AAIA ACES Data Standard -- Fit Happens

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

AAIAACES Data Standard…Fit Happens

Gigi HoFounder & Data GoddessDigital Performance [email protected]

Seminar Overview

This seminar will help anyone who depends on electronic catalogs to match parts to specific vehicles or engines to understand how to use industry application standards and provide their customers with more accurate application data.

This seminar will also help explain the differences between AAIA Legacy and ACES data standards.

Seminar Overview

■What is AAIA?

■Why do we need Data Standards?

■Where does PIES Standard fit in?

■What are a few industry and data terms?

■What is Legacy?

■What is the ACES Data Standard?■ History■ VCdb■ PCdb■ Qdb

What is AAIA?

■Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association

■23,000 members and affiliates

■Parts Manufacturers

■Equipment Manufacturers

■Retailers and Distributors

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

Why should you care?

Why do we need standards?

Vehicle Applications

2010 Chevy CamaroNew Camaro‘10 Camero2010 Chevrolet Camaro


02 Sensor

Part Applications

Lambda SensorOxygen Sensor


Invalid Applications = Lost Sale$

■ AAIA Legacy: original AAIA electronic catalog standard for vehicle year, make, model, and engine in a flat file format.

■ ACES (AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard): current electronic cataloging standard comprised of vehicle year, make, model, engine and additional vehicle attributes in a relational database in an XML format.

■ PIES (Product Information Exchange Standards): standardized fields of product information, like part number, descriptions, price, dimensions, etc., in an XML format.

■ Delimited Text File: an array of data separated by any character; most common delimiters are tabs, commas, and vertical bars (aka, “pipe”). This is a flat file format.

■ XML (Extensible Mark-up Language): tags that define and validate data and facilitate transmission and interpretation of data between organizations.

Let’s get the terms down

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

Enter the Data…standards

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

Product data standard is used for trading between you and your business partners.

■Brand Identification

■Part Number

■Part Type

■Part Description

■Pricing

■Universal Product Code (UPC)

■Dimensions and Weight

■Images

Sample PIES Product Fields

■Part Numbers■ No special characters (*, /, $, ”, etc.)

■Descriptions■ Make them descriptive of the part and not just what vehicle it fits.

■UPC/GTIN■ Without this, your products can sit up to 72 hours before going to

the shelf

■Images■ Minimum 400x400 pixels at 72dpi -- find out your customers’

needs■ White background■ Leave between 5-15 pixels around border■ Keep shadows to a minimum

■Pricing■ Make sure your pricing is current

Key product fields

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Application (aka, vehicle fitment) data is used to determine what your part is and which vehicle or vehicles your parts fit.

What is Legacy?

■The original Vehicle Application Standard■ Introduced in 1997■ 14 data fields covering vehicle and engine

information■ Tied to a 7-digit ID number – “Legacy ID”

What is Legacy?

■Part Type Table■ List of parts compiled by the aftermarket

community■ Undisciplined■ Vague

■Switch■Sensor

What is Legacy?

■Legacy is…an old or outdated computer hardware, software or data that, while still functional, does not work well with up-to-date systems.

■Legacy’s sunset date is December 2012.

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

What is the ACES Data Standard?

ACES Data Standard

■ACES is the current Vehicle Application Standard■ Introduced in 2003■ Published monthly■ Comprised of 3 databases

■VCdb – Vehicle Configuration database■PCdb – Parts Categorization database■Qdb – Qualifier database

ACES Data Standard

■VCdb – Vehicle Configuration database■ Published monthly■ 49 data fields covering:

■Vehicle■Engine■Bed Length & Bed Style■Body Style & Body Code■Brake■Drive Type■Steering■Suspension■Transmission■Wheelbase

ACES Data Standard

■VCdb also classifies vehicle types:■ Car, Truck & Van (USA, Canada & Mexico)■ Medium Duty■ Agricultural Equipment■ Class 8 Trucks■ Powersports■ Lawn & Garden■ more to come…

ACES Data Standard

■Vehicle■ Year, Make and Model

■Base Vehicle is the minimum level of detail required to deliver an ACES application

ACES Data Standard

■Engine■ 22 data fields making up an Engine

Configuration■ Tied to Vehicle■ Linked to the Legacy Table

ACES Data Standard

■Transmission■ 6 data fields making up a Transmission

Configuration■ Tied to Vehicle

ACES Data Standard

■Brake■ 5 data fields making up a Brake Configuration■ Tied to Vehicle

ACES Data Standard

■Steering■ 2 data fields making up a Steering


ACES Data Standard

■Suspension■ 2 data fields making up a Spring Configuration■ Tied to Vehicle

ACES Data Standard

■Body Style■ 2 data fields making up a Body Style


ACES Data Standard

■Manufacturer Body Code■ 1 data field■ Tied to Vehicle

ACES Data Standard

■Bed Length & Bed Style■ 2 data fields making up a Bed Configuration■ Tied to Vehicle■ For pickup trucks only

