NAMM Announces Results of XML Purchase Order Pilots

NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, recently announced the results of its initial eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Purchase Order Pilot, a trial of the new standard for exchanging purchase order documents electronically within the global music products industry.

NAMM collaborated with the Uniform Code Council (UCC), the neutral, not-for-profit global standards organization, which provided the EAN.UCC XML Standards to NAMM Member companies participating in the pilot phase. The new cross-industry, globally compliant standards will allow dealers to electronically place purchase orders (POs) with their suppliers regardless of the platform. Because the music products industry has agreed upon this “single” standard for electronic business-to-business (e-B2B) document exchange, the need for costly multiple translators for each individual trading partner can be eliminated. The new standards require a one-time-only mapping and installation—once a company sets up the system, they will be able to communicate with future participants without purchasing additional partner-specific applications.

“It’s clear the music products industry recognizes the value of using bar codes on products and communicating that information in a common, standardized way,” said Al Garton, director of channel management, UCC. “These open global standards will enable the music products industry to achieve greater levels of supply chain efficiency and collaboration. NAMM has been a tremendous partner in driving this initiative to its Members.”

Brook Mays Music Co. and Kaman Music Corporation, both of which were participants in the pilot program, explained that once the standards are in place, the industry stands to benefit in several ways.

“We recognized that by using the XML schemas our company, would gain a host of benefits, including streamlined business processes and increased operational efficiencies,” said Ray Everitt, vice president, Brook Mays Music Co. “We chose to adopt the industry standard because we know that if everyone within the music products business is using the same schemas, we will not have to reinvent the wheel with each of our trading partners.”

“Seeing how Kaman Music has often taken the lead in technology initiatives in the music industry, we felt that becoming involved with the NAMM/UCC pilot group was an easy, natural decision for us,” said Steve Lamonde, electronic commerce manager, Kaman Music Corporation. “While it took some time to get to where we are today as a group, we feel that it was certainly worth our while. If the majority of the music industry can agree to implement one e-commerce data structure standard, many more of our customers and vendors will be able to realize the benefits.”

For more information about the EAN.UCC XML Standards, interested parties can visit b2b.namm.org.

About the Uniform Code Council
The Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development and implementation of standards-based, global supply chain solutions. Under its auspices, the UCC operates two wholly owned subsidiaries, UCCnet and RosettaNet, and it co-manages its global EAN.UCC System with EAN International. UCC-based solutions, including business processes, XML standards, EDI transaction sets, and the bar code identification standards of the EAN.UCC System are currently used by more than one million member companies worldwide. For more information about the Uniform Code Council, please visit www.uc-council.org.