December 09, 2014 Opinion piece
But we have been defining data for decades and have actually developed hundreds of standards to suit a wide range of specific business requirements.
Collectively, our standards are known as ‘the language of business’ – and just like with other languages, a dictionary sometimes comes in useful as a reference point for all the different attributes and elements that make up the standards.
The Global Data Dictionary
The GS1 Global Data Dictionary (GDD) is not just a list of all the standards that we have launched over the years. Instead it provides users with a comprehensive list of every single data element that has been defined across all GS1 standards – both existing and legacy.
These data definitions include individual data elements such as GS1 identification keys, product attributes, definitions of ‘documents’ comprising many elements, specified code lists and definitions of messages that are exchanged between system components.
While each individual data element is self-contained – with its own normative definition – the intention is to re-use the elements in different standards. In this way the
GS1 system has an internal consistency that makes it easier and more cost-effective for companies to use.
The purpose of GDD is to outline the legitimate way for describing things. It is not itself a GS1 standard, but rather a tool to help ensure consistency across the standards in the following ways:
- It sets out a single definition for each distinct data element that may occur across several standards – all standards that include that data element use the identical definition provided by GDD; and
- hen new data elements are incorporated into a new or revised GS1 standard, GDD helps to avoid conflicting definitions for data elements that already exist and ensures that new data elements are not given names that would be confusingly similar.