One of the top US-based manufacturers in the material handling space had item descriptions were inconsistent, vague, duplicate, incomplete and many times incomprehensible. This presentation accentuates AXIA’s journey on item description standardization by methodical creation of parts taxonomy & classification, schema structure and enrichment of user defined attributes to generate item descriptions by leveraging the attribute values and functions in Oracle Product Information Management. It also includes business considerations and best practices that were employed by AXIA to achieve success.

1. Proprietary and confidential. | 2016 AXIA Consulting™ | All rights reserved.
Phantasmal Item Descriptions in Your Organization?
Oracle Product Information Management to the Rescue

2. Agenda
• Introduction & Overview
• Session Objectives
• The Problem and the Aftermath
• Key Terms
• Item Description Generation Solution Approach
• Taxonomy Design
• Item Classification
• Schema Design
• Meta-Data Configurations
• SKU Build
• Normalization / Governance
• Description Generation
• Business Considerations
• Best Practices
• Q&A

3. AXIA Consulting
About AXIA Consulting
At AXIA Consulting, we understand the importance of
choosing a trustworthy partner who takes the time to
understand your business and we have the proven
ability to deliver meaningful results.
With a team of industry experts who average 20 years of
experience in the field, AXIA’s accessible business and
technology leaders hardness their expertise to solve our
clients’ most complex problems.
Founded in 2005, AXIA is 100% employee-owned and
employs approximately 100 Senior Consultants. We are
a global company, delivering results for clients in more
than 54 countries over six continents.
www.axiaconsulting.net
Committed To Excellence
AXIA is driven by values and our commitment
to excellence, resulting in trusted partnerships
and lasting client relationships

4. Session Objectives
• To help the audience gain basic understanding of
taxonomy, schema and item description process
• To model the solution approach in Oracle PIM along
with setups and configurations
• Simple item description generated from PIM in Oracle E-
Business Suite (EBS)
• To provide a list of business considerations and best
practices in generating item descriptions through
Oracle PIM

5. “Phantasmal” Problem
• “Phantasmal” Item Data Standards:
• No guidelines to follow when creating or uploading new items
• No guidelines to follow when importing items with new or different structure
(e.g., acquisitions, new roll-outs)
• “Phantasmal” Item Descriptions:
• Difficult to find items (internally and for our e-commerce customers) based
on descriptions
• Difficult to prevent duplicate item descriptions
• Inconsistent, vague, incomplete and of-course incomprehensible item
descriptions
• “Phantasmal” Data Governance
• Lack of control perpetuates the problem
• External and Internal customer “phantomisms” with item
descriptions

6. Results of Problem
Decimals/Fractions
Abbreviations/full words
Invalid DescriptionsDuplicate Descriptions
Information that does not
belong
BOTTOMLINE – CUSTOMER FRUSTRATION

7. Key Terms
• Taxonomy: The practice of classification; the order and hierarchy of your
products. Grouping like items into a specific category
• Node: Item catalog category to which an item will be assigned
• Schema: The collection of attributes and their characteristics, such as field type,
size and whether a List of Values is provided
• Attributes:
• Required Attributes: Attributes that are included in system-generated
descriptions
• Optional Attributes: Additional attributes that are not included in system-
generated descriptions
• Normalization: Task to review List of Values and cleanse them down to a
unique list
• Meta-Data: Item Catalogs, Attribute Groups, Pages, Functions, Associations,
etc.

8. Item Description Generation Approach

9. Taxonomy
• Taxonomy: the practice of building a classification structure;
the order and hierarchy of your products. Grouping like
items into a specific category
• As Taxonomy is built, it is important to think about your
audience, using relevant language for the audience
• Item Catalog Categories (ICC) form a tree structure in PIM to
create the taxonomy to which items can be assigned
• Taxonomy in PIM
• Top level parent ICC node
• Intermediate ICC nodes
• Leaf ICC nodes

10. Taxonomy Examples

11. Item Classification to Taxonomy
• This is the process of assigning items to the taxonomy
structure
• It is important to do this as you are building the Taxonomy,
this will ensure that the Taxonomy will work for your
organization
• Business may decide to normalize the taxonomy after sign
off and item assignment for:
• Removal of redundant nodes
• Consolidation of nodes
• Addition of new nodes
• Taxonomy normalization may lead to:
• Re-assignment of items assigned to the affected nodes
• Loss of attribute information and attribute values for the affected
items if not handled through a defined ICC re-assignment process

