News & Events
This Week in IDEA | October 22, 2008
Our eNewsletter, This Week in IDEA, keeps you informed with the latest news and education about IDEA, our solutions and services, and our customers and partners. IDEA’s knowledgeable staff and other contributing writers share insights, resources and special offers to help you Unleash the power of e. Subscribe now to receive This Week in IDEA in your email inbox every other Thursday and add our RSS feed to your reader.
Contents
- IDEA Customer Spotlight
- Respected Industry Veteran Consults for IDEA
- New IDW Feature Simplifies Price Requests
- IDX and IDW November Training Schedules
- Forum Videos and Photos Now Available
- Did You Know? IDX Hot Fact
Subscribe to This Week in IDEA
IDEA Customer Spotlight
IDEA announces two new IDEA customers and one new IDEA IRD customer. Also, an existing IDW manufacturer successfully completes data quality training. Read more about these companies and how you can begin trading with them electronically to expand your business.
New IDEA Customers
Glaze Supply Company, Inc, a distributor from Dalton, GA, became an IDEA customer on October 10, 2008. Glaze Supply has been in business since 1957. They have a 2nd Generation Electrical Supply House with branches in Calhoun, GA, and Cleveland, TN. They will take advantage of the cost savings and reliability of Industry Data Exchange (IDX) to electronically exchange business documents with suppliers. Glaze Supply is a proud member of IMARK. Find out more at www.glasuco.com. Welcome aboard!
AC Electrical Supplies, a distributor from Smithtown, NY, became an IDEA customer on October 21, 2008. They are a lighting and electrical supply company with four locations in New York. They will take advantage of the cost savings and reliability of Industry Data Exchange (IDX) and will use Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) to synchronize their product and pricing data with suppliers. AC Electrical is a proud member of IMARK. Find out more at www.ac-elect.com. Welcome aboard!
New IDEA IRD Customer
IDEA, a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using IDEA's IRD CERICOMX® application. IDEA was recently assigned one supplier:
This company will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an IDEA branded product for supporting and uploading supplier product information into the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool.
If you would like to find out more about the CERICOMX® product, please contact , IRD Product & Customer Support Manager, at .
Manufacturer Completes Data Quality Training
IDEA is proud to announce that Philips Lighting Electronics N.A. (Philips Advance) completed the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) Data Quality Maintenance training. The company will take over their product and pricing updates for new and changed attributes and will maintain their life cycle Item Status Codes. The completion of this program demonstrates the company’s dedication and commitment to providing the most timely and accurate data to their trading partners and customers. Find out more about Philips Lighting Electronics N.A. Congratulations!
If you would like to follow this manufacturer’s lead, please contact at to sign up for the IDW Data Quality Training Program.
Tags for this post: idw customers idx ird data quality ac electrical glaze supply
Respected Industry Veteran Consults for IDEA
John Wilson, former Manager, eCommerce & Business Development and recent retiree, OSRAM SYLVANIA, proudly embraces a new role in the electrical industry as a consultant for IDEA. Wilson brings over 30 years of electrical industry experience and passion for data synchronization to IDEA.
Wilson will be responsible for the management and coordination of IDEA’s data synchronization platform. Specifically, he will oversee IDEA’s expanding data sourcing department, IDW training/support programs and IDW development projects. He will also play an active role in both the IDW User Group and IDEA Standards Committee (ISC) meetings.
“My top priority is to make data synchronization straightforward and tangible for suppliers by defining key data fields and demonstrating the cost benefits and immediate need for enriched data (i.e. images, long descriptions, spec sheets) in IDW. We need to get the big players to band together and the rest will follow,” said Wilson.
Wilson has a proven track record of success in eCommerce and data synchronization initiatives. During his career at OSRAM SYLVANIA, he increased electronic order purchasing from 30% to 85% and successfully managed product and pricing data loads in IDW to reach the highest data audit standards. SYLVANIA received the first annual Richard Buzun Award for Leadership and Innovation in eCommerce and TED Magazine’s Best of the Best Website Award for three consecutive years under his leadership. Wilson accepted an early retirement agreement from SYLVANIA in late September.
