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Voluntary Inter-Industry
Commerce Standards, or VICS
for short, is the name given
to two different groups, and
while they both serve the
retail community and share
many of the same member
companies, they are two
separate and distinct
organizations. Fortunately,
one of the groups has just
changed names so it should
be easier to keep them
straight in the future. If
you are a retailer or a
supplier to retail, the work
of these two groups is
critical to your survival,
so let’s sort it all out.
Mother VICS
VICS, or “Mother VICS” as
some affectionately refer to
it, began in 1986. Roger
Milliken, then Senior VP of
the Milliken Company, got
together with several
textile companies and their
major retail customers in an
attempt to make some sense
out of their diverse
business requirements.
Everything from hangers to
Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI) had different
proprietary requirements
from each retailer. Mr.
Milliken’s group wanted to
see if there were areas in
which the retailers could
agree on the rules, and
therefore, take unnecessary
expense out of the supply
chain.
VICS – EDI
Originally VICS stood for
“Communication Standards”,
not "Commerce Standards",
and EDI was a big part of
business-to-business
communication. In 1983 the
Uniform Code Council (UCC)
agreed to manage EDI
standards for the Uniform
Communications Standard
(UCS), which was the grocery
industry. In 1988 the UCC
also became the management
and administrative body for
retail EDI and created a
group named “VICS-EDI”. In
this capacity, UCC
committees, made up of
volunteers from user
companies, wrote guidelines
to help their respective
industries use the X12 EDI
standards (from the American
National Standards
Institute). ANSI X12
standards cover all
industries in North
America. VICS-EDI pared
down X12 EDI standards to
those applicable to retail,
while the UCS folks did the
same for grocery.
Although VICS and VICS-EDI
are two separate entities,
in 1998 the VICS Association
named the UCC as their
secretariat. The UCC
provides administration
resources to VICS to collect
dues, track membership, hold
committee meetings, print
their publications and put
on their annual conference.
So now we have two groups,
both nick-named “VICS” and
both run by the UCC. No
wonder people are confused!
Who Does What?
The VICS Association mission
statement remains consistent
with the vision of those who
began the organization:
The mission of the VICS
Association is to take a
global leadership role in
the ongoing improvement of
the flow of product, and
information about the
product, throughout the
entire supply chain in the
retail industry.
They carry out this mission
through working committees.
There are currently six
committees:
Floor Ready Merchandise
deals with hangers and
packaging guidelines. They
also recently submitted a
list of Non-Compliance
Reason Codes which will be
added to EDI maps.
Direct to Consumer
facilitates customers
ordering merchandise and
services in a multi-channel
environment, including the
internet.
The Logistics Committee
has done some excellent work
in providing us with the
standard VICS Bill of Lading
in both the globally unique
number itself, and on the
format of the BOL document.
They also publish the VICS
Voluntary Guidelines for the
Routing Guide.
The Internet Commerce
Committee tracks
internet standards to
determine which ones support
the VICS mission.
Collaborative Planning,
Forecasting and
Replenishment published,
in 2002, the VICS CPFR ®
Business Message Standards
and CPFR ® XML Schemas
provide guidelines for
exchanging forecast and
demand information between
trading partners. CPFR ® is
a registered trademark of
VICS.
The VICS Hardlines
E-Collaborative Commerce
Committee has been very
active in promoting the use
of common data standards,
trade item registration and
global data synchronization
in the hardlines industry.
Where current EAN.UCC
standards do not meet the
needs of the hardlines
industry, this group
requests changes to the
standards, and provides
education for their
constituents.
Although only VICS members
can vote, all committee
meetings are open to the
public and they welcome your
input. For more information
on their conferences, member
companies and committee
meetings, visit the VICS
website at
www.vics.org.
Maintaining EDI in North
America
Previously the UCC had three
Standards Maintenance
Committees for EDI. UCS
handled grocery, VICS-EDI
managed retail and I/C
created guidelines for the
Industrial / Commercial
sector. In 2002 the UCC and
the Electronic Council of
Canada joined
EAN-International to form
one, truly global
organization. Because X12
EDI, as we know it in North
America, is different than
EDIFact, the version of EDI
used throughout the rest of
the world, the UCC created a
regional committee
called XRG (X12 EDI
Requirements Group) to
handle “our EDI”. XRG
replaces the old VICS-EDI
Standard Maintenance
Committee, and now includes
representatives from all
three industries. They
continue to maintain EDI
guidelines for the U.S. and
Canada. Their meetings are
open to the public. They
generally meet via
teleconference twice a month
and you can review their
work in the UCC e-room. You
can find links to XRG and
the eRoom on their web site
at
www.uc-council.org.
Got It?
So the VICS Association
seeks out areas of concern
for the retail industry,
bringing together senior
management to form
committees to document
guidelines and best business
practices. XRG, previously
known as VICS-EDI, is the
group that maintains EDI
guidelines for North America
for retail, grocery and
industrial/commercial.
Participation in the
standards process in your
industry is a strategic
advantage for your company.
But more importantly, it is
a personal and professional
advantage for the
individuals who
participate. Get to know
your peers and help shape
the direction of your
Voluntary InterIndustry
Commerce Standards.
This is an updated, edited excerpt from an article
written for the Compliance
Advocate.
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