eCl @ ss

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eCl @ ss is the worldwide, ISO / IEC-compliant data standard for the classification and clear description of products and services with the help of standardized ISO-compliant characteristics. The eCl @ ss standard enables the digital exchange of product master data across industries, countries, languages ​​or organizations. The use of eCl @ ss as a standardized basis for a product group structure or with product-describing characteristics of master data is particularly widespread in ERP systems . As the ISO- compliant and worldwide only feature-based classification standard , eCl @ ss also serves as the "language" for Industry 4.0 (IOTS).

The eCl @ ss association

Origin and organization

The eCl @ ss e. V. was founded on November 14th, 2000 by 12 large German companies. In 2018 the association had around 150 members from business, associations and public institutions worldwide. A standard for the exchange of information between suppliers and customers is fundamental for the electronic procurement of services - just as with material products. The eCl @ ss e. V. is a non-profit organization that defines, develops and distributes the classification and master data standard of the same name internationally across all industries.

ECl @ ss eV was founded by Siemens , BASF , AUDI / VW , E.On , SAP , Bayer AG , Degussa , Wacker Chemie , Infraserv Chemfidence and Solvay . Today, in addition to large industrial companies, many medium-sized companies - including some " hidden champions " - are among the members; also large public-sector organizations such as the state of North Rhine-Westphalia or the Austrian Federal Procurement.

membership

The organization chart shows the structure of the association

The association has the following memberships:

  • Ordinary members: Ordinary members can be companies, associations or public bodies or regional authorities.
  • Sustaining members: The sustaining membership is used to give natural persons or companies the opportunity to get to know the work of the association, to support it financially and professionally and to receive suitable information on the subject of classification, standardization, etc. on the basis of a reduced membership fee.

In addition to the usual association bodies such as the general assembly and the board, the association also has the following bodies.

  • A main office for the coordination and implementation of the ongoing tasks after being commissioned by the board: The operational and administrative activities of the association are carried out by an office on behalf of the board. In addition to its main office in Germany (at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research ), eCl @ ss maintains international offices for China, France, Austria, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.
  • A scientific advisory board: The task of the scientific advisory board is to scientifically accompany all aspects of the development of eCl @ ss, to promote it with its own ideas and activities and to support its dissemination in science.

financing

The association is financed through membership fees, subsidies and income from the distribution of the standard.

Each full member pays an annual membership fee according to the size of the company. Supporting members pay a reduced fee. The specific amount of the contributions results from the contribution regulations of the association.

The eCl @ ss standard requires a license. The costs for this are graded according to the size of the company. The eCl @ ss licenses can be purchased via the download portal.

The eCl @ ss standard

pyramid

The eCl @ ss standard is a hierarchical system, similar to the UNSPSC classification system, for grouping products and services. It consists of four hierarchical levels (classes): subject area (level 1), main group (level 2), group (level 3) and subgroup (level 4). From the hierarchy it follows that a superordinate class comprises its subordinate classes, i. H. they are logically assigned to it.

The tree structure clarifies the uniform and comparable structure of data.

The nodes of the tree structure are collectively referred to as material classes. On the 4th level (subgroup), eCl @ ss provides so-called feature bars. Features enable a detailed description of products and services in the associated master data and thus enable searches in the various catalogs. The characteristics are defined by values. The attached keywords and synonyms are used to quickly and specifically find the product classes and their lists of features.

In summary, the system consists of the following elements:

  • Classes - the classes or groups of goods allow products to be grouped and ordered in this way.
  • Keywords - the keywords assigned to the individual classes simplify and standardize the search for products (e.g. the product group “chairs” is also found with search terms such as “seat” or “office chair”).
  • Characteristics - Characteristics are additional product attributes that can only be used meaningfully for products of a special class, for example the power of incandescent lamps or the diameter of tubes. The aim is to introduce these features into standardization, i. H. DIN , EN , ISO , DKE / IEC
  • Values ​​- Values ​​specify the range of values ​​for the features
  • Units - based on DIN and ECE units for specifying the unit of the characteristics.

International standards

The processes for developing the standard as well as the export formats and the technical data model bases are based on international standards.

The identification consists of a three-digit prefix as proof of origin, the identifier and the version number of the structural element. The ICD (International Code Designer) for eCl @ ss is 173.

  • The release process is carried out in accordance with ISO 22274 .

Versions

There is a new publication every year. This represents an update of the existing standard in a new version. Its planning is staggered: "Major Releases", which also contain structural changes, alternate with "Minor Releases", which offer new content with an unchanged structure. In this way, the effort for the user is kept to a minimum and is always up-to-date. The last "major release" with the name eCl @ ss 10.0.1, for example, has the new subject fluid technology, as well as 5,800 new classes and 1,000 new features. For this purpose, over 150,000 adjustments were made: new additions, restructuring, further developments and updates. ECl @ ss eV publishes machine-readable files for each new version. This makes eCl @ ss the only standard worldwide that enables automatic - because it is machine-readable - migrations. The current version of the eCl @ ss standard is version 11.0

The graphic shows the development of the eCl @ ss standard.

