1. Cataloging in NATO Today and the Vision for Tomorrow
Logistics Data & IT Solutions
Defense Logistics Information Service
Welcome on behalf of the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) to this 2004 session of The Logistics Information Management Course for International Logisticians. Unofficially, we use the course name, NCB College.
My name is John Zellers and I am the program director for the implementation of the college.
In this session, I would like to review the training program and explain what to expect during the next eight weeks of instruction.
Please refer to the agenda and calendar in the student orientation binder. Before we review the agenda in detail, I would like to briefly cover the objectives and major parts to the training program.
Mr. Steven Arnett
Deputy Chief, International Cataloging Division
Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center
74 Washington Ave N Suite 7
Battle Creek, MI
(269)
DSN
FAX (269)

2. Overview of Presentation
History and scope of the NATO Codification System (NCS)
The current process of cataloging within the NCS
Vision for the future of the NCS with eOTD

3. What Is The Purpose Of NATO Codification?
To establish a common supply language throughout all logistic operations
To enable interoperability
To optimize resource management by minimizing duplication in inventories
The purpose of the NATO Codification is a ‘logistics and ‘inventory management’ tool. It fulfills two (2) fundamental objectives:
It enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of logistics interoperability within NATO and partner countries
It reduces overall logistics costs by preventing or identifying inventory duplication.
With a common supply language you facilitate logistic cooperation and interoperability at every international level between various disciplines (armed forces, industry, major international organizations, etc.) to support warfighting, peace keeping, and humanitarian operations.
When a Common Supply Logistics Language is NOT used, interoperability and readiness are adversely affected in the following ways:
It leads to multiple product databases containing different types of product information
It insures inconsistent naming and numbering to describe the same products
It creates duplicative/oversized inventories
It makes overpriced products more likely
It leads to item related codes being created with no meaning to customer or supplier
No central control over maintenance of codes/ classification leads to chaos

4. Codification Answers Logistics Questions
Characteristics?
How to store?
How to purchase?
What is it?
How to dispose?
How long to keep?
How to order?
Price?
How does the national catalog identify and create data elements which answer logistics questions of daily business…questions such as those shown on this chart?
We’ll look at some examples which I hope will make the process more understandable.
I want to emphasize that the data requirements added to the cataloging file are based on the business requirements and rules of the US system. Different business rules will drive a need for different data in different nations.
ANSWER = The NSN and reference related data
The questions are based on National requirements of logisticians!!!

5. Codification In Logistics
Specific pieces of Codification data are linked to the NSN to answer the repetitive questions which will need to be dealt with in the daily business of logistics.
For example, a unit involved in repairing equipment may need to answer the questions “where can I order this?” of “how much does it cost?”.
The procurement official will need to be able to request for procurement the engineering specifications in his solicitation for tender.
Someone in the warehouse may need to know if an item has hazardous content or a shelf-life.
The NSN is a key for use in business transactions such as ordering, turning-in, or managing inventory, and it is generally marked on the package in which the item is purchased.

6. The U.S. Cataloging System Today
ONE ITEM OF SUPPLY
SINGLE MANAGER
SINGLE NSN
DLA
NSN 1
In The Days of WWII
Each military service uses their own logistics “language”
DLA
The NAT0 System grew out of the US Federal Cataloging System which was established based on the lessons we learned in the Second World War. During World War II there was no common system for cataloging used between the military departments.
All the different agencies with their different identification systems resulted in overproduction, over-procurement and a waste of scarce resources. Worse, there were critical shortages of items, many of them basic, in the field. Yet there were in fact no real shortages, except the absence of a common identification system. A couple of examples: In 1939 one particular Anti-Friction bearing was held under 273 different stock numbers and a common nail used by all services was held under over 30 stock numbers.
The solutions came in the form of two U.S. Public Laws which mandated a single identifying number for each distinct item of supply.
Army
Marine Corps
Navy
Air Force
NSN 1
NSN 2
NSN 3
NSN 4
NSN 5
Potential for:
- Multiple NSNs, based on service and weapon system
- Multiple buying activities
- Multiple corporate contracts
- Loss of Interoperability/Asset Visibility
NATO
NSN 6
NSN 8
NSN ?
NSN 7

