesFinder offers Masterpiece, an application which allows companies to transform legacy data from many systems, formats and languages into a common, improved standard and maintain it thereafter. It can leverage catalogue data supplied by OEMs, will accept any chosen data classification standard and works in multiple languages. Masterpiece's combination of centralized control, automated data manipulation and distributed workflow for manual enhancement has proved a compelling proposition where maintaining a high level of information quality is a requirement. The application has been used successfully to transform legacy data prior to SAP implementation as well as to control SAP Material Masters in large scale SAP implementations, and is certified Powered By Net Weaver.
sparesFinder won awards for Innovation in 2001, 2003 and 2004 and won the International Business Awards ?Exporter of the Year? in 2005.
For more information please visit www.sparesFinder.com.
Starnode
STARNODE provides a wide range of content services covering classification, data extraction and data enrichment of electronic catalogues, material masters, service masters, and legacy data in data warehouses as well as supplier catalogues. Starnode utilizes unique methodologies, technologies and Starknow (the Starnode large reference database with rich Catalogued data), to enhance its cataloging quality and productivity allowing it to produce more than 70,000 enriched line items per month for the international market. The Starnode Cataloguing and Content creation services includes encoding data to the eOTD in compliance with ISO 22745 and ISO 8000 as well as providing a wide range of classifications including USC, UNSPSC, SMD, and NSC. Through out its history, Starnode is known for its role in the development of world class cataloguing standards and has developed a leading methodology for the cataloguing of Services that leverages a company's investment in a well-structured Material Catalogue. Starnode also provides technology to support supplier adoption, from basic stand-alone systems to sophisticated Internet based software tools. The technology is Web based and its Object Orientated design makes upgrades and customizations low cost and reliable. Starnode's International leadership in cataloguing and content management is evident in the number of large data projects performed and its growing international client base that includes both buy side and sell side applications integrated with internal ERP systems and e-commerce Market Places. Starnode's extensive experience is backed by Pi-Log's comprehensive and powerful Ramis Catalog Management Software Suite.
For more information please visit www.starnode.com
Outline conference schedule
Tuesday October 24th- 17:00-22:00 Joint ISO and ECCMA Awards Dinner
(Dress Code: Black Tie Optional)
Wednesday October 25th (Dress Code: Business Casual)- 07:00-08:00 Registration Breakfast
- 08:00-10:00 ISO panel presentation
- 10:00-10:30 Morning Break
- 10:30-12:00 ECCMA panel presentation
- 12:00-13:00 Lunch
- 12:30 Exhibition opens
- 15:00-15:30 Afternoon break
- 17:30 Exhibition closes
- 19:00-21:00 Joint ECCMA and ISO Dinner and Chocolate tasting
(Dress Code: Evening Resort Attire)
Thursday October 26th (Dress Code: Business Casual)- 07:00-08:00 Joint ISO - ECCMA Breakfast
- 08:00-10:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 10:00-10:30 Morning Break
- 10:30-12:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 12:00-13:00 Lunch
- 13:00-15:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 15:00-15:30 Afternoon Break
- 15:30-17:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 17:00 ECCMA Conference ends
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