epaCUBE’s Product Data Management

A Central Platform to Manage and Synchronize Product and Supplier information across the extended enterprise

epaCUBE’s Product Data Management suite enables companies to evaluate vendor changes in item information before processing those changes into production. It is a powerful solution that cleanses and improves data quality, dramatically increases productivity, and streamlines integration with internal systems and outside trading partners.

Synchronizer™ Helps You Cleanse, Synchronize and Improve Product Data

Quality, synchronized product data is the fuel distributors require for their supply chain, production and pricing systems. As a distributor have you ever faced these challenges do to the poor quality of your product data?

  • Can you easily and accurately synchronize your item data electronically with your vendors and information providers (including 1Sync, Transora, WWRE, Trade Service, IDW, Material Express, etc.)?
  • While synchronizing data, do you evaluate the effects of vendor changes before applying them, preventing errors from adversely affecting your units of measure, costing, pricing, and your G/L?
  • Do you have the ability to internally synchronize this information across all your systems?
  • Have you tried to implement a web storefront simply to find that 90% of what your customer sees is product data and you don’t have a plan to correct this data.
  • Do you have the need to convert your item data to a new format when changing to a new system?
  • Do you need to fix and transform new or existing product data, correct descriptions find and complete missing information?
  • After cleaning your item data, can you easily keep it clean and current on an on-going basis?
  • Can you track and audit each and every change to critical product data?
  • Are you able to systematically comply with Sarbanes-Oxley legislation?
  • Are you struggling to manage the huge volume of nonstock or direct store delivery item information as well as your warehoused item information?

Most distributors share these same problems. Fortunately, epaCUBE Synchronizer™ helps you solve these problems and more to insure all your systems consistently have accurate and up to data product information.

epaCUBE Synchronizer™ delivers real results:

  • Reclaim an average of 0.75% in lost margin due to costs associated with the impact of bad product data on your business
  • Stop costly problems associated with shipping, billing, warehouse tracking and web site ordering due to bad or out of data product data
  • Work with Accurate data when using epaCUBE GPO & DPS modules to optimize pricing and gross margin to pick to 2-6% additional points to the bottom line.

The old “load and hope” method of managing product data just does not cut it anymore. Product data problems which used to be masked by small group of internal personnel can no longer be hidden when considering product data is used by not only internally, but externally with trading partners and customers.

Here’s how epaCUBE Synchronizer™ delivers higher margins to distributors:

  • Create “one version of the truth” of master product data for all your system
  • Data synchronization and governance rules to keep product data accurate
  • Integrate outside trading partners and suppliers to your internal systems
  • Automated online processes to manage product data and costs
  • Accelerate the process and synchronize product data with ERP systems
  • Improve the accuracy of all product data
  • Fuzzy logic data for deduping or integrating acquisition data (date cleanser)

Data Mapping Utility Maps Product Data Files From Any Source

epaCUBE Data Mapping Utility is a data transformation tool designed for the business end user to easily map product data files from any supplier or from any other ASCII data source into the epaCUBE Product Data Management system.

As a distributor have you ever faced these challenges when loading in product data into your systems?

  • IT personnel are the only ones in your organization with the technical ability to use mapping tools
  • Losing time and productivity as older processes require excessive collaboration between IT and business users
  • Mistakes made as the technical person loading product information does not understand the context or use of data
  • Traditional ETL tools are too complex for the business user
  • Tools available are not designed specifically to map data originally developed with the intent of being read manually

Most distributors face the same problems. Fortunately, epaCUBE Data Mapping Utility has the answer.

epaCUBE Data Mapping Utility helps you solve these data mapping problems and more:

  • Graphical Point and Click ETL Tool for Business Users (those closest to understand the product data) can use.
  • Easily load data from one system to another, from flat files into a system, or to generate flat files for complete portability.
  • Transformation functionality can be further enhanced by the use of simple Microsoft Excel, Access, or Visual Basic commands
  • Built-in wizards support the transformation of data with point-and-click functionality covering:
  • Save Time for both Business Users and IT
  • Uniquely and Specifically Designed for transforming Product Updates
  • Relieve mapping burden from IT for day to day vendor cost update files

Here’s how epaCUBE Data Mapping Utility delivers real results to distributors:

  • Built-in wizards support the transformation of data with point-and-click functionality covering:
  • Text Case (UPPER, lower, Proper)
  • Field Length
  • Parsing
  • Character Padding
  • Left, Right, Mid functions
  • Rounding
  • Convert Data Types
  • Joining Multiple Fields
  • Default Fields / Values
  • Field / Value to use when chosen field is blank (null)
  • Cost Cascades…Aligning Price and Qty Break data with target system configuration
  • Work with aggregate values, such as Min, Max, Avg, First, Last…
  • With multiple values available, work with only the current effective date, next effective date, earliest effective date, etc.
  • Fill blank fields with values from previous, valid records
  • Character Stripping Character Substitution (Replace)
  • Supports any ODBC compliant system
  • Transports data / creates flat files to and from:
    • Fixed Length Files
    • Delimited Files
    • ODBC connected tables
    • ODBC Pass-thru queries
    • XML / XSD Tables
    • Excel (Multiple worksheets concurrently)
    • Access databases
    • User-defined queries

Data Cleanser’s Unique Fuzzy Logic Engine Integrates, Merges, Purges and Consolidates Master Data

epaCUBE Data Cleanser is a graphical solution that takes the challenge out of item master consolidation, acquired companies product data integration and simplifies the tasks of data cleansing and item conversions.

As a distributor have you ever faced these challenges when loading in product data into your systems?

  • Current product databases have been built over several years and often suffer with duplicates
  • No real processes implemented to insure a single product does not get set up multiple times with minor or major variations
  • Acquired companies product database needs to be merged into one or more company masters

epaCUBE Data Cleanser enables companies to easily find common items and merge disparate data from multiple item masters into one, even when the standard cross-references are not in use (UPC,Vendor Part Number, etc).

Whether your company is consolidating multiple legacy systems into an ERP, or acquiring other companies and assimilating their systems into yours, epaCUBE Data Cleanser will add levels of efficiency and accuracy not otherwise available.

Here’s how epaCUBE Data Cleanser delivers real results:

  • Data Cleanser identifies all duplicate items for elimination.
  • Fuzzy Logic matching crunches thru tens of billions of numeric and character-string comparisons between source and target systems to find most likely opportunities for matching items.
  • Presents all potential matches, ranked by confidence level, for the user to decide which target item matches the Source item in question.
  • If no exact match can be determined, then the Source item is recognized as new, and workflow guides the user thru processes ensuring that all item information available is accurate, and that all required missing information is identified.
  • epaCUBE’s browser based architecture to share the workload, allowing multiple users to operate all over the enterprise – each working their specifically assigned item groups.
  • epaCUBE’s Item Completeness Rules ensure that cleansed Source Data is properly converted to the new format, missing data is input, and complete item information is transferred to the Target System.
  • The end result is a single Item Master with all duplicate items removed, item data complete and up-to-date, and a degree of accuracy seldom achieved with item information.