Standard product classification - Key concept

GS1 offers Global Product Classification standards for many industries. censhare Product Information Management (PIM) can be configured in conformance to the GPC standards. When you import or export product data, the GPC classification categories and attributes are kept and stored in the corresponding assets in censhare PIM.

Legal note

GS1 is a global standard for business communication that is developed and maintained by the GS1 organization. Customers of censhare who have licensed the censhare Product Information Management system (PIM) as of version 2018.3 are able to import a specific GS1 classification schema to create respective asset structures in the censhare software. Notwithstanding the above, please note that for all GS1 services the terms and conditions including fees of the GS1 organization apply. censhare does not have any influence nor control on GS1 terms and conditions and/or services and shall therefore not be held responsible.

Target groups

• Solution developers
• Solution administrators

Purpose

GS1 offers Global Product Classification standards for many industries. censhare Product Information Management (PIM) can be configured in conformance to the GPC standards. When you import or export product data, the GPC classification categories and attributes are kept and stored in the corresponding assets in censhare PIM.

Context

The GPC product classification standards are used with censhare Product information management (PIM).

Prerequisites

censhare PIM is a product information management system that has to be set up by censhare Professional services.

Introduction

The Global Product Classification (GPC) standard consists of a hierarchical structure of categories that classify products based on their properties. The standard gives suppliers, buyers and sellers a common, exchangeable data model for their products. GPC can also map relationships between products. There are GPC standards available for different industry sectors.

censhare Product Information Management (PIM) provides a similar structure and functionality based on assets and asset relations. With a GPC import, you can integrate one or more product classifications into censhare PIM.

Import a GPC classification

The GPC data import can be executed in the censhare Admin Client or in the censhare Client. The import creates additional assets, features and feature values. The following table shows the classification levels and the mapping between the GCP classification and censhare assets.

Note: A GPC data import does not import product data. No products or product items are added to your PIM system. To import product data, you have to set up a separate server action using the censhare PIM connector.

Classification levels

(1) Note: For the correct assignment of Attribute values to Attributes, censhare creates uses dynamic value lists and creates the respective Value list assets. These are technical assets and not relevant for users who work with product classifications. 

Asset structures

The resulting asset structure in censhare represents the same hierarchy as in the GPC classification. The relation between the product categories is a "user.product-category-hierarchy." relation:

• Segment - For example: Food, beverages and tobacco

  • Family - For example: Milk, butter, cream, yoghurts, chees, eggs and substitutes

    • Class - For example: Milk and milk substitutes

      • Brick - For example:Milk (perishable)

Each import creates one "Segment" root Product category. Users can access this structure in the "Products" table. The table is available in the side navigation in censhare Web.

Product properties

GPC stores product properties (this can be a product detail, product feature or technical specification) in attributes. Attributes have a unique identifier and are assigned to a Brick. The same attribute can be assigned to different bricks. An attribute can have several attribute values. Attribute values for the same attribute can vary in different classifications. censhare creates a feature for each attribute and stores attribute values in Feature item assets and assigns these Feature item assets to the respective Feature asset. The assignment of feature values to a feature is handled by dynamic value lists. To work correctly, dynamic value lists require a Value list asset. Therefore, with a GPC import, censhare also creates the respective Value list items. These Value list assets do not appear in the Product table or in the Product properties. However, they are necessary for the correct function of feature values when users edit a product. For more information, read Create dynamic value lists.

Example

The tables below show the attribute "Installation type" and the respective attribute values in the two GPC classifications "Home appliances" and "Power tools":

When you import these two GPC classifications or any other classification that contains the "Installation type" attribute, censhare creates the respective Feature and Feature item assets:

• The feature "Installation type" is created only once in the Master data and as an asset representation (type: "Module / Feature").

• A Value list asset "Installation type feature items transformation" is created. The XSLT master file of this asset generates the dynamic value list of feature items.

• For each attribute value, a feature item is created. The feature items are assigned to the feature "Installation type". For each Feature item, censhare stores all applicable product categories in the "Product category filter". censhare uses the product category filters to narrow down the dynamic value list of a property for a product in a given category. To understand how this works, see also the table and the example below.

