commerceSWITCH joins international electronic coding standards initiative

E-business solutions provider commerceSWITCH has joined the Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA). The move, believed to be a local first, allows the company to play an active role in the development, maintenance and distribution of electronic codes over the Internet.

"Electronic coding standards touch every business yet managing code lists has always been a weakness in electronic commerce," says commerceSWITCH MD Philip de Bruin. "The ECCMA was established to deal with this problem. It is the only standards association devoted solely to providing code management, distribution and resolution services over the Internet.

"When developing e-commerce initiatives and strategies, most organisations realise the benefits of open standards. These include improved competition, interconnectivity and interoperability. To establish a true standard there must be processes and procedures that allow for equal participation among all interested parties. The association is able to manage and distribute electronic codes in a fair, open and extremely fast environment on the Internet."

The ECCMA currently manages the following code sets:

• THE UNSPSC - The Universal Standard Products and Services Classification, a hierarchical coding system used to classify goods and services. The UNSPSC code provides a standard index for electronic catalogues and standard account codes for performing in-depth Spend Analysis.

• The EIAC - the EECMA International Attribute Code more closely defines the characteristics of a commodity or product.

• The EBIC - the EDIRA Business Identifier identifies businesses that issue business identifier codes. It is designed to be used as a prefix to a business identifier to allow the recipient of a business identifier to easily identify the issuing organisation as well as any appropriate data validation and verification information.

• The IAEC - the International Address Element Code identifies the component data elements of a name and address. It is used to improve the distribution of name and address information and to facilitate the formatting of international addresses for mailing purposes.

• The EUTC and EUFC - THE ECCMA URL Type Code and the ECCMA URL Format Code identify the content and format of website pages. They are used to improve the performance of browsers and software agents.

• The EBFI - the ECCMA Business Foundation Identifier identifies the function performed by an individual within an organisation.

• The EBRC - the ECCMA Business Reporting Code EBRC standardises the core elements of business reports and financial elements.

The ECCMA works to ensure that code development and maintenance remains an open consensus process and is not be dominated by any single organisation or interest category. The organisation also collaborates closely with other related standards bodies, avoiding any duplication of effort, conflict or confusion that may adversely affect the user community.

Benefits of membership include the ability to download and view electronic copies of updated code versions; access to software with auto-update capability; notification of changes to the code sets; the ability to submit change requests and additions to the code; the ability to view current change requests and additions submitted by members; the option of becoming a voting member of up to five Technical Advisory Groups (TAG) that determine the outcome of change requests submitted by members; and access to linked code tables where applicable. The tables include language tables, attribute sets, truncated descriptions; synonyms and acronyms.

"By participating in the ECCMA`s standards development we will stay informed and build close relationships with companies in similar endeavours around the world. In so doing we will be able to better advise and assist our clients, many of whom are registering new products for online sale," says De Bruin.