The latest United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC) code set Version 26 has been published at www.Unspsc.org

Griha Software Technologies has analysed the impact of updates on the latest version. Supply chain decision makers also need to plan for any category changes across their ERP and various supply chain systems.

UNSPSC v26 Impact

A new version v26.0801of the Unspsc Code Set has been released to the community.  The new version release contains 511 changes, including 449 new items and 56 edits to existing ones. It contains 158,449 items in total.

Changes have impacted each level of the UNSPSC Taxonomy as follows:

The changes are affecting a wide range of product categories, services, and industries.

• Healthcare services and medical equipment, accessories, supplies
• Tools, general machinery
• Industrial cleaning services, manufacturing machinery and supplies
• Office equipment, accessories, supplies
• Apparel, luggage, and personal care products
• Distribution and conditioning systems and equipment components
• Live plant, animal material, accessories, supplies
• Paper materials, products
• Service industry machinery, equipment, supplies
• Vehicles, accessories, components
• Many Services Segments

Healthcare and regulatory organizations are the major contributors to this release.

Background

The UNSPSC product classification code set has four levels of hierarchy – Segment, Family, Class, Commodity – and is formatted as an eight-digit number. It has been managed by GS1 US since 2003.  According to the 2015 GS1 Product Classification in Healthcare whitepaper, there are more than 20 different systems used across the world for the classification of healthcare products. 

Importance of UNSPSC

The UNSPSC global classification system is the first taxonomy available to the healthcare industry that is an open standard, in addition to being comprehensive for all product types, free, and hierarchical.

External product classification is very pivotal role in the working of product master data management (MDM).  Even though UNSPSC is just one among several other product coding systems in healthcare (GMDN/HCPCS), it is one of the most widely adopted classification standard.

In response to growing demand for additional coverage, the UNSPSC has increasingly developed its code set for medical devices and pharmaceutical products as well as other categories. This has resulted in many countries require UNSPSC use as part of their government procurement systems. Currently, “GS1 Healthcare US recommends the use of UNSPSC for the classification of products in the U.S. market,” according to a GS1 Product Classification in Healthcare whitepaper. 

Healthcare providers reap multiple benefits from using the UNSPSC classification system, including:

• Strategic Supply Chain Management
• Purchasing Analysis and Control
• Leveraging Supplier Relationships to better Spend
• eProcurement Efficiency

Being able to source products faster and gain insights into spending patterns will help your organization create a more cost-effective procurement system.

Benefits of UNSPSC

Within healthcare, there is increased demand for item attributes, classification, and Item identifiers to help improve traceability and MDM. Having the most current enriched product attributes, including the UNSPSC, will help to addition of new items into the ERP and help in sourcing and procurement requirements. Having the latest UNSPSC code set associated with an Item inventory is the critical in identifying sourcing gaps and monitoring Item spend.

Providing accurate and enriched data enhances the end user experience while improving the accuracy and completeness of data across the supply chain and clinical enterprise. 

With accurately categorized parts, the organization can focus on sourcing issues and monitoring spend which in turn improves the supply chain.

Griha Software Technologies has experience of classifying more than 14 million UNSPSC items and is a UNSPSC Solutions Provider.

If you want to improve the supply chain spend analysis and classification, contact us.

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