The following eCl @ ss publications are currently available:

  • eCl @ ss 4.0
  • eCl @ ss 4.1
  • eCl @ ss 5.0.1
  • eCl @ ss 5.1 and ServicePack 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.1.4
  • eCl @ ss 6.0.1
  • eCl @ ss 6.1
  • eCl @ ss 6.2 and Service Pack 6.2.1
  • eCl @ ss 7.0
  • eCl @ ss 7.1
  • eCl @ ss 8.0
  • eCl @ ss 8.1
  • eCl @ ss 9.0
  • eCl @ ss 9.1
  • eCl @ ss 10.0.1
  • eCl @ ss 10.1
  • eCl @ ss 11.0

Over the years, the eCl @ ss standard has grown significantly, so that today (2019) there are already more than 45,200 classes, around 19,000 characteristics and over 51,700 keywords.

Release development

Release development

The further development of the eCl @ ss standard is based on ISO standards. Participation in the further development is free of charge for everyone. A free online portal, the ContentDevelopmentPlatform, is available for this, where change requests can be submitted. In addition, there is the possibility of active participation in specialist groups. Manufacturers, dealers and buyers from various companies participate in these groups and work together to develop the structural content of the standard. Change requests are first checked for formal completeness and correctness, then checked by product experts in the specialist groups and, if necessary, further developed and finally checked by the CQC (Center of Quality Control) for formal and content correctness in the overall eCl @ ss context.

advantages

eCl @ ss enables the development of sales and synergy potentials as well as the reduction of costs and increased efficiency of merchandise management and data management. With eCl @ ss there are advantages along the value chain:

  • Procurement volumes are bundled
  • Tenders accelerated
  • Inventories optimized, bad purchases averted
  • Transparency created
  • Potential for improvement in production and administration raised
  • Data refined and standardized, media breaks and conversions avoided
  • Search functions expanded, terminology clarified
  • "Compliance" and data protection supported
  • improves communication with customers and partners.

More than 3,500 companies currently use this standard. Master data management is only possible with standardized master data. Beyond the classic applications in procurement, "controlling" and sales, eCl @ ss shows its particular strengths in use for cross-company process data management and in engineering - "eCl @ ss for engineering".

Cooperation with other organizations

ETIM has been a member of eCl @ ss since January 1st, 2006 and vice versa. ETIM Germany e. V. (ElektroTechnisches InformationsModell) is an initiative to standardize the electronic exchange of product data in the field of electrical engineering . Both organizations have set themselves the goal of harmonizing ETIM with the eCl @ ss standard. a. together with VDMA , ZVEI and DIN .

On January 1st, 2013 Prolist International e. V. in the eCl @ ss e. V. risen. The further development of the existing technologies was ensured by the complete data-technical and organizational integration.

distribution

ECl @ ss has long been established in industry, trade, craft and the service sector. The current 38 subject areas (as of 2018) include, for example, construction, logistics, food, medicine, optics, automotive, laboratory technology or office supplies. In this way, eCl @ ss develops various industry standards into a uniform, cross-industry standard. In addition to large international companies such as Siemens, VW-Audi or BASF, z. For example, the German medical industry decided in favor of eCl @ ss as the classification standard for electronic data exchange. Also in public procurement such as B. at the department store of the federal government and some federal states, it is used.

As early as 2002, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Organization published a survey according to which 34.9% of the 296 companies surveyed used a standard product classification, of which 32.4% used eCl @ ss, i.e. 11.3% in absolute terms. This put eCl @ ss ahead of ETIM (6.6%) and UNSPSC (3.8%) in Germany.

literature

  • Martin Hepp; Joerg Leukel; Volker Schmitz: A quantitative analysis of product categorization standards: content, coverage, and maintenance of eCl @ ss, UNSPSC, eOTD, and the RosettaNet Technical Dictionary . In: Knowledge and Information Systems . tape 13 , no. 1 , 2007, ISSN  0219-1377 , p. 77-114 , doi : 10.1007 / s10115-006-0054-2 .
  • Martin Hepp: Goods classification as a semantic standardization problem . German Univ.-Verl., Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-8244-7932-X (Zugl .: Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2003).
  • Wolfgang Brenner, Tina Galuschka: Classification in Practice . A. Bernecker Verlag, Melsungen 2008, ISBN 978-3-87064-129-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ IRDI. June 25, 2013, accessed on July 26, 2014 (English, in eCl @ ss WIKI).
  2. ↑ http://oid-info.com/get/1.3.173
  3. ↑ ETIM
  4. ↑ http://www.bvmed.de/themen/ehealth/E-Commerce/pressemitteilung/medizinprodukte-branche-setzt-auf-eclass.html
  5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from February 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Boris Otto, Helmut Beckmann, Oliver Kelkar, Sylvia Müller: E-Business Standards: Dissemination and Acceptance . Fraunhofer IRB Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8167-6162-3 ( fraunhofer.de [PDF; 1.5 MB ; accessed on September 8, 2008]).