0. INTRODUCTION
This specification provides the definition of the Product
inquiry message (PROINQ) to be used in Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI) between trading partners involved in
administration, commerce and transport.
1. SCOPE
1.1 Functional Definition
A message enabling the sender to inquire on a product or a
group of products from a master product catalog or file
according to criteria defined in the message.
1.2 Field of Application
The Product inquiry message may be used for both national and
international applications. It is based on universal practice
related to administration, commerce and transport, and is not
dependent on the type of business or industry.
1.3 Principles
The message usually relates to a manufacturer and/or a supplier
of goods and a buyer, or their respective agents.
The buyer may specify in the message the attributes of a
product or group of products for which additional information
is required. This will allow a manufacturer and/or supplier to
send the requester only information for those products the
requester is specifically interested in rather than the entire
product catalogue.
The Product inquiry message may request information in order
to:
- select a specific group or family or products from a supplier
entire product catalogue, e.g. a buyer requesting a supplier of
medical equipment all product information related to sterilized
products.
- select a product or group of products according to attributes
or product characteristics as defined by the sender in the
message, e.g. a retailer requesting a clothing manufacturer to
send product information for all blue, white or stripped men's
shirts, sizes medium to extra-large.
- determine the availability, lead-time and/or general
commercial and/or sales conditions for a specific product.
The response to a product inquiry message will be either a
Price/sales catalogue (PRICAT) or Product data message
(PRODAT).
PROINQ shall not be used to request a code.
2. REFERENCES
See UNTDID, Part 4, Chapter 2.6 UN/ECE UNSM - General Introduction,
Section 1.
3. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
3.1 Standard terms and definitions
See UNTDID, Part 4, Chapter 2.6 UN/ECE UNSM - General Introduction,
Section 2.
4. MESSAGE DEFINITION
4.1 Data Segment Clarification
This section should be read in conjunction with the Segment
Table which indicate mandatory, conditional and repeating
requirements.
The following guidelines and principles apply to the whole
message and are intended to facilitate the understanding and
implementation of the message:
- All specified dates and/or times should be in the format
'yymmdd'/'hhmm' unless all parties involved in the transaction
agree that there is a functional requirement for an alternative
format.
- Periods should be specified as whole numbers representing the
required period as indicated in the format qualifier (weeks,
months, etc.).
- Where a choice of code or text is given only the code element
should be used wherever possible.
- Conditional data that is not required in the message should
not be included.
- Care must be taken that the segment qualifier in dependent
segments do not conflict with the segment qualifier of the
trigger segment of a group.
4.1.1 Header section
Information to be provided in the Header section:
0010 UNH, Message header
A service segment starting and uniquely identifying a message.
The message type code for the Product inquiry message is
PROINQ.
Note: Product inquiry messages conforming to this document must
contain the following data in segment UNH, composite S009:
Data element 0065 PROINQ
0052 D
0054 97A
0051 UN
0020 BGM, Beginning of message
A segment by which the sender must uniquely identify the
Product inquiry message by means of its number.
0030 DTM, Date/time/period
A segment specifying general dates and, when relevant, times
related to the whole message. The Product Inquiry message
preparation date must be specified using this segment.
0040 CUX, Currencies
A segment identifying the currency in which all product prices
are expressed in the Product inquiry message.
0050 Segment group 1: NAD-SG2
A group of segments identifying the parties with associated
information relevant to the whole Product inquiry message.
0060 NAD, Name and address
A segment identifying names and addresses of the parties, in
coded or clear form, and their functions relevant to the
Product inquiry message. Identification of the requesting
party and the party asked for information is mandatory for
the Product inquiry message. It is recommended that where
possible only the coded form of the party ID should be
specified e.g. the sender and receiver of the report are
known to each other, thus only the coded ID is required, but
when a new address might have to be clearly specified, this
should be done preferably in structured format.
