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How to Realize the Full Potential of EPCIS
EPCIS has the potential to enhance entire supply chains by providing real-time visibility of the tagged items inside an enterprise and between trading partners (see Fig 1). Leading retailers and suppliers, such as Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Metro, are already capturing and exchanging EPCIS data.
There are three steps that companies can take to realize the full potential of EPCIS:
1. Minimize interoperability issues. This can be achieved by purchasing EPCglobal-certified hardware and software, and by ensuring that the EPC is encoded correctly on the tag.
2. Maximize the quality of EPCIS data. Businesses should thoroughly test their event data before going live with an EPCIS application. Incorrectly encoded EPC numbers, invalid vocabulary data and missing event fields and other errors should be recognized and corrected. A company should also request that trading partners validate their data before sending it. Validation of EPCIS event data should be an ongoing task, in fact.
3. Assess RFID implementations. EPCIS repositories can provide a wealth of analytical and statistical data, such as which business processes and transactions have been RFID-enabled, or which locations create the most events.
If you remember the early bar-code days, then you realize that services and tools to ensure the quality of the scan and correct data encoding were missing for years, which slowed down the adoption of bar codes. Luckily, help—in the form of an online service known as the EPCIS Validation Portal—already exists for businesses implementing radio frequency identification.
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| Fig 1. EPCIS Data Sharing Vision |
There are three steps that companies can take to realize the full potential of EPCIS:
1. Minimize interoperability issues. This can be achieved by purchasing EPCglobal-certified hardware and software, and by ensuring that the EPC is encoded correctly on the tag.
2. Maximize the quality of EPCIS data. Businesses should thoroughly test their event data before going live with an EPCIS application. Incorrectly encoded EPC numbers, invalid vocabulary data and missing event fields and other errors should be recognized and corrected. A company should also request that trading partners validate their data before sending it. Validation of EPCIS event data should be an ongoing task, in fact.
3. Assess RFID implementations. EPCIS repositories can provide a wealth of analytical and statistical data, such as which business processes and transactions have been RFID-enabled, or which locations create the most events.
If you remember the early bar-code days, then you realize that services and tools to ensure the quality of the scan and correct data encoding were missing for years, which slowed down the adoption of bar codes. Luckily, help—in the form of an online service known as the EPCIS Validation Portal—already exists for businesses implementing radio frequency identification.
