Inovis DataSync Newsletter and House of Fraser Project Update

Announcement

DataSync Community Wins Retail Systems Award

Congratulations to House of Fraser, Inovis and House of Frasers Suppliers on wining the Retail System "Supply Chain Solution of The Year" award 2009 for our DataSync project.

Stephen Jefferies, Director of Inovis Retail was asked to pick up the award at the Retail Systems event on the 29th October at the Grosvenor Hotel in Mayfair. Stephen said afterwards:

 "It was an honour to receive this award on behalf of everyone in the UK DataSync community. All of those companies have clear recognition of being the pioneers of the largest retail collaborative efficiency effort seen in decades, we should all be proud."

Christmas is Coming

The nation is poised to have a good Christmas as we hear of consumers wanting to shake off memories of a difficult year. With the Christmas build already underway and product being delivered, it just remains to get that stock in the right place before it's sold to eager customers.

Of course correct product data on the purchase order will help, not to mention the perfect match with the invoice when it's time to pay for the goods. Over half of invoices across the country have 1 or more errors on them and many invoices will not be paid this year because a number of people from finance, the warehouses, customer service, despatch or the buying office have to dig deeper into a historical transaction to solve a problem that might never have happened.
It costs you much less to provide quality information in advance. So if you haven't joined the huge number or suppliers that won't be having that problem this year, load up your data today, it's simply time to call Inovis.

Beware of the Dump Sku.

If a product doesn't have a bar-code or internal number it may be entered as a price against a dump Sku. If a product had a bar-code and internal number but this information is missing or was never provided in the right format that product will also make it to the dump SKU list.
So what's the problem, we've still recorded the sale right?
Actually we've recorded the cash but not the stock. The sale numbers may be included but more importantly, you could find empty shelves because no replenishment was triggered.
No replenishment means simply no stock availability, no re-orders and missed sales.

The House of Fraser program, strength to strength

The number of calls we receive from the House of Fraser buyers are increasing as they are keen to bring on new suppliers and to extend data for items already loaded. We are being reminded that it's mandatory to provide data in this way so give us a ring to upload yours. We will walk you through what data is required, what the set up cost are, what data House of Fraser can take from you today and we can talk about the other retailers that are coming on-line as well.

House of Fraser would like to thank the suppliers who have already met the requirement and uploaded their data. Already these suppliers have taken the first steps towards collaboration and shared efficiency.
Interestingly some of the buyers have been asking if it is possible to load more information. Any product information can be loaded so that you don't have to provide this twice or three times to various people in House of Fraser. Ring the Inovis support team on +44 (0)1772 646017 or email if you have any problems.
 
By using data synchronisation for two or three of your trading partners you will see a positive change in the way buyers see/use your product data. It is already proven to be a much more streamline, efficient way to share product information. Please feel free to ask your other retailers to download you product data from the Inovis catalogue. You can control this from within your catalogue.

Inovis will inform you when more UK retailers are available but in the meantime we look forward to working with you for House of Fraser.

Enablement Frequently Asked Question:

How can the product data be uploaded?

Once the enablement process has been completed and retailers are able to download your product data, clients are coming back to us months later and asking are there other methods to upload the product data to DataSync pool?
Two most common methods are:

• Manually typing for just a few products attributes can be typed in via the DataSync web site.
  
• Using an Excel spreadsheet provided by the Inovis enablement team that can be filed out and uploaded to the DataSync web site.
  The two methods mentioned above are ideal if you have up to 200 products to send into the DataSync pool.  If you need to upload more these methods can become time consuming. There are two other ways to load product data to the DataSync pool.

Two other methods are:

• Creating your own CSV product data import file and uploading this file to the DataSync web site.
  
• Creating your own EDI file in PRICAT or 832 formats and sending this message via your own EDI software over a VAN network.
  If you require any further information about the methods mentioned above then please don't hesitate to contact the Inovis enablement team.

Five Of The Latest

To Join The Community	To Finish Uploading Data
Ted Baker	Hudson Jeans
Miller From Sweden	Duchamp
Simple Human	TLG Brand
Hornvale	VF Europe Limited
Portmeirion Potteries	Teneues Publishing