7. Codification Chronology
1945
1949
1952
1954
1956
1966
1974
1978
1991
1994
1999
2002
2006
WWII
PL152
SUPPLY CLASSIFICATION
US/UK/CA
CLASSIFICATION
PL436
CODIFICATION SYSTEM
STANAG 3150
NATO
STANAG 3151
DLSC
NCB CODE
CD-ROM
This chart shows the historic development of the NATO Codification System since World War II era, including the milestones that established the legal framework of the system.
This chart shows the chronological development of the NATO Codification System. The US system became a baseline for the one used in NATO today, and this chart shows the chronological development of the NATO Codification System.
Soon after the cataloging taxonomy was adopted by UK and the Commonwealth nations; then in the mid-1950s by NATO as the “NATO Codification System”. In its military application the system has been accepted under two NATO Standardization Agreements—STANAG 3150, Uniform System of Supply Classification, and STANAG 3151, Uniform System of Item Identification.
Since 1990, there has been a significant growth in international use of the NCS. Today, around 50 nations of the world are members or “sponsored members” of the NCS.
The decade of 2000 may be the decade in which we see the commercialization of the NCS standards…and their establishment as an ISO standard for use in electronic Commerce.
I’ve saved the most important initiative DLIS and AC/135 have going for the future for a brief introduction later on in this briefing. That initiative involves the partnership we have developed with Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA). ECCMA is a non-profit association dedicated to maintaining code standards for electronic commerce. It is member maintained and currently has about 1400 members, including many large and influential corporations like American Express, GM, Siemens, and the U.S. Postal Service. You will find extensive information about ECCMA at their Web site, at
DESERT
STORM
PFP
PACS
BASELOG
e-Commerce
eOTD / ISO 5

8. Costs Of A Weapon System
Fuel, spare parts, work...
acquisition costs
operations costs
If we look at the life cycle costs of a weapon system or another material system it is normally found that a third of all the costs are spend during the acquisition phase. The money here are spent on the big things and they are normally made available through a political decision and through specific budgets.
Often politicians find it hard to believe that they have to spend even more money on keeping the system operational or even scrap it but experience shows that about 2/3 of the life cycle costs are spent for this purpose and this is money that normally comes out of the operating budgets of the armed forces.
This money is spend on the small things, small things that represent a lot of money in value, storage space, availability, manpower etc.
1/3
2/3
Political decision =
specific budget
Operating budget
of the armed forces
Life cycle cost

9. NCS is Language Interoperable
ŚRUBA,MASZYNOWA Polish
BOLT,MACHINE English
BOUT, MACHINE Dutch
PERNO, TORNEADO Spanish
BULLONE PER METALLO Italian
SCHRAUBE MIT KOPF German
SVORNÍK, STROJNÍ Czech

10. Scope of the NCS 16 million NATO Stock Numbers have been assigned
7 million by the U.S. and 8 million by the other NATO countries
31 million reference numbers have been registered on these NSNs
These NSNs contain more than 22 million user registrations
1.5 million manufacturers and other organizations are registered
Each nation within NATO has a national catalog which meets their unique data needs, but there are also standard data segments which are used in common and can be exchanged between the nations.
In total, within the NCS there are:
Approximately 16 million active NATO Stock Numbers
(this includes approximately 7 million by the U.S. and 8 million by the other NATO countries)
There are approximately 30 million reference numbers registered on these NSNs
And there are approximately 1 million manufacturers and other organizations are registered with NATO CAGE Codes.
These NSNs contain more than 22 million national user registrations. Some items are only used by one nation, and others may be used in common by many nations.

