Import product classifications

censhare Product information management (PIM) supports the Global Product Classification (GPC) of the Global Standards One (GS1) organization. 

Legal note

GPC is a global standard for business communication that is developed and maintained by the GS1 organization. GPC/GS1 provides standardized data models that allow the exchange of product metadata between different platforms, suppliers, and vendors.

The censhare Product information management system (PIM) supports the GPC classifications provided by GS1. If you want to use the different services of GS1 for your product management, for example, to generate EAN's and barcodes, the fees, terms and conditions of GS1 apply for which censhare does not claim any responsibility.

Context

censhare Product information management (PIM) supports GPC/GS1 product classifications. As an administrator, you can import a product classification file into censhare. The import is done in the censhare Client or the censhare Admin-Client.

Introduction

You can use the censhare Product Information Management (PIM) with the GS1/GPC product classification system. For that purpose, censhare provides a Server action to import a classification and create the respective Product categories, Features and Feature items. You start an import manually. censhare processes the imported file and creates the assets and asset structures. This process does not require further action. After an import, the product classification is available in the "Products" table. You can access the table in the side navigation.

A GPC data import does not import product data. No products or product items are added to your PIM system.

Import a GPC classification

Important: When you import a new product classification for the first time, make sure that you import the English master file. censhare creates a new classification that uses the keys from the master file as names for product categories and features. You can import translations later. censhare maps the translations to the existing master and stores the keys as localized content in the same assets (Product categories, features, feature items).

To import a new product classification, do the following:

1. Before you start the import into censhare, download the GPC product classification from https://www.gs1.org/standards/gpc/access-gpc-standards and unpack the ZIP archive. For the import, you need the XML file that contains the complete classification from this folder. Do not use the "Delta" file. Make sure that you download the correct version.

2. Open the censhare Client or the censhare Admin-Client. Depending on your system configuration, the GPC import is available in both or only in one the clients. The import is identical in both clients.

3. Open the "Server actions" menu and select the "Import GPC data" menu item:

   Icon	Action
   	Opens the Server actions menu

4. Select the XML file in the file browser window and confirm your selection. The dialog window shows the following message:

   "You are importing a new product classification for: GPC. This import creates English content data and English master data. Make sure that you import the correct file with English keys. If you want to import other languages than English and/or other English-based locales of the same classification, finish this import first and then start another import and select the desired language/locale."

5. To confirm and start the import, click OK.

   • If you execute the import in the censhare Client, censhare shows a progress bar at the bottom of the client window.

   • If you execute the import in the censhare Admin-Client, censhare shows a dialog window with the progress.

6. When the import if finished, a dialog window shows a short report of the imported items and if any errors or warnings were encountered:

   • Bricks [number of items]

   • Segments [number of items]

   • Classes [number of items]

   • Families [number of items]

   • Attribute types [number of items]

   • Attribute values [number of items]

   • Errors: For more information see the Troubleshooting.

   • Warnings: A warning is generated when a feature or asset that censhare tries to create during an import, already exists. This happens when categories or features are used in more than one classification. Warnings are only informative. No action is required.

7. Click OK or CANCEL to close the window.

8. To check the assets that were created during the import, you can search for them. Open the Detailed search in censhare Web. Go to the "Advanced" tab. In the "Created at" fields, select "Exact date" and enter the current date. Click OK to run the search.

9. The search result show the assets that were created and their respective asset type and GPC category:

   • Product category, Brick

   • Product category, Segment

   • Product category, Class

   • Product category, Family

   • Feature

   • Feature item

With an import, censhare also creates Value list assets. These assets do not appear in the Product table or in Product properties. They are necessary for the configuration of dynamic value lists. Do not delete them!

The GPC categories "Segment", "Class", Family" and "Brick" are mapped to the "Product category" asset type. In the Product categories, censhare adds a reference to an Asset category that identifies the GPC category (Segment, Brick, Class, Family).

Result

The imported product classification is available in censhare PIM. The respective product categories and features were created and mapped to the GPC/GS1 data.

Troubleshooting

An import can fail due to the following reasons:

Next steps

Import or enter product data with GPC/GS1 categories and features into censhare PIM.