P&G Starts Using Transora Data Catalog

For the first time, Proctor & Gamble has published product data to an industry-wide data catalog being created by e-marketplace Transora. The creation of a standard, synchronized data catalog for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is a baseline requirement for emerging business-to-business applications between CPG vendors and their retailers. Without such a catalog, product information is exchanged manually and often plagued by transcription errors, timing issues and significant administrative costs, as reported by IntenetWeek. A standard data catalog will also help fuel more advanced apps, such as CPFR, or collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment.

Launched last summer, the Transora catalog today stores just 16,000 items, but support is growing from vendors including P&G, Reckkit Benckiser, Kraft Foods and others. The Transora catalog is built on standards being developed by UCCnet. It is based on that group's Global Registry service, which is used to validate the information entered by Transora customers.

Moderator Comment: What do you expect the exchange landscape to look like in five years?

With talk of mergers/alliances and debates over private vs. public, clearly, there is further tumult heading the way of the exchanges serving the retailer marketplace today. Experience tells us not to bet on any one but to expect that the strongest of the current models or hybrids of existing businesses will emerge as front runners in the next stage of the exchange's development. [George Anderson - Moderator]

• P&G Starts Using Transora Data Catalog - InternetWeek