Let’s take three situations from everyday business. First example: A do-it-yourself store orders paints and varnishes. The buyer needs comprehensive information about the product—from the name of the manufacturer to the article number. Second example: Boxes of goods have arrived at an electronics store. In order to transport and store these goods properly, the delivery note needs to provide employees with precise information about content, weight and dimensions. Third situation: The customer would like to purchase various products at the supermarket. The cashier scans the barcodes and the display shows prices and product descriptions automatically.

These three examples show that unambiguous, up-to-date and complete product information is a prerequisite for many business processes. This explains why retailers and manufacturers work with master data. A range of characteristics are assigned to a given product. These include basic data for identification, like the Global Article Number (GTIN), the product description and the supplier product number. In addition, there is more specific information such as the dimensions of a product or different flavors in case of food.

Article texts - short descriptions of important product attributes - are also part of the master data. Furthermore, there are information about the dimensions of a package (height, width and depth) and the type of packaging (bottled, canned or bagged). All this information constitutes master data. The structure and scope of these data collections can vary from company to company and also depend on the product. In case of paint or varnish it is necessary to include a hazardous substance warning, which is obviously not necessary for products such as yogurt. Some products can also contain information on proper handling, e.g. "do not stack" or "store between minimum/maximum temperature" as well as whether or not a product contains a barcode.

A vast number of master data records are exchanged and used daily throughout all departments of manufacturing and retailing companies. This has led to activities aiming at creating internationally standardized product profiles, such as undertaken by the GS1 Germany (www.gs1-germany.de) in Cologne, former known as Center for Coorganistaion (CCG). GS1 Germany is a service center and think-tank for the German consumer industry that works to develop standards to simplify business processes.

In 1977, retailers and manufacturers introduced a standard numbering system to simplify the exchange of master data: The EAN. It has now advanced to a global standard. Every product can be identified by its eight- or thirteen-digit number. The term EAN has been internationalized, it is now called Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). The GTIN serves as a key to further information. It opens the gate to relevant product master data which may be stored in a data base. Each individual GTIN code contains particular product attributes - from article texts and package sizes to descriptions of product variants.

Each unit, e.g. a pallet, a carton or an individually packed product, has an individual GTIN number. This number is depicted in the barcode which allows the number to be read with a scanner. There are also products that do not have a barcode, but do have a GTIN number. The organization GS1 and her worldwide range of over 101 members in 103 countries. Over 90 organizations worldwide are responsible for assigning GTIN numbers, including the GS1 Germany.