Industry Standards

We work to maintain industry standards.

BOSS Synergy Data Group

Our Synergy Group work to maintain industry standards by introducing consistent ways of operating in business.

Standard Data UniForm

UniForm is a data standard created by the BOSS Synergy Group. It was set up to reduce unnecessary data duplication and enable a more streamlined, unified format of data across vendors and resellers.

Industry Standard Product Classification

The Industry Standard Product Classification has created a common language for classifying office products. Using the same categories and cross-referencing codes means that cleaner, more accurate product and price file data can be maintained.

Unit of Sale

The unit of sale initiative has helped reduce anomalies and discrepancies on units of measure in the different tiers of the industry supply chain. As electronic trading has increased and the ability of Systems to match the same products from multiple suppliers, irrespective of the pack size; the standardising of pack sizes although preferred, is not as essential as in the past.

BOSS Sequence Product Descriptions

The enclosed document defines the sequence and format for product title descriptions. In the past, BOSS have restricted descriptions to 40 characters as this was the limit on many Systems. This resulted in many abbreviations which may be acceptable on picking notes and invoices but their use on the Internet should be avoided. All the main Software Providers have confirmed that their Systems can now accept longer title descriptions, it is however recommended that these are kept to a maximum of 60

Stock Feed Format

An Industry Standard to Deliver Stock Availability Data

EC Commodity Codes

Commodity codes classify goods for import and export so you can fill in declarations and other paperwork, check if there's duty or VAT to pay and find out about duty reliefs.

Research – BOSS_GfK Panelmarket Data.jpg 1

Standard Abbreviations & the Short Description Standard

With increased use of electronic information exchange, consistent, agreed, standard abbreviations are needed to assist searching and data synchronisation. Industry standard abbreviations have been developed which cover:

OPXML Best Practice Guide

This document is a guide to the use of opXML, a set of standard XML messages developed for the office products industry by a team of experts representing all parties within the industry supply chain. It is intended for use by technical staff responsible for implementing XML solutions for the office products industry.