Review of the common descriptive terms used in cataloging Electrical cable, Wire and Assemblies.

The not for profit Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA) announced today a review of the Item Identification Guide for ELECTRICAL CABLE, CORD, HARNESSES, LEADS, WIRE AND ASSEMBLIES. Companies that make or supplies items in these categories are invited to participate in this project to ensure that the eOTD contains the common descriptive terms they need to correctly and accurately describe and differentiate their products and related services in sourcing, inventory, electronic catalogs and procurement applications.

The not for profit Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA) announced today a review of the Item Identification Guide for ELECTRICAL CABLE, CORD, HARNESSES, LEADS, WIRE AND ASSEMBLIES.

Companies that make or supplies items in these categories are invited to participate in this project to ensure that the eOTD contains the common descriptive terms they need to correctly and accurately describe and differentiate their products and related services in sourcing, inventory, electronic catalogs and procurement applications.

The ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD) is used to simplify cataloging by defining common terms used to describe items of supply. The eOTD goes beyond simple classification to provide 60,000 Standard Item Names and 30,000 Standard Attribute Names that dramatically simplify the task of differentiating items of supply, the key to success in any cataloging project.

The eOTD combines the expertise and work of the members of a leading non-profit association focused on building open standards for content and is based on the Federal Catalog System taxonomy. This taxonomy, which was initially developed at the end of WWII, was redefined by the 1952 Defense Cataloging and Standardization Act (Public Law 82- 436) that mandated a single Federal supply cataloging system. It represents over 5,000 man-years invested in cataloging and is used today in over 50 countries to manage over 16 million item specifications referenced by globally unique National/NATO Stock Numbers (NSN).

The eOTD is an open standard and there are no license fees associated with its use or redistribution. Membership in ECCMA is required to request or vote on changes to the eOTD.

Commenting on the eOTD, Peter Benson, Chief Technical Officer of ECCMA, stated, The Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) has one of the most experienced cataloging teams ever assembled, and their expertise has contributed greatly toward achieving an open standard descriptive language that can be used to improve inventory management in both the public and private sector."

Editors Notes:
ECCMA (Electronic Commerce Code Management Association) is a not for profit membership organization focused on the development and management of Open Standards for Content Management www.eccma.org.
Media Contact Mr. Dan King, (610) 861-5990, Dan.King@ECCMA.org

DLIS (Defense Logistic Information Service), a major field activity of the Defense Logistics Agency, creates, obtains, manages and integrates logistics data from a variety of sources for dissemination as user-friendly information to Department of Defense, Federal and international logisticians www.dlis.dla.mil.
Media contact: Mr. Tim Hoyle, (269) 961-7019.