Paul Wakelam, of Robert Bosch (Australia) Pty. Ltd., wrote in with his
"top 10 reasons for being on the EDI list," which included me in the No.
1 spot. I am flattered, indeed. I hope that somehow translates into
people buying my stuff, like EDISIM and TradeSite. While we're on the
subject of Paul's list, just who is this "Daisy Faropoll"? I love the
name, but I don't recall her ever writing in.
Paul's EC question for the day is "Which location system is winning in
the United States of America? Is it GLN...or DUNS? What are the
perceived advantages and disadvantages?"
Dear Paul:
The hands-down winner in the U.S.A. is Dun & Bradstreet's Data Universal
Numbering System (D-U-N-S), described at
http://www.dnb.com/dunsno/dunsno.htm. Its advantage is that it's
*free* - as a matter of fact, you actually have to work to avoid getting
one of their numbers, as Dun & Bradstreet makes it their business to
mind everyone else' business: practically every business in the U.S.
has one, whether they want it or not. A DUNS+4 is simply a self
assigned location number, where the first 9 digits is your D-U-N-S and
the last 4 are whatever digits *you* want to assign to an internal
location. You can look up a D-U-N-S by selecting "Get your own D&B
D-U-N-S Number -- free!" at the D & B website; alternatively, you can
search on Lycos' Companies Online at http://www.companiesonline.com.
The UCC/EAN Global Location Number (GLN) is described in a FAQ in the
UCC Reference Library at http://www.uc-council.org/ - select "ID Numbers
and Bar Codes," then "Reference Library." U.S. company lookups will
someday be available at UCCNet; in the meantime, you can verify GLNs
assigned in some European countries using the Global EAN Party
Information Register at http://www.gepir.org/.
The main disadvantage of the UCC/EAN GLN vis-à-vis the D-U-N-S is that
the GLN costs money - you have to seek out the UCC and apply for
membership, paying for the privilege of getting a number. Even U.S.
retailers and grocery store chains who are members of UCC/EAN tend to
prefer DUNS+4 over GLNs for identifying internal locations; or did: Bill
O'Brien told us on Friday that Wal-Mart is switching from DUNS+4 to the
GLN. But if it means anything, the only means of identifying parties
within RosettaNet is the D-U-N-S (even though UCC/EAN GTINs are used to
identify products).
William J. Kammerer
FORESIGHT Corp.
4950 Blazer Pkwy.
Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305
+1 614 791-1600
Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/
"accelerating time-to-trade"
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