The resulting asset structure is as follows:

Example

The "Installation type" property is part of multiple product classifications, for example, "Home appliances" and "Power tools". In each classification, some of the applicable values are different, some are identical. If you edit the "Installation type" of a product, only the applicable values are shown in the drop-down list:

Localized classification data

You can manage your GPC product classifications in censhare in different languages. censhare stores all localized values of a category, feature or feature item in one asset. However, before you can import localized data for classification, you have to import an English master file. censhare stores the imported data of a GPC classification in two different ways:

• Master data: This only applies to features. Features are stored in the "Master data/Features" table. Localized values are mapped to the user interface language. If a user selects another user interface language in their user preferences, the widgets and dialogs show the localized feature name, if existing. Otherwise, the default English name is shown.

• Asset data: censhare stores product categories and feature items as assets. Features are stored as Master data, but also represented as assets (type: Module/Feature). The names and descriptions of these assets can be localized in any content language that is available in your system. The localized values are stored in the asset data and can be accessed in Preview widgets, Product tables and Report widgets. For that purpose, a toolbar transformation must be configured in the respective widgets. The censhare standard configuration provides a toolbar transformation that generates a language selector.

When you import a GPC product classification for the first time, censhare asks you to import the English GPC file. This import creates new assets and the English Master data for the features. To import a localized file of the same classification, you simply execute a new import and select the desired file. censhare detects that this classification already exists in your system and suggests to create a localization. To continue, you have to select a content language. This import does not create new assets. It only adds localized data (asset name and description) to the existing assets of this classification.

For technical reasons, it is not possible to detect the language of an imported classification file automatically. Always make sure that you select the correct language before importing a classification file.

Optionally, when importing a new language of an existing classification, censhare asks you if you wish to update the master data as well. This applies only to the features that are created or updated during a import. Although features are represented as assets, they are stored in the Master data/Features table of the censhare data base. Features in the Master data can have localized names and descriptions for each User interface languages. The asset representation of the same feature can have localized names and descriptions in any content language. censhare stores the localized names and descriptions for content language and user interface language in different tables of the data base. This duality requires some attention when you import a localized product classification file:

Example

You want to import the product classification "Home appliances" in the following languages: English (US), English (GB), German (DE), German (AT), German (CH) and Russian. Your organization uses US English as master language for all other languages. In your censhare system, the following content languages are configured:

• en-US

• en-GB

• de-GE

• de-AT

• de-CH

• ru-RU

In the censhare standard configuration, the following user interface languages are available:

• English (US)

• German

• French

• Italian

• Japanese

To import all localizations of the "Home Appliances" product classifications and map them to the corresponding content languages, proceed as follows:

1. First, import the "English (US)" classification file. You do not have to select a content language/user interface language. censhare maps this classification to the content language and user interface language "en-US".

2. Import the "English (GB)" classification file. censhare now asks you to select a content language. Select "English (GB)" from the list. Do not enable the option "Localized Master data", because you do not want to overwrite the English (US) values from the first import.

3. Import the "German (DE)" classification file. As in the previous step, censhare asks you to select a content language. Select "German (DE)" from the list. This time, enable the option "Localized Master data", because you want to add the German values to the Master data.

4. Import the "German (AT)" and "German (CH)" classification files. Select a respective content languages "German (AT)" and "German (CH)". Do not enable the option "Localized Master data", because you do not want to overwrite the German values from the import in the previous step.

5. At last, import the Russian classification file. Select the content language "Russian (RU)". Do not enable the option "Localized Master data", because Russian is not a user interface language. censhare shows the English values instead in the widgets and dialogs.

Where do I see the content language and where the user interface language?

The user interface language is used to localize the UI elements such as dialogs, widgets and tables. Properties widgets and the respective dialogs when users edit asset properties, show the user interface language. This is due to the data model that differentiates between asset data and master data and the default functionality of widgets and dialogs. Localized content data, on the other side, can be accessed and displayed in Properties widgets, Table widgets, Report widgets and Preview widgets.

Localized content data shows the localization (language) and can be filtered by language. For example, the Properties widget's <cs-metadata-row/> directive shows the key/language pair for each product property by default. In tables, previews and reports, a toolbar transformation can be configured that provides a language selector. Users can change the language of the displayed data.

In some cases, user interface language and content language do not match or do not show the respective localized keys. For example, a Properties widget shows one or multiple feature/value pairs. The feature name is always shown in the selected user interface language, the values are shown all available localizations. However, for the feature name the respective localizations are imported and stored in the feature assets.

The following table shows the corresponding content languages and user interface languages. For the first three rows, content language and user interface language correspond. For the last highlighted rows, there is no corresponding user interface language:

Note

When you export product with a GPC classification, the correct localizations are written into the export file.