12. Schema Design
Schema: the collection of attributes and their characteristics, such as
field type, size and whether a List of Values is provided
• These are grouped by end node
• Depending on the leaf node and attribute group, the number of
attributes can be different
• Some attributes may not be required and not used to build a
description
• Decision to create separate UOM attributes to reference numeric
values stored in text attributes or use the standard UOM feature with
numeric attributes
• Time intensive phase as different business stakeholders influence
the process of building the schema structure pertinent to their
department and needs

13. Schema Examples
Attributes ranked with a 0 are not
required, and will not be used to
generate descriptions
Attribute Name Data Type Ranking
Product Type LOV 1
Motor Horsepower Number 2
Motor Horsepower UOM LOV 3
Frame Size Text 4
Motor Type LOV 5
Motor RPM Number 6
Motor RPMUOM LOV 7
Motor Phase LOV 8
Motor Voltage Text 9
Frequency Number 10
Frequency UOM LOV 11
Mounting Type LOV 12
Enclosure Type LOV 13
Brake Type LOV 14
Brake Full Load Torque Number 0
Brake Full Load Torque UOM LOV 0
Brake Horsepower Number 0
Brake Horsepower UOM LOV 0
Brake Voltage Number 0
Brake Voltage UOM LOV 0
Efficiency Rating Text 0
Feedback Device Type LOV 0
Full Load Amp Rating Number 0
Full Load Amp Rating UOM LOV 0
Motor Full Load Torque Number 0
Motor Full Load Torque UOM LOV 0
Number of Poles Number 0
Product Line Text 0
Service Factor Number 0
AC Motors
Attribute Name Data Type Ranking
Product Type LOV 1
Overall Length Number 2
Overall Length UOM LOV 3
Overall Width Number 4
Overall Width UOM LOV 5
Abrasive Material LOV 6
Backing Material LOV 7
Color Text 8
Product Line Text 0
Abrasives

14. Configurations and Setups in PIM
• Meta-data creation is an essential component of PIM setup
and thereby generating item descriptions
• Meta-data Load Approaches:
• PIM User Interface – very tedious and time consuming
• PIM Interface tables – only inbound approach
• FNDLOAD – very technical approach
• iSetup – very limited to couple of entities
• Mandatory Meta-Data Configurations:
• Item Catalog Categories (ICC)
• Attribute Groups and User Defined Attributes (UDA)
• PIM Functions
• Value Sets and Values for UDA list of values
• Pages and Page Entries
• ICC – Attribute Group Association
• ICC – Function Association

15. Meta-Data Load Approach Comparison

16. Configuration Entity Relationships
ITEM CATALOG CATEGORY
ATTRIBUTE
GROUPS
PAGES
USERDEFINED
ATTRIBUTES (UDA)
PAGEENTRIES
FUNCTIONS
PARAMETERS
VALUE
SETS

17. Item Catalog Categories
Navigation: Inventory > Setup > Items > Catalog Groups

18. Attribute Groups
Navigation: Development Manager > Setup > Setup Workbench > Items (T) > Attribute Groups (T)

19. User Defined Attributes (UDA)
Navigation: Development Manager > Setup > Setup Workbench > Items (T) > Attribute Groups (T)

20. Description Generation Function
Navigation: Development Manager > Setup > Setup Workbench > Function (T)

21. ICC – Function Association
Navigation: Development Manager > Setup > Setup Workbench > Click on Item Catalog
Category > Description Generation

22. ICC – Attribute Group Association
Navigation: Development Manager > Setup > Setup Workbench > Click on Item Catalog
Category > Attribute Groups

23. ICC Pages
Navigation: Development Manager > Setup > Setup Workbench > Click on Item Catalog
Category > Item Pages

24. Meta-Data Interface Insert Scripts

25. Meta-Data Import Program
Navigation: Development Manager > View > Requests > Submit a New Request > Single Request

26. SKU Build
• SKU Build comprises of:
• Filling out the attribute values for the attributes defined in the
schema structure (can be done offline in excel workbook)
• Uploading the attribute values into the system for building
descriptions (custom PL/SQL process)
• Major work lies in gathering the attribute value information:
• Internal product information and knowledge
• Supplier/Manufacturer provided manuals, emails, calls, etc.
• “What is Good Enough”
• Attribute data available may not be specific enough to fill in values
for all the attributes created for the end node
• May need to do research in order to fill in the data
• A decision point needs to happen to determine “What is Good
Enough” in order start generating descriptions
• It may take several iterations to determine that and it will be a
different answer based on the node

