GXS Product Information Manager (PIM) 8.3

GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, today announced the commercial availability of GXS Product Information Manager (PIM) 8.3. New features now available include business process management (BPM) functionality to support greater visibility and control over workflow processes; management of master data associated with products or product categories; expanded web services API support for integration within a service oriented architecture (SOA) infrastructure; ability to apply mass updates across a set of products or categories; and embedded GXS Application Integrator for tighter integration and data sharing across internal systems (i.e., enterprise resource planning, merchandising, warehousing, etc.). The product is available in two versions, Retailer Edition and Supplier Edition, to meet the unique data management needs of each company type.

GXS PIM enables retailers, suppliers and manufacturers to accelerate the introduction of new products into the marketplace, optimize sales of existing products and reduce order and shipping errors. As part of an overall master data management (MDM) strategy, companies can use PIM 8.3's capabilities to create a central repository for all product data and can consolidate, manage and publish product data across all internal systems and out to trading partners. Retailers are no longer satisfied with basic information about a product; they also want to ensure consumers are provided with detailed information about the product before they buy to reduce product returns. Examples of product master data that retailers provide to consumers include recipes, warranty information, assembly instructions, materials handling and disposal instructions. Suppliers need to manage product master data such as facilities, product dimensions, measurements, product ingredients, formulas and customer locations.

"Customer demands have evolved beyond the need to manage and collaborate on just product information. Customers want a solution that enables them to more easily manage workflow processes, to make mass upgrades across categories and provides greater extensibility outside the four walls of the business," said Pat. Salmonese, vice president of product information management at GXS. "The enhancements GXS has made to its PIM solutions ensure that only quality product content is shared between suppliers and retailers. It also ensures that customers are empowered to achieve greater collaboration with trading partners, tighter integration with internal IT systems and greater process automation across departments."

Some of the specific new features of GXS PIM available now are:
-- Workflow Escalation -- the ability to automatically escalate actions
that have not been completed within user-defined timeframes and to send
appropriate escalation notifications;
-- Extended Content Types -- the ability to create and manage customer
specific master data. Beyond primary product data, customers may use
GXS PIM to manage related or unrelated data within their enterprise.
Examples may include warranty specifications, ingredients, marketing
content, price/cost, customer data, locations, etc;
-- Enhanced Data Validation Engine -- the ability for customers to ensure
validation, compliance, transformation and cleansing of incoming data;
-- Mass Updates -- the ability to make a change once and have it instantly
apply across a selected set of products or categories;
-- Workflow Audit Reports -- work activity and status reporting to enable
customers to measure progress against their key performance indicators,
to identify bottlenecks in approval processes and to provide a snapshot
of workload at any point;
-- Expanded Web Services -- provides API Support for implementation in an
SOA environment; and
-- Embedded GXS Application Integrator -- improved ability for customers
to transform data for syndication and integration with other systems
such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), merchandising, logistics,
warehouse management, etc.


External data sharing initiatives require internal data accuracy to succeed. As part of a complete MDM program or as a focused product data initiative, GXS Product Information Manager helps companies establish a central resource for accurate, consistent product data. This data can then be easily replicated throughout internal systems as well as to external business partners, thereby reducing the bottom line impact of bad product data and even providing top line revenue growth. GXS PIM collects product data from many sources, directs it to the appropriate manager for approval and integrates it into all back-office systems. The benefits of an MDM for Product Data solution such as GXS PIM include reduced time-to-market for new products, more knowledgeable sales staff, stronger and richer content for consumer review and buying decisions, multi-channel (web site, in-store, warehouse, catalogs, etc.) consistency, fewer invoice disputes and transportation and logistics cost savings. GXS PIM is available as both hosted and on-premise software for retailers and suppliers.