ACES Data Standard

■Drive Type■ 1 data field■ Tied to Vehicle

ACES Data Standard

■Wheelbase■ 1 data field■ Tied to Vehicle■ For trucks and vans only

ACES Data Standard

■Vehicle Configuration■ Ties all the VCdb components together■ USA vehicles only

ACES Data Standard

■Details of coverage for vehicle data fields■ 1985 – Current model year

■All VCdb attributes including Vehicle Configuration

■ 1975 – 1984■All VCdb attributes except for Vehicle Configuration

■ 1950 – 1974■Vehicle and Engine only

■ 1896 – 1949■Vehicle only

ACES Data Standard

■Other Motive■ Vehicle and Engine only■ USA vehicles only

ACES Data Standard

■New vehicle data research sources■ Vehicle manufacturer media sites■ OEM service information■ OEM parts information■ Consumer sites (e.g., AutoTrader, Edmunds,

etc.)■ New vehicles within 30 days of sale

ACES Data Standard

■PCdb – Parts Categorization database■ Published 2 time each month■ Comprised of 5 tables

■Category■Sub-category■Part Terminology■Position■CodeMaster ties it all together

ACES Data Standard

■Qdb – Qualifier database■ Published as needed■ Comprised of 2 tables

■Qualifier■Qualifier Type

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

What do standardized data exports look like?

<Item MaintenanceType="A”><HazardousMaterialCode>N</HazardousMaterialCode><PartNumber>ABC123</PartNumber><BrandAAIAID>BXYZ</BrandAAIAID><BrandLabel>Flowmaster</BrandLabel><PartTerminologyID>10727</PartTerminologyID><Descriptions>

<Description LanguageCode="EN" MaintenanceType="A" DescriptionCode="MKT">The marketing description is often the feature points of the product or part.</Description>

</Descriptions><Packages>

<Package MaintenanceType="A”><PackageLevelGTIN>700042055555</PackageLevelGTIN><Dimensions UOM="IN”>

<Height>12</Height><Width>17</Width><Length>66</Length>

</Dimensions><Weights UOM="PG”>

<Weight>49.4</Weight></Weights>

</Package></Packages>. . .

PIES XML Sample

<App id=“1” action=“A”><BaseVehicle id=“3109” /><SubModelID id=“450” /><EngineBase id=“417” /><Position id=“12” /><Transmission id=“1197” /><Note>65-9/68</Note><Qty>1</Qty><PartType id=“10727” /><Part>GHI1001</Part>

</App><App id=“2” action="A”>

<BaseVehicle id="3464” /><Position id=“12” /><BedType id=”5” /><Note>65-9/68</Note><Qty>1</Qty><PartType id="2864"/><Part>GHI1002</Part>

</App>

ACES XML Sample

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

…but beautiful to the computer systems that

process them.

They’re ugly to our eyes…

CATALOGING SOFTWARE

…when someone is asking for your “electronic data”

What NOT to send…

Excel spreadsheets made for human eyes

LIGHT TRUCK/SUVMAKE//MODEL DRIVE TRAIN YEAR

ACURA SLX 96-99CADILLAC Escalade (Exc. Elect. Susp.) 99-00CHEVROLET Astro Van 2WD 85-04AWD 90-04Blazer (Full Size) 2WD 73-83 69-72 4WD 92-94 73-91(With Quad susp.) 81-91Blazer (S series) 2WD 83-034WD 83-03S10 Pickup 2WD 83-02

Why not this? – This *looks* great, but is completely unreadable by a computer, and therefore, will not be loaded into your customer’s inventory system for a looooong time...if ever.

Fields of mixed product information

Nissan Pulsar Pulsar N14 10/91-9/95 excl GTiR

Nissan Pulsar Pulsar N14 GTiR 91-96 turbo Awd



Nissan Pulsar Pulsar N15 10/95-6/00




Nissan Pulsar Pulsar N16 00-on sedan hatch






Nissan Pulsar Pulsar N13 7/87-9/91 sedan hatch 1.6l, 1.8l




Why not this? -- Sub-model, year range, and fitment notes are all crammed into one cell! Again, completely unreadable by a computer.

PDF Pages, Catalogs, Guides…PDFs.

■AAIA Technology Standards & Solutions Committee■ Scott Luckett, VP and Committee Liaison

■[email protected]

■SEMA Business Technology Committee■ Staci Bostock, BTC Staff Liaison

■[email protected]

■Websites and Bookmark Tool■ AAIA - www.aftermarket.org/Technology.aspx■ ACES – www.enhancedstandard.com■ SEMA - www.sema.org/btc■ NAFTA - http://bit.ly/wfuwU

Resources for Data Standards

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.aftermarket.org/Technology.aspx

http://www.enhancedstandard.com/

http://www.sema.org/btc

http://bit.ly/wfuwU

AAIA ACES Data Standard -- Fit Happens

Automotive

Transcript of AAIA ACES Data Standard -- Fit Happens