LANSA Updates Product Data Synchronization Software

October 11, 2011 Alex Woodie

LANSA last week unveiled a new release of Data Sync Direct, a product data synchronization solution that allows companies to participate in the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN). DSD version 6.7 brings new features aimed at helping companies manage their data more efficiently, as well as support for additional protocols.

LANSA DSD is an IBM i- or Windows-based product that handles the management and communication aspects of participating in the GDSN. The software automates many aspects of connecting a company’s ERP master product data list with specific GDSN data pools, such as the 1SYNC pool in the United States, to standardize its product data using Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs). By getting GTINs standardized, companies can reduce the impact of inconsistent product data across supply chain participants, and also get more out of radio frequency identification (RFID) implementations and other labor-saving supply chain initiatives.

DSD version 6.7 brings several new features aimed at making the product more productive and easier to use. For starters, a new catalog feature allows users to create and manage their GTINs within catalogs, LANSA says. Customers can also now search for GTINs by either attribute or by catalog, and a new “jump to” feature allows a user to quickly access information about GTIN attributes, the company says. Also, DSD’s Web-based dashboard interface has been enhanced and will now highlight the activities that are the most important to each user, the vendor says.

Better tracking of changes to product attribute information is also part of this release. LANSA says it has added a new “net change inquiry” feature that will better track the changes made to GTIN attributes. It also has provided the capability to check in and check out attributes for a GTIN, providing protection against multiple users making changes at the same time.

Finally, DSD 6.7 brings support for a greater array of data formats and protocols. With this release, demand-side companies (retailers and distributors) can receive GTIN product information via GDSN-certified data pools, by EDI, XML, other transportation protocols, and via a product portal, LANSA says. Similarly, supply-side companies (manufacturers and distributors) can send information in these same manners.

“Version 6.7 represents significant functional advances for LANSA Data Sync Direct, including the ability to work with GDSN and non-GDSN related message-content structure via almost any transportation protocol,” LANSA director of solution product sales Jeff Holzman says in a press release.

DSD can be installed on-premise or accessed as a hosted service depending on the number of GTINs a company needs to manage. The software, which is used by about 300 companies, is integrated with all the major IBM i-based ERP systems, and is used with the GDSN initiatives of major retailers including Wal-Mart, Wegmans, Ace Hardware, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, Target, Ahold, and SUPERVALU. For more information, see the vendors’s website at www.lansa.com.