27. Normalization/Governance
• Normalization
• Taxonomy and Schema
o Consolidation
o Remove Redundancy
• Meta Data
o Attributes
o Value Sets
o Functions
o Pages, etc.
• Review List of Values and cleanse them
• Typos
• Differing abbreviations
• Different data being added for a different parts within the same end node
• In the current organization the word Motor may be in descriptions like this:
o Motor
o MTR
o MOTR
• Using LOVs and agreeing on one abbreviation for Motor ensures
consistency across all descriptions

28. Description Generation
• Within PIM the description function calls a custom PL/SQL
package to create the description
• Each PIM Function can call a different PL/SQL function
• The definition of the function will pass all of the required
parameter values to the PL/SQL package
• The PL/SQL package can then be created to concatenate the
values together to make a description
• Only the Description field is updated, not the Long
Description

29. Description Generation Enhancements
• Create a Long Description with all attributes spelled out
• Regular Description will use abbreviations from LOVs
• Ability to add abbreviations for the attribute names, and add
them as prefixes or suffixes to the attribute value within the
description
• Ability to regenerate descriptions for all items in an end node
if an abbreviation needs to change in an LOV
• Overload 1 PL/SQL function so that all call PIM Functions call
the same PL/SQL function

30. Description Generation Examples
ITEM
NUMBER ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION LONG DESCRIPTION
185063 BEARING MLLR F-1665-7H W/GRS
BEARING, FLANGE MOUNT, 0 BOLTS, RND HSG
TYPE, BALL, .451IN BORE DIA, GR, STD
Bearing, Flange Mount, 0 Number of Bolts,
Round Housing Type, BALL, .451In Bore
Diameter, Greased, STD
200597 BRG FLG 1-3/16B 2B MLLR BRG
BEARING, FLANGE MOUNT, 2 BOLTS, BRKT
HSG TYPE, 1.1875IN BORE DIA, LUBRICATED,
FOOD GRADE
Bearing, Flange Mount, 2 Number of Bolts,
Bracket Housing Type, 1.1875In Bore
Diameter, Lubricated, Food Grade
3802001 PL 3/8X60X60 HR 1045
PLT, STL, HRS, C1045, .375IN THK, 60IN
OVERALL LEN, 60IN OVERALL WD
Plate, Steel, Hot Rolled, C1045, .375In
Thickness, 60In Overall Length, 60In Overall
Width
7043341 PLATE HRPO 1/4 C1045 48X120
PLT, STL, HRS, C1045, .25IN THK, 120IN
OVERALL LEN, 48IN OVERALL WD
Plate, Steel, Hot Rolled, C1045, .25In
Thickness, 120In Overall Length, 48In Overall
Width
420D410 ROLLER_DRIVE_CPL_Ø98_BW1200
ROLLER, STRAIGHT UNPOWERED, 98MM
ROLLER DIA, 2 GRV, 35MMAXLE SZ, RND, STL
TUBE, ZINC-PLATED, TIMING SPROCKET
Roller, Straight Unpowered, 98mm Roller
Diameter, 2 Number of Grooves, 35mm Axle
Size, Round, Steel Tube Material, Zinc-
Plated, Timing Sprocket
70701010 1 X 1-1/4 X 1-1/4 BOSTON BEARI
BEARING WASHER, PLAIN THRUST, 1.004IN
BORE DIA, 1.253IN OD, 1.25IN THK, BRZ
Bearing Washer, Plain Thrust, 1.004In Bore
Diameter, 1.253In Outside Diameter, 1.25In
Thickness, Bronze

31. Website Example

32. Business Considerations
• Is the data customer facing?
• How do different segments of the business use the data?
• Different segments of the business may have differing
opinions about the data
• Build the solution incorporating the requirements of all
stakeholders
• Training – this will change the process that item induction
uses, data previously not gathered will need to be gathered
• Segment data in order to update the data in chunks instead
of a big bang. Big bang is overwhelming

33. Best Practices
• The user of the data should not have to think when determining
where an item would be found in the taxonomy. This can be
difficult to achieve
• It is important that as the taxonomy and schema are being built to
take examples of the data and apply them to the taxonomy and
schema to them to validate what is being built
• Once the Schema is finalized, get it to Production so that all new
data conforms to the new process. This can be done prior to
generating descriptions
• Continuous review of the attribute fill rate before the go-no-go
decision of Production migration
• Once inducting items with PIM, it’s important to turn off item
induction process in Inventory module

34. Contacts
For more information, visit
http://www.axiaconsulting.net/
or give us a call at 866.937.5550
AXIA Consulting is a global provider of business and technology solutions
focused on maximizing investments and delivering results. With experience
across multiple industries and more than 54 countries, AXIA’s senior team
helps organizations tackle tough challenges, from large-scale ERP
implementations and post-merger integrations, to organizational change
and more.