“I had a great run at SYLVANIA and have been a strong supporter of IDEA since its inception in 1998. I believe the electrical industry has just scratched the surface of data synchronization and this is the perfect opportunity for me to help finish what we started ten years ago,” said Wilson.
Bob Gaylord, President and CEO, IDEA, is equally enthusiastic about Wilson’s new role in the industry.
“We are delighted to have John on the IDEA team as we continue our work to drive costs out of the electrical supply chain. John is exceptionally well respected and brings great instincts, wisdom and perspective to the team from his vast experience in the electrical channel,” said Gaylord.
You can contact John Wilson at .
Tags for this post: idw data synchronization employees isc john wilson
New IDW Feature Simplifies Price Requests
Do you find yourself needing to recheck the same items periodically to see if new pricing is available? A new IDW feature lets you build a pick list of Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs) with scheduled data requests that populate only items on your pick list that have had recent price changes.
Pick list setup is a one-time job if you select reoccurring data requests. These special requests can only be built for a single manufacturer, however, it is possible to download multiple manufacturer pick list requests into the same output file name using the same trading partner folder.
IDW's outbound mapper can customize the selective fields needed for your pick list to prepare data for a specific customer’s requirements. The transformations within the IDW outbound mapper include changes to case for text fields, substitution of characters or spaces with other characters and mark-up or mark-down multipliers. Outbound mapper features include the ability to map single fields to more than one destination, rename field headings and even add single-value text like a company name to the download file.
You can get step-by-step instructions on how to use the new pick list feature by contacting your or one of IDEA's tech representatives at .
IDX and IDW November Training Schedules
This month IDEA continues to offer focused training sessions on the Industry Data Exchange (IDX) tracker interface and usage, Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) set-up for distributors and manufacturers, Net Pricing and the Inbound Mapper. The November dates for these trainings are:
IDX Tracker Training Sessions:
Tuesday, November 4: 1:30-2:30PM (Note: this session will replace the October 28 session)
Tuesday, November 11: 1:30-2:30PM
Tuesday, November 18: 1:30-2:30PM
Please contact at to sign up for an IDX training session.
IDW Distributor Training Sessions:
Wednesday, November 12: 1:30-3:00PM
Wednesday, November 26: 1:30-3:00PM
IDW Manufacturer Training Sessions:
Thursday, November 6: 1:30-3:30PM
Thursday, November 20: 1:30-3:30PM
Net Pricing Training Sessions:
Thursday, November 13: 1:30-2:00PM
Thursday, November 27: 1:30-2:00PM
Inbound Mapping Sessions:
Wednesday, November 5: 1:30-2:30PM
Wednesday, November 19: 1:30-2:30PM
Please contact at to sign up for an IDW training session.
Additional training sessions are announced each month in This Week in IDEA.
Forum Videos and Photos Now Available
IDEA is bringing the best of the IDEA E-Biz Forum ‘08 to your office with our Forum Resources page. Get insights and share ideas on how to accelerate your business with our on-demand media from the event. What to expect:
- Chaptered General Session & Miscellaneous Videos
- Categorized Photo Gallery and Slideshows
- Presentation PDFs
Like what you see? Mark your calendars to be sure you are in the front row at the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2009, September 22-24, Tucson, Arizona.
Tags for this post: ebiz forum news
Did You Know? IDX Hot Fact
Approximately 2/3 of the EDI invoices IDEA receives monthly are a match to Purchase Order receiving. As a result, over 5,000 inventory invoices move from the supplier electronic document creation to the distributor payment process with absolutely no manual intervention.
At an estimated cost of $1.00 to 1.25 per invoice received through the mail, the benefit of EDI is substantial.