Product and Trade Item Object Segmentation for Global Trade Data Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
In global trade scenarios, existing data management systems face challenges in synchronizing product information across different systems and trading partners, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies due to differences in product descriptions and attributes across various systems and platforms.
Innovation Solution
A data management system that includes a product aggregator to synchronize product objects and derive trade item objects based on trading standards, allowing for independent modification and management of product and trade item attributes, while ensuring consistency and compatibility with global trade standards like EAN.UCC.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If product information is synchronized across different systems using common identifiers like UPC or EAN.UCC, then consistency between trading partners is improved, but system complexity increases due to the need to manage multiple product representations and attribute mappings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments product information into two distinct object types: product objects (containing core product attributes) and trade item objects (containing trading-specific attributes). This segmentation allows each object type to be managed independently, reducing system complexity while maintaining data consistency across trading partners through standardized trade item attributes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces trade item objects as intermediaries between product objects and trading partner systems. These trade item objects contain attributes that conform to external trading standards (UPC, EAN.UCC) while linking back to internal product objects, thereby mediating the complexity of multi-system synchronization and ensuring data consistency without requiring direct integration between all systems.
2Ease of operation
If product objects are maintained with detailed attributes for internal use, then internal system functionality is improved, but data synchronization efficiency deteriorates when communicating with external trading partners
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts trading-specific attributes from internal product objects and places them into separate trade item objects. This extraction allows internal product objects to remain simple and focused on core product information, while trade item objects handle the complexity of external trading standards, thereby improving both internal functionality and external synchronization efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
By segmenting attributes into product-specific (retained in product objects) and trading-specific (placed in trade item objects), the system enables efficient data synchronization with trading partners using only the relevant trade item attributes, while internal systems continue to use the full product object details, thus resolving the efficiency-functionality contradiction.
3Measurement precision
If trade item attributes are derived from product attributes, then data accuracy is improved, but processing time increases due to the additional derivation step
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by automatically deriving trade item attributes from product attributes during the initial creation or update of product objects. This preliminary derivation ensures data accuracy is maintained while avoiding repeated processing during synchronization operations, as the trade item objects are already populated with the correct attributed values based on the established derivation rules.
Data Source
AI summary
Data management systems are described for managing product data during global trade scenarios. Product objects are used within a system landscape of a business or other organization to refer to products traded by the organization. Each product object is related to, but de-coupled for the purposes of global trading from, one or more trade item objects, where the trade item objects include information related to specific global trade standards, trade scenarios, or trading partners. This model results in a “handshake model” in which in-house processing and operations are implemented using the product object(s), while global trade processing is implemented using the corresponding trade item object(s).