Business processes are more efficient if manufacturers and trading companies allocate the same features to a specific product. Master data standards ensure that business partners share the same information. The objective of the involved parties is to harmonize data. 
What Advantages does the Standardization of Master Data in Data Pools offer?
Both retailers and manufacturers benefit equally from data pools: The suppliers no longer needs to transfer product master data to each individual business partner while keeping numerous individual requirements in mind. A Supplier can enter master data once and send data to a single address - the SA2 Worldsync (
www.sa2.com) data pool. This eliminates alignment processes with business partners and reduces the amount of work by 60 percent.
At the Cutting-Edge - in an Instant
Manufacturers can centrally update their master data in the data pool. The data for some products may not change in a decade, as in the case of dishes. However, other products, such as yogurt and milkshakes, experience regular bursts of innovation, like a limited summer edition of "Caribbean fruit" yogurt in summer or a "baked apple" flavored yogurt in winter. While manufacturers once had to notify each individual trading partner, now all users know about it in a matter of mouse clicks. The scope can be expanded to include an "added-value service for bilateral process pricing": Manufacturers and retailers coordinate prices in a non public process. These prices are not saved on SA2 Worldsync.
Eliminating Errors
An additional advantage for suppliers and the METRO Group: The quality of master data exchange improves, since a significant source of errors, the manual entry of information, is eliminated. The SA2 Worldsync system additionally ensures correct data. Each data record is automatically validated to 900 times. Is the master data on each packaging unit complete and consistent? SA2 Worldsync verifies for example if the given dimensions for product, carton and pallet are plausible. Continually updated and flawless master data ensure smooth business processes at the METRO Group. High quality data also improves the quality of all other processes—from orders to shelf management, from logistics and stocktaking to sales and marketing. Suppliers can retransfer master data from the data pool into their own systems, thereby optimizing their internal quality management.
Concentrating on the Essentials
The METRO Group not only benefits from the quality of master data, but also from a significantly reduced work load. Employees no longer need to spend time on data entry and maintenance, and are able to concentrate on their core activities: Ideal purchasing terms and assortment compilation. This leads to increased job satisfaction and consumers are provided with a perfectly organized assortment.
