UNSPSC CATEGORIES - CODES

At a former employer, we were investigating the use of UNSPEC. We learned that vendor can assign products using slightly different numbers and that someone has to maintain the information. There were alternatives to UNSPSC too.
In the end, there was not enough resources to fully manage the codes. I think using them is a good idea if you have the resources or want to use the codes using broad categories.

We have GHX's NuVia - one of the services from it is to provide UNSPSC codes. They maintain the version of the UNSPSC for us so I tend to upgrade the versions with Lawson version upgrades.

The benefits are mostly for our Value Analysis teams - they can see what we have in the item master by categories and analyze for quality/consolidation. The warehouse locations like them as descriptors and categories. We use NuVia's powersource to add items to the item master, so we upload at the add or update annually. We have never made an attempt to "keep up" with the versions or to require them for all items.

Sheri,
The short answer is that you can download an extract of the UNSPSC code set from the UNSPSC website (http://www.unspsc.org/). Membership offers access to past versions and the ability to have input into upcoming changes. Non-members can download the current version at a flat cost ($100 right now). It is pretty simple to take this Excel sheet and load it into the IC16.

How beneficial are they? We use UNSPSC codes to drive our expense information in the accounting string. Operating in the State of California, OSHPD has very specific requirements about how we, as a healthcare organization, report on our financials. The logic used to assign the expense information prior to implementing the UNSPSC code was highly subjective. Post implementation is has improved to mildly subjective. As 'lars' mentions, manufacturers and distributors can interpret the specific UNSPSC code differently.

The challenges we have, after three or so years of operations are as follows:
1 - Version management: Version 18 (something.something) was officially released a short while back. Our IC16 is 'mostly' Version 14.08 (with a sprinkling of 15, 16 and 17 thrown in). WW Grainger is, I believe, still sending Version 9 and other suppliers are all over the board (though mostly pretty current). With this in mind, a flat file, with basically a single instance of the UNSPSC code is not sufficient. I have submitted an enhancement request to Infor in two parts. A) That the IC16 be able to house multiple versions (basically adding the version ID to the key field combination. B) That they add one to several optional fields to house either the Default GL Category OR a Major/Minor Class combination (I prefer the default GL). C) A reference field for the default UNSPSC version somewhere in the Vendor/Vendor Locations screens. Obviously, there is a lot of additional programming to make this information operational, but it would add a lot of value to managing the UNSPSC.

2 - Scope of the Source/Reference Information: GHX has their Nuvia application. Novation, prior to Vizient, has been developing a similar tool. We currently use a MedAssets (Vizient) product and process to review and classify our items for UNSPSC (and some other data). The challenge is that they focus almost solely on Segment 42 (Medical Supplies) and ignore a lot of products outside of that range (or will only classify to the Segment and no further). This leaves a lot of items to your 'legacy' processes. We get by as it is, but it would be nice to have a far more comprehensive process.

Hope this helps,
Red

p.s. - KatV mentions using the UNSPSC codes for analytics, and we do that also.  From spend analytics for contract negotiation/reviews to Revenue Cycle reporting to has become one of the 'go to' classifications.

Thank you for all your input!