AAIA announces opening of PIES Data Audit and Certification Service and Informative Webinar scheduled for May 13

The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), headquartered in Bethesda, Md., announced today that a new service is available to audit and certify product information compliance with the Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES). The Data Audit and Certification service (DAC) is provided in partnership with Comergent Inc, Redwood City, CA.

To explain how the DAC service works and describe the importance of perfect product information to the aftermarket industry, AAIA and Comergent will conduct an informative Webinar at 11:00 AM Eastern time, Thursday, May 13. Those interested in attending should register in advance by following the link on the e-commerce page at www.aftermarket.org.

The Product Information Exchange Standard is the industry standard template for nearly 200 fields of item level product information. The DAC service is available to test and certify that aftermarket suppliers are in compliance with the standard. These steps are critical to the long-term goal of industry-wide product information management and synchronization.

In 2003 AAIA performed a PIES pilot study of basic product data essential to automated ecommerce and found that errors in part number, UPC code, minimum order quantity, unit of measure and other fields contribute to $1.7 billion in annual wasted expense. This study served as a wake-up call for the industry and underscores the urgent need for an industry-wide campaign to cleanse product information and synchronize the data between suppliers and their trading partners.