The GDSN is a network of certified data pools and a Global registryto exchange data between them. The Source data pool receives this data from data sourceand forwards it to a Global registry. The Recipient data pool, in turn, receives data from source data pool and forwards it to data recipient.

The maintenance of data articles always takes place at the Data source then the data is sent to the Source data pool. Certain important data articles are contained in the data pool includes: GTIN, GLN, GPC and Target Market

GLN   : Global location number

GTIN  : Global trade item number, EAN article code

GLP    : Global product classification

Target Market: what country is your product designed for?

The Source data pool registers the data received from a data source in the Global registry.
Note: the data source(the supplier) should determine to the Source data pool whether this information will be published to one customer (one GLN) or to a group of customers.

The data recipient (or a customer) sends a subscription (a subscription is a request to receive article data). It is possible to subscribe to specific Target market, GLN, GLP or GTIN. Of course, the Source data pool must be supplied with that information. This is why the Global registry forwards the subscription to the Source data pool.

After a successful match between subscription and publication, the message is sent to the data recipient in the form of CIN standard ?catalogue Item notification?.

After the data recipient receives the required data, he/she sends a confirmation called CIC (catalogue item confirmation) which means the data is accepted.

To avoid any problems, the article data will be automatically synchronized. If certain data changes the Data Source (or supplier) must notify the source data pool and the source data pool will, in turn, synchronize with the recipient data pool and the updated article data is forwarded to the data recipient.

The subscription and publication can take place at different times. The customer can subscribe to product C and the information he/she needs has not been published yet. This means he/she will have to wait for publication.

When is the Article Data automatically synchronized?

When the subscription and publication are successfully matched.

THE GLOBAL DATA SYNCHRONIZATION NETWORK (GDSN): ACTORS

• Data Source
• Source Data Pool
• Global Registry
• Recipient Data Pool
• Data Recipient.

Data Recipient

• Typically a Retailer
• Requests trade item information through the Global Registry
• Can ?subscribe? to specific: items, categories, Data Sources, Target Market, etc.
•   Will receive any updates to trade items previously published to them
• Will receive the trade item information in any format agreed to with the Recipient Data Pool.

Source Data Pool

• Renders Validation Services
• Collects trade item information from Data Sources to be registered with the Global Registry
• Uses EAN.UCC Standard XML Messages in order to register the trade item information with the Global Registry
• Uses EAN.UCC Standard XML Messages to exchange trade item information with the Recipient Data Pool.

Recipient Data Pool

• Provides Validation Services
• Notifies the Global Registry when it?s customer (Data Recipient) desires to subscribe to trade item information from a Data Source
• Receives updates to the trade item information from the Source Data Pool
• Provides the trade item information from the Source Data Pool to the Data Recipient.

Global Registry

• Provides Validation Services to ensure uniqueness
• Contains basic Party information to identify the actors and their roles
• Does not contain all trade item information
• Is not the world repository of all trade item information.

GDSN STEP BY STEP PLAN:

1.    Load Data: The vendor (data source) registers product and company information in its data pool.
2.    Register Data: A small subset of this data is then sent to the GS1 Global Registry.

3.    Subscription Request: The buyer (data recipient), through its data pool, subscribes to a vendor's GLN, product category (GPC), target market, or GTIN to receive the corresponding product and company information. Using the GS1 Global Registry, the vendor?s data pool containing the requested item and location information is identified and the subscription is forwarded to that buyer?s data pool.

4.    Publish Data: The vendor?s data pool then publishes the complete item and party information to the buyer via the buyer?s data pool.

5.    Recipient Confirmation: The buyer then sends a confirmation to the vendor through the buyer?s data pool directly to the vendor?s data pool. Simply, it informs the supplier of the action taken by the retailer on the item information.