IDEA Marks Manufacturer Milestones in Data Certification Program Excellence

Industry Data Exchange Association, Inc. (IDEA), Arlington, Va.,  recently announced the first quality milestone of its Data Certification Program. Twenty two electrical manufacturers have achieved programmatic excellence for their compliant (complete and fully attributed) items in the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW), one month into the quality phase of the Data Certification Program.

“As these manufacturers supply more complete product attributes, marketing content, and pricing information to the IDW, they’re improving recognition of their brands throughout the supply chain and making business easier,” said Paul Molitor, president and CEO, IDEA, in a press release. “The manufacturers who have already provided high-quality product information are ahead of the game and have truly set the bar for the type of quality content distributors can expect to find in the IDW.”

IDEA’s Data Certification Program measures the breadth, depth, and quality of pricing information and marketing content available in the IDW at the item level by assessing 43 critical data fields. Since the program launched in 2015, the primary focus had been on manufacturers achieving compliance by completely populating each of the 43 critical fields for their IDW items.

The count of compliant electrical products in the IDW data warehouse rose from an initial 16,000 items to 1.5 million items today, and electrical manufacturers continue to work toward achieving and maintaining compliance.

In 2016, IDEA kicked off the second phase of the Data Certification Program, programmatic excellence, in which a manufacturer’s compliant items are subjected to quality checks based on industry standards and best practices. By Oct. 1, all compliant items must also pass the programmatic excellence quality check. Once an item has reached compliance and programmatic excellence, it will undergo a final visual quality check, at which point, it will be identified as “IDEA Data Quality Certified.”

The 22 electrical manufacturers who have achieved at least 95% compliance and programmatic excellence for their IDW items are on their way toward full data certification. The manufacturers are:

Allied Moulded Products, Anamet Electrical, Appleton Group, Atkore–AFC Cable Systems, Bridgeport Fittings, Construction Innovations, DuraGuard, Eaton’s Cooper Lighting Business, Eaton’s Cooper Lighting Business Canada, Electri-Flex Co., FLIR Systems, Forest Lighting, Hubbell–Burndy, Lutron Electronics, Milbank Manufacturing, NSI Industries, PULS, Ronk Electrical, Shat-R-Shield, Universal Lighting Technologies, Wheatland Tube Co.–Picoma, and Wheatland Tube.