11. Nations Using the NCS
This map shows the members and sponsored members of the NATO Codification System.
The blue nations represent the current members of NATO.
The yellow nations represent the “sponsored nations”. Very significantly, at the beginning of 2003, representatives of NATO and Russia met to sign a sponsorship agreement for Russian participation in the NCS.
The green nations are nonparticipating countries.
Other nations, such as Japan and China, take part as “observer nations” in the Pacific Area Cataloging System Forum (PACS Forum). The PACS Forum meets annually to encourage proliferation and use of the NCS throughout the Pacific.

12. Traditional NATO Cataloging
Data
Vendor
Design, Manufacturing and Enterprise Management Applications
Graphics
Documents
Structured Data
Acod-P1
Data
Data
NCS
ERP Application
NCB

13. Cataloguing Application
eOTD Enabled Cataloguing
Use eOTDi-XML as export filter
Allows NCB to define and publish their data requirements in terms of the data elements they need (FIIG in XML)
eOTD tagged Data
Vendor
eOTD export enabled Design, Manufacturing and Enterprise Management Applications
eOTDr-XML
eOTDi-XML
Segment V
data
Acod-P1
Data
Data
NCS
eOTDr-XML enabled
Cataloguing Application
NCB
Validation

14. Vision for the Future Common metadata through ISO 22745
What is impossible to do right now, but, if you could do it, would fundamentally change your business?
1990 Joel Arthur Barker
Cataloging at source (vendor supplied data)!
Common metadata through ISO 22745
an end to data mapping
Requirement specifications
an end to incomplete data
Data quality through ISO 8000
an end to inaccurate information
Lowers the cost of cataloging and increases long term data reliability!

15. How NATO Will Realize the Vision
NATO AC/135 is working with ECCMA, a defense company called Patria, and NCS application software providers on a project to apply the principles of eOTD and SSC to a weapons system:
The weapons system is called the Patria Armoured Modularized Vehicle (AMV)
The NCS software applications are SICAD Plus, N-CORE, AURA MC Catalogue, and OLCIMS
The National Codification Bureaus involved are Finland, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States (DLIS)
National softwares like ADAGIO (France), CENCAT3 (Australia), and ISIS (United Kingdom) may also be included in SSC Phase II
Bulleted Slide

16. eOTD Data Flow N-CORE ERP MC Catalogue Native CAD OLCIMS eOTD item
SICAD
Plus
STEP
CENCAT3
eOTD
Catalogs
on Web
National
Systems
ADAGIO

17. eOTD: Link to Industry Classifications
eOTD is Classification Neutral
ECCMA Standard Class Name
Used to access many classifications
ISIC HS
FSC / NSC
NOTES (09/19/05):
All of the various products, services and capabilities to be codified in the future will start with the naming process. The eOTD as implemented, will provide through its standard dictionary and terms of item names, the means for accessing and cross referencing many governmental and industrial classifications and taxonomy systems. In this manner it will apply a common understanding of concepts across the span of global languages.
Industry
Classifications
UNSPSC
NAICS
CPV

18. Benefits for Government
Opportunities for improvement of the NATO Codification System through increased industry participation
Promotes NCS approach as an ISO standard
Lower cost of cataloging: Reduction of labor hours
Higher quality data through direct import of manufacturers’ data
Goal: Electronic transfer of descriptive data from our suppliers and manufacturers to NCBs
Working with ECCMA offers significant benefits to our War Fighters, the DoD Supply Chain and NATO, a couple of which are shown on this chart.
We envision opportunities to improve the Federal Catalog System through an increased interface with industry as we collaborate on technical issues such as item names and attribute data for new technologies.
Working with ECCMA has allowed us expand our horizons, as the NATO Cataloging Community is sponsoring efforts to have the eOTD adopted as an international standard by ISO.
Our long term goal is to electronically interchange coded descriptive data between DoD and our suppliers to provide accurate, timely data for our customers, in the most efficient manner possible.
This concludes my briefing. Are there any questions?