0070 Segment group 2: CTA-COM
A group of segments giving contact details of the specific
person or department within the party identified in NAD
segment.
0080 CTA, Contact information
A segment to identify a person or department, and their
function, to whom communications should be directed.
0090 COM, Communication contact
A segment to identify a communications type and number
for the contact specified in the CTA segment.
0100 Segment group 3: RFF-DTM
A group of segments for giving references and where necessary,
their dates, relating to the whole message e.g. contract
number.
0110 RFF, Reference
A segment identifying the reference by its number and where
appropriate a line number within the document.
0120 DTM, Date/time/period
A segment specifying the date and/or time related to the
reference.
4.1.2 Detail section
Information to be provided in the Detail section:
0130 Segment group 4: LIN-SG5-SG6
A group of segments identifying the product or attributes of
the product for which information is required.
0140 LIN, Line item
A segment specifying the inquiry request line and if
available, the identification of the product or service for
which the inquiry is being made.
0150 Segment group 5: CCI-CAV-MEA
A group of segments providing product characteristics and
values or measurements associated with the characteristics.
Repeating CCI segments provide additional characteristics
e.g. colour, size, pattern (AND linkage).
Repeating CCI segments provide a choice of characteristic
values (OR linkage).
0160 CCI, Characteristic/class id
A segment to identify a product characteristic and/or the
characteristic name and characteristic relevance for the
business process.
0170 CAV, Characteristic value
A segment to specify product characteristic by value in
either coded form or in free format.
0180 MEA, Measurements
A segment indicating characteristic values being physical
measurements (including measurable quantities and
percentages) related to specific product characteristic
(e.g. voltage, percentage of material contained) and
where relevant measurement ranges.
The MEA segment is repeatable to allow the indication of
a number of applicable measurable values, for example one
electric appliance may be suitable for different
voltages: 110V, 220V, 240V and 380V.
0190 Segment group 6: IRQ-PIA-IMD-MEA-NAD-PGI-DTM-SG7
A group of segments specifying the type of requested
information and optionally product identification(s),
measurements, parties related to the product, dates and
price ranges.
0200 IRQ, Information required
A segment specifying the type of information requested by
the Product inquiry message, e.g. a price/sales
catalogue, allowances and charges information, delivery
lead times, etc.
0210 PIA, Additional product id
A segment providing either additional identification to
the product specified in the LIN segment or providing a
substitute product identification.
0220 IMD, Item description
A segment for describing the product or service inquired.
This segment should be used for products that cannot be
fully identified by an article number.
0230 MEA, Measurements
A segment specifying the physical measurements for a
product.
0240 NAD, Name and address
A segment identifying the name and address of a party
related to the product for which an inquiry is being
made, e.g. supplier, ultimate customer, etc.
0250 PGI, Product group information
A segment specifying product or price group information
requested for the current product.
0260 DTM, Date/time/period
A segment identifying relevant dates or periods for a
product, e.g. availability date, lead time, delivery
date, etc.
0270 Segment group 7: PRI-RNG
A group of segments providing pricing information and
price ranges for the product identified in the detail
section.
0280 PRI, Price details
A segment to specify the price type and amount, e.g.
proposed purchase price, suggested retail price, etc.
0290 RNG, Range details
A segment providing range information related to
prices, e.g. price range between 1000 - 1500 BEF.
0300 UNT, Message trailer
A service segment ending a message, giving the total number of
segments in the message and the control reference number of the
message.
4.2 Data segment index (Alphabetical sequence by tag)
BGM Beginning of message
CAV Characteristic value
CCI Characteristic/class id
COM Communication contact
CTA Contact information
CUX Currencies
DTM Date/time/period
IMD Item description
IRQ Information required
LIN Line item
MEA Measurements
NAD Name and address
PGI Product group information
PIA Additional product id
PRI Price details
RFF Reference
RNG Range details
UNH Message header
UNT Message trailer
Contents of PROINQ