1. Using Product Master Data Management
  2. How Items are Matched

How Items are Matched

Items that are created during import or through the application go through global trade item number (GTIN) and trading partner item (TPI) matching in addition to attribute matching as part of data quality checks.

Matching Flows

Here's a summary of when and how items are matched:

  • In the Product Information Management work area, potential duplicates are shown:

    • When the item is created through the Create Item task.

    • When the item is updated through the Manage Items task and the Edit Item page.

    • For each item being created or updated, the data quality matching check runs, and:

      • Identifies any potential duplicates

      • Presents potential item duplicates to the user in the Data Quality dialog box, where the Matching region shows all the similar duplicate items that have the same values

      • Prevents possible item duplicates, based on the value of the profile option Allow New Item Creation When a Item Match is Found (EGI_ALLOW_ITEM_CREATE_DQ_MATCH_FOUND)

    • The duplicates are identified based on:

      • Matching attributes

      • Trading partner items associated with the item that are being updated

  • During the flow of items being imported, potential duplicates are shown:

    • In the Data Quality subtab of the In-Progress tab of the Item Batches page.

      This display allows the product data steward to select one of the items and allows the steward to update entity values based on import data.

    • During import, the steward selects one of the matching items to allow the import to update the attribute values of the matched item instead of changing the item provided in the import.

Tip: The essential purpose of presenting users with potential duplicates is to make them consciously decide whether or not to create a duplicate item.

Matching During Updates

Matching is only performed when one of these entities is updated, either by user action, import, or rules.

  • Matching attributes that are associated with the item.

  • Trading partner item (TPI) data associated with the item: Manufacturer Part Number, Supplier Part Number, Competitor Part Number, or Customer Part Number.

  • Global trade item number (GTIN): By default, the same combination of GTIN and UOM can't be added to multiple items in Product Hub. If the UOM is different, then the same GTIN can't be associated with multiple items.

  • Spoke system items: By default, the same spoke item can't be added to multiple items in Product Hub. This only applies to batches that are not from the Product Information Management Data Hub spoke.

Enable Matching During Updates

You enable must enable matching during updates to determine whether potential duplicates are shown to the user and what actions can be performed by the user.

To enable matching during updates:

  1. Opt in to the feature Check for Item Match Upon Item Update.

  2. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, use the Manage Data Quality for Products Profile Options task:

    • Offering: Product Management

    • Functional Area: Items

    • Task: Manage Data Quality for Products Profile Options

  3. Edit the profile option Allow New Item Creation When a Item Match is Found (EGI_ALLOW_ITEM_CREATE_DQ_MATCH_FOUND).

  4. At the desired Profile Level, set the Profile Value to Yes to allow duplicate items to exist, either by creating a new item or updating an existing item.

  5. Save the profile option value.

How GTIN and TPI Matching Is Processed

Items that are created during import or through the Create Item task go through global trade item number (GTIN) and trading partner item (TPI) matching in addition to attribute matching as part of data quality checks.

The data quality check first attempts to match items based on the spoke system item number, if the spoke system is not Product Information Management Data Hub. If no existing cross-references are found, data quality check then performs matching in the following sequence:

  1. GTIN

  2. Supplier Part Number

  3. Manufacturer Part Number

  4. Customer Part Number

  5. Competitor Part Number

Once a match is found, the matching program stops and will not continue to the next match type. Data quality then checks for matches defined at the item class. The spoke system cross reference is created and is used in update cases.

For GTIN matching, an internal item is identified as a match if the GTIN of the incoming item exists as a GTIN cross reference on an internal item and the pack type of the incoming item is the same as that of the internal item. When creating items with a GTIN cross reference, the reference is used to match against existing items with GTIN cross references. Then you can accept the match and choose to update the existing item with the new data or ignore the match and create it as a new item.

For TPI matching, supplier, manufacturer, customer, or competitor items are considered a match only when the trading partner and trading partner item associated to the internal item are the same as the incoming item. When creating items with TPI associations, they are used to match against existing items with the TPI associations. Then you can accept the match and update the existing item with the new data or ignore the match and create it as a new item.

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