19. Vision of the Future
The ultimate goal has been met: to provide a means of describing product data through the life cycle of a product, independent of any particular computer system
NOTES (09/16/05):
The ultimate goal is to provide a means of describing products through the life cycle of a product, independent of any computer system.

20. Towards an Enterprise IDE
Integrated Data Environment
How else does IDE contribute to asset visibility and overall interoperability?
Air
Force
Vision: the DOD logistics enterprise is executing practices, processes, applications, and decision support in an integrated logistics data environment, thereby achieving logistics data interoperability within a Net Centric Community of Interest (COI).
USMC
Navy
USTC
Allies
DLA
USCG
Enterprise Integrated
Data Environment
Army
Data Warehouse
NOTES (09/19/05):
Our coalition and joint warfighters need consolidated and fused information on materiel and in-transit visibility through a single portal. The Services and other DOD partners, which include commercial partners, other government agencies, and coalition partners would provide service unique information from authoritative sources. An EID environment would broker and rationalize the data from all the sources and ensure the warfighter is receiving accurate, timely, and consistent data whenever, and however it is requested.
Contemporary Systems
Asset
Visibility
Logistics data interoperability identified in FLOW99. Revalidated in FLOW01 and FLOW03.
Commercial Trading Partners
TODAY
Stovepipe systems
High cost
Limited data interoperability
TOMORROW
Eliminate stovepipes
Lower costs (reduced interfaces)
Enable system-wide interoperability
EIDE

21. Precision Logistics
Reducing footprint through AIT and data standards – interoperability solutions!
Unique Identification (UID) – Tangible Assets
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
NATO Stock Numbers (NSN)
Part Numbers
Serial Numbers
NOTES (09/19/05):
Some of the key means by which we will support the new global net centric environment will still focus on items of supply and a focus on delivering precision support through reducing costs via reducing the logistics support footprint. The arsenal of item identification methods and technologies we must support will focus on interoperability of joint and coalition forces. Success of these efforts will need the success of standard methods, data and technologies such as our global codification system.

22. Unique Identification (UID)
Integrated situational awareness of people, places, and things
Today – No UIIs
No integrated planning view
Questions
To Be State – UIIs
Integrated planning view
Questions answered
Requirement: capability to integrate force structure planning for identifying and constituting deployable combined force modules.
Who is available?
With what equipment?
Where are they now?
How long can we support them?
People, things and property related to force structure.
Deployment and constitution options can be continuously evaluated.
Required items identified, pre-positioned and tracked with RFID.
People and things can be identified to sites and facilities for rapid deployment response.
NOTES (09/19/05):
UID IS THE MACRO PROGRAM
Now there are not the enterprise wide data bases that enable operational commanders to easily determine the status of the people, equipment and say bases that they will be utilizing in executing a specific operation. In the “to be” state there will be enterprise wide data bases where the enterprise is the Department of Defense assessable by operational commanders and other decision makers. They will then be able to make decisions on the basis of complete, timely, accurate and relevant data on the people, equipment, organizations and real property (as bases) that they will utilize in execution of an operation. We can fully expect our partner nations to realize the value of these efforts and will promote the sharing with the US of global solutions.
RFID Tracking

23. Presenter Details Steven Arnett Defense Logistics Information Service
Deputy Chief, International Division
DLIS-KI/U.S. National Codification Bureau
Federal Center
74 North Washington Avenue
Battle Creek, MI USA
PHONE/FAX:   
Web:

24. Web Links Recommended for Contractors
Commercial and Government Entity Codes (CAGE) -
NATO Codification System -
NATO National Codification Bureau (NCB) Points of Contact
Central Contractor Registration (CCR) Homepage –
Federal Business Opportunities -
U.S. General Supply Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Service Information
How to Become a GSA Federal Supply Schedule Partner
FLIS on the Web -
Interactive Government Industry Reference Data Edit and Review (iGIRDER)-