GDSN™ Certification Program
What is GDSN Certification?
View GDSN Certification Definitions
The exchange of standard and proprietary information can only be achieved if all data pools and the GS1 Global Registry conform rigorously to certification standards for technological and operational performance so that the reliability and security of the entire network is commercially credible.
As a result, there are many criteria with which the data pools and the GS1 Global Registry have to comply to be GDSN-certified and, therefore, allowed to join the network. These criteria include conformity to GS1 System standards, confidentiality and integrity of user information, plus interoperability. In order to be certified, data pools and the GS1 Global Registry have to comply with the Global Validation Rules, the Global Search functionality and the GDSN Certification Criteria.
- Technical Performance: The data pool must pass the GS1 GDSN Interoperability Tests for mandatory functionality as contained in the GDSN Certification Event process for a given certification event. Where a data pool offers optional functionality, the optional functionality must also pass the GS1 GDSN Interoperability Tests as contained in the GDSN Certification Event process. This testing is currently administered by the Drummond Group. Each certified data pool must maintain production-level connections to all other certified data pools, post certification. This will help ensure a fully interoperable GDSN landscape to meet business needs of retailers and manufacturers globally.
- Operational Performance: The data pool must show Demonstrated Capability through active use of the network. Demonstrated Capability will be defined as, and measured by, the “the number of trading partner relationships which the data pool enables through the exchange of information in the network”. A minimum threshold of 50 trading partner relationships is set for the metric. (Example – If a source data pool has two suppliers that have registered their GLNs and GTINs at the GS1 Global Registry and each of those suppliers have five retailers that have subscribed to those GTINs, then that source data pool would be supporting ten trading partner relationships). If a data pool is serving as both source and recipient and the sync is taking place through the Global Registry, then this requirement is met for that single data pool. If a data pool total customer base is not large enough to achieve the operational performance threshold (e.g. 30 suppliers or retailers), then the data pool will not be held accountable to this measure until their customer base reaches this capacity.
- Implementation Performance: The data pool must demonstrate commitment to driving community adoption of the GDSN. Demonstrated Commitment is defined as, and measured by, “the ratio of the number of trading partners contracted with the GS1 Global Registry from a Certified Data Pool versus the number of those contracted trading partners that are subscribing to, or registering items in, the GS1 Global Registry.” A minimum threshold for this ratio is 25 percent. (Example – if a data pool has 1,000 trading partners contracted for data pool services, 250 of them need to be subscribing to, or registering items in the GR.
- Data Pool Service Level Compliance: The data pool must demonstrate cooperation within the GDSN from the perspective of notifying other data pools of DP software upgrades; responding to issues/trouble tickets in a timely manner; and transfer of trading partners from one DP to the next.
- Security Performance: The data pool must pass a security review performed by an independent third party security audit firm. Certification must be scalable to include new or additional technical requirements around security and auditing of sensitive relationship dependent data. Once that review is completed and the data pool has passed, documentation must be shared with GS1 GDSN, Inc. The GDSN Architecture Committee will be engaged with a User Group Project Team to address security performance within data pool environments and between data pools.
GDSN Certification Definitions
GS1 Data Pools
GS1 certified data pools are electronic catalogues of standardised item data. They serve both as a source and/or recipient of master data, and can be run by a GS1 Member Organisation, supplier, customer, and exchange or service provider. The latest list of GDSN certified data pools is always available on the GS1 Global website.
GS1 Global Registry
The GS1 Global Registry is the GDSN's "yellow pages directory" that:
- Provides information for subscription sharing
- Enables data pool interoperability
- Guarantees uniqueness of the registered items and parties
- Ensures that all data pools in the network are complying with a common basic set of validation rules that support data integrity in the system
- Holds the information about who has subscribed to trade item or party data
