UnitechEDI Support - ISBN13

ISBN-13 migration Strategies

Several strategies can be employed in transitioning to the ISBN-13. Each should be measured by how close they achieve the following goals, and what are the implications of the pros and cons of each.

Goals
Compliance for external data
Flexibility to deal with varying trading partner timeframes and requirements
Consistency for internal data (e.g. links to history)
Speed of manual entry
Least disruption, lowest cost
ISBN uses

Internal:
Reports
Screens
Data Entry (Order Entry, A/R application, Returns, Warehouse, royalty,
Financials, history)
Internal uploads and downloads (e.g. Excel, Title Management, WMS, royalty, rights)

External:
EDI inbound and outbound
Trading Partner data uploads
Website
Catalogs
Royalty Statements
Invoices
Pack Lists

EDI Strategy


1. Starting on January 1, 2005, the UnitechEDI translator will use a 10 digit Universal item code. For existing 10 digit ISBN codes (which all have an EAN prefix of '978'), simply copy the 10 digit ISBN code to the new 10 digit Universal item code. Once assignment of the new '979' prefix begins on January 1,2007, for items with the new '979' prefix you would strip off the 979 prefix, use the next 9 significant digits, and replace the following check digit with the letter Z to derive the 10 digit Universal item code. All of the older 10 digit Universal item codes will remain exactly the same. No change would be needed for the older codes.

2. From this 10 digit Universal item code, all other variations (ISBN-10, ISBN-13, and GTIN-14) can easily be derived with a simple programming function. The method would work both during the transition, and after the cut-over date of January 1 2007.

3. For the GTIN-14, an indicator in the database could denote package level, (e.g. casepack, pallet). Some systems might already have such a field, while others might need to add it. A default of 0 could also be used. This single digit would precede the ISBN-13 and would not affect the check digit. The GTIN would not include any dashes. Other industries use a 12 digit UPC code preceded by 2 digits for package level and use data synchronization to keep track of the meanings of the package level digits. Unless publishers are trading with Wal-Mart or some of the other general merchandise trading partners, changes for GTIN should be considered but probably will not be a priority for the coming year.

EDI Implications

The EDI translator would convert whatever form ISBN was sent in by a trading partner to the 10 digit Universal item code to be used by the fulfillment system to create orders. On the fulfillment system export side (PO Acknowledgements, Invoices, ASNs), only the 10 digit Universal item code would be moved to the EDI translator, which would then convert that code to all three variations (ISBN-10 with a qualifier of IB, ISBN-13 with a qualifier of EN, and GTIN-14 with a qualifier of UK) to send to the trading partner. The trading partner would use whatever code their computer system was ready for at any time.

Advantages
· Minimal ERP system programming changes needed for EDI. Works equally as well with fixed-format and variable length fields.
· Complete flexibility. No coordination of transition schedules between the fulfillment system and EDI system need be planned for. When the fulfillment system is ready, the EDI system will be ready without any software changes at the time of transition. Allows for controllable trading partner testing to meet the needs of each trading partner.

Disadvantages
· Maintenance of 2 fields

Action Steps

If the Universal Item code was used only for EDI, a new field would be added to the database item record. A simple one-time database conversion would populate this field from the existing ISBN-10. The fulfillment system EDI programs would be modified to point to this new field. This change does not actually need to be made until January 1,2007. You can continue to send the ISBN-10 for EDI until that time and the UnitechEDI translator will take care of making sure that the ISBN-10, ISBN-13 and GTIN-14 are sent back to the trading partner.

If a GTIN other than 0 were used, then this field must also be passed to the EDI translator. Otherwise no changes would need to be made on the fulfillment system side for GTIN.

Non-EDI Applications

The 10 digit Universal item code could be used only for EDI, or depending on the database structure of the fulfillment system, it could be used throughout the system. Some systems use the ISBN-10 as the key to the item record, while others uses an internal item code as the key, with the ISBN-10 being just another data field on the record. In almost all cases, a cross reference is available to lookup an item record, by title, author, ISBN-10, internal item code or other criteria. This same cross reference would need to be modified to allow the ISBN-10, ISBN-13, GTIN-13, and Universal item code to point to the desired item record. ISBN-10 can still be used internally until the 979 prefixes are assigned, at which time it will no longer have enough digits to match to the ISBN-13.

As different trading partners might transition to ISBN-13 at different times, a single digit field in the customer record might indicate the trading partner's preference about whether they want an ISBN-10, ISBN-13, or GTIN-14 on printed documents such as Invoices and packing slips. Conversely, the fulfillment system must be able to handle any of the same three item code formats on incoming paper documents such as return and chargeback reports.

Advantages for non-EDI applications

Whether use of the Universal item code makes sense outside of EDI depends on whether the database currently has a field for the 13 digit EAN number (same as ISBN-13), whether the ISBN is used as the record key and other factors. Depending on these factors, the following would be some advantages:
· Although the check digit will not be part of the Universal item code, the cross reference file would still allow item manual entry using the full ISBN-10 (e.g. 9812348972), ISBN-13 (e.g. 9789812348975), internal item code, title, author, etc. Therefore the check digit functionality would not be lost.
· Screen and report layouts would not need to be changed
· Low data conversion cost, some programming costs
· Scanning would not be affected as the current 13 digit Bookland EAN now printed on barcodes is the same as the ISBN-13. The format will remain the same in the future with the addition of 979 to the current 978 prefixes.
· Provides a simple conversion for all standalone databases uploads and downloads regardless of database field size limits.
· Few programs would need to be changed to convert to the ISBN-13 and GTIN-14 formats, depending on how you decided to use the field internally.

Disadvantages for non-EDI applications

· Staff adjustment on dealing with the variations of ISBN-10, ISBN-13, GTIN-14.
· Maintenance of 2 fields

Action steps

If the Universal item code was used throughout the fulfillment system, the existing ISBN-10 would not need to be changed until January 1,2007 when a Z would be substituted for the 10th check digit as any new ISBN codes assigned with the 979 prefix.

EDI programs would not need to be changed. The only programs that would need to be changed would be external programs such as invoice printing to convert to the appropriate format as needed.