PPIF sends information a.s.a.p.

This standardized format for electronic transmission takes the footwork out of price and product updates

By Kimberly Griffiths, Associate Editor -- Industrial Distribution, 3/1/2006

In 1998, the Power Transmission Distributors Assn. and the Bearing Specialists Assn. teamed up to make getting price and product information updates from manufacturers faster and easier—an electronic "piece of cake," if you will. The associations created the Product & Price Information Format (a.k.a., PPIF), a single-program, standardized, single-format system for transmission of manufacturers' product and price updates to distributors.

So why are we talking about it this month? Version 2.0 of the system was recently released, and it includes even more perks than the first program.

While it was designed to supersede both ANSI X.12 832 and custom manufacturer pricing formats, PPIF can be easily installed and used by manufacturers, distributors and OEMs.

According to the program's information, the format eliminates the need for significant software expenditure by users, and may be transmitted via CD-ROM, e-mail or the Internet. Other benefits include: allowing manufacturers to supply, and distributors to receive, price updates in a single, standardized format; improving operating efficiencies and accuracy by eliminating manual re-keying; and reducing transaction costs, administrative costs and time needed to transmit and upload updates.

In 2005, a joint PTDA-BSA task force was formed to address compliance issues and requests for program enhancements. Changes include: revised field names to better match common industry terminology; expanded field definitions and comments to address confusion over correct use and/or interpretation; improved nomenclature to flag new, obsolete and price-on-request products; and new fields for minimum order quantity, conditional price multiplier, conditional invoice price and user-friendly use.

PPIF supplemental documents also have been revised and expanded to clarify format use requirements; describe "Read Me" requirements and recommended content; provide examples of acceptable PPIF usage; and describe how to convert PPIF data to Excel or Access files.

In an effort to simplify PPIF implementation, the program includes two examples of fictitious companies, one power transmission company that produces several products, and one bearing manufacturer, which mimic actual experiences where some companies are able to extract and export more comprehensive data from their systems than others.

In a disclaimer, the associations note that, although PPIF v. 2.0 seems to have all the answers, there are still issues that continue to require discussion and negotiation as part of the manufacturer-distributor relationship, such as: whether new product lines and/or products will be carried by the distributor; any information not provided in PPIF by the manufacturers, but still desired by the distributor; and appropriate advance notice of updates.

A list of associations, distributor software providers and manufacturers who endorse the format, as well as more information, can be found at www.ptda.org/ppif.

kgriffiths@reedbusiness.com