Here you will find a collection of key ECLASS terms with their explanations. The terms are internationally standardized and therefore written in English.
The ECLASS Standard is available in an ADVANCED version that provides more possibilities for the user, but is therefore technically more complex. Whereas ECLASS BASIC is often used in the areas of purchasing, sales or controlling, ECLASS ADVANCED is mainly used in engineering and CAx areas. It contains dynamic elements such as dependant properties, polymorphism and cardinality, and properties are structured in aspects and in blocks. It is therefore only available in an XML format.
Generally, the release process is divided into 3 phases: ALPHA, BETA and PROD. In the first two phases, the ECLASS Release is calculated on a test basis and made available to the users. This way the changes can be checked again and revised if necessary. In the PROD phase the refinement before the release is done.
In ECLASS, each subgroup is described with the help of properties. The properties are not directly assigned to a subgroup but to a so-called application class which is connected to a subgroup.It is mandatorily connected to the 4th level of the classification class hierarchy. Only visible in the ADVANCED version.
Property lists are compilations of individual features to describe individual commodities. In ECLASS, each subgroup (classification class at the fourth level) is described with the help of properties. The properties are not directly assigned to a subgroup but to a so-called application class which is connected to a subgroup. In the versions before ECLASS 6.0, ECLASS has used sets of properties that were directly assigned to a classification class - as it is still shown in the BASIC version. Application classes are only visible in the ADVANCED version.
An Aspect is a specific variant of a block at the uppermost level of a class. In terms of content, however, an aspect does not describe product-specific properties (such as normal blocks and properties of a class), it merely contains the properties of a product’s specific context. An Aspect cannot be represented by cardinality or polymorphism and is located in the top level of a class.
standardized digital representation of the asset, corner stone of the interoperability between the applications
managing the manufacturing systems. It identifies the Administration Shell and the assets represented by it,
holds digital models of various aspects (submodels) and describes technical functionality exposed by the
Administration Shell or respective assets
An attribute is the most atomic part of a product's classification. All Strucural elements are described with attributes. For example every classification class has the following main attributes:
- a unique identifier IRDI,
- preferred name
- a coded name that represents the classification structure, e.g. 27-01-01-01
Building information modeling (BIM) is a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of the physical and functional characteristics of places.
BMEcat is a standard for electronic data transfer by electronic catalogues created and published by the BME (Bundesverband Materialwirtschaft, Einkauf und Logistik e. V., the German association for materials management, purchasing and logistics). I.e. in contrast to the ECLASS dictionary which describes how things can be characterized at an abstract level it is about actual instances of application classes which are described by distinct values in accordance to the dictionary.
Allows a block of properties to be re-instantiated within a list of properties. It refers to the property allowing dynamic multiplication of a block within the scope of the property values to be managed.
A change request (CR) is a proposal by an ECLASS user to change a part of the content of the ECLASS classification system. It can be a correction, a deletion, an enhancement or a restructuring.
The ContentDevelopmentPlatform (CDP) is the online platform open for every interested user to submit their proposals for changes of the content of ECLASS (change requests). The usage is open for everybody and free of charge.
Unique value respresented by a 8-digit code identifyng the classification class up to the fourth level. The class coded name consists of an 8-digit integer number, two digits for each hierarchical level. The number of trailing zeros in the end indicates the level of hierarchy, e.g. 16-00-00-00 (Segment "Food, beverage, tobacco"), 16-04-00-00 (Main group "Fruit"), 16-04-03-00 (Group "Berry fruit"), 16-04-03-01 (Commodity class "Blackberry"). The fourth level, the commodity class or product group is then further described with the help of properties and property values.
The classification class is a characterization class which helps to categorize the described products and divide them into certain categories of similar products. Classification classes are hierarchically ordered. The hierarchy is a rooted, ordered tree with fixed height four.
On the fourth level of the ECLASS classification hierarchy, each classification class has three application classes assigned. One of the BASIC representation, one of the ADVANCED representation and one of the ASSET representation.
Every classification class has the following main attributes:
• a unique identifier (IRDI),
• preferred name
• a coded name that represents the classification structure, e.g. 27-01-01-01.
The main purpose of the Classification Update File (CUF) is to update classification relations for already classified products, if the classification structure has changed. This can be done by semi-automated upgrade process that uses TUF from a previous ECLASS release to a later ECLASS release (BASIC and ADVANCED versions, XML). TUF contains the results of the changes to the classification by MOVE, SPLIT and JOIN operations, but it does not contain information about new and deleted classes. MOVE - a class will be moved to a new location in the classification tree
JOIN - multiple classes will be joined together into a new target class
SPLIT - a class will be split into multiple new classes. NOTE: The activities ‘move’ and ‘join’ will be automatically applied to already classified material masters. The activity ‘split’ usually needs human decision making to determine within which new class the articles will be placed.
The following information will be not provided, because it can be determined by comparing the previous with the follow up ECLASS release:
list of new classes - which classes were added in the new release (the use of new classes in the context of the update process has to be operated manually)
list of deleted classes - which classes will be not available anymore in the new release (in this case the CUF holds a reference to another class the articles must be admitted to).
The Center of Research and Development (CRD) is the central ECLASS body for the development of the ECLASS data structure as well as the technical requirements for the implementation of the ECLASS Standard, i.e. the data model, the database and the handling of the Content Development Platform (CDP)
The property's data type is a mandatory attribute and defines what kind of information a property transports. For example the data type "boolean" represents boolean algebraic Values.
DeepL Translator is a neural machine translation service. With the help of DeepL, missing translations in the standard in are automatically translated into the available ECLASS languages.
Definition is a mandatory text field and should describe the object as precise as possible.
Starting with Release 7.0, the ECLASS standard is available in two different formats: .csv and .xml. The BASIC version is available in both .csv and .xml, the ADVANCED version is only available in .xml.
6-digit identification number, wich must be unique. The ID is contained in the IRDI which is the primary key in ECLASS.
Example
IRDI: 0173-1#02-ABG899#002
ID: ABG899
Keywords aid the search for Classification Classes within the ECLASS Class structure. As only one name can be defined for a Classification Class, ECLASS offers the possibility, to assign more alternative names for a Class with the help of Keywords.
The level type is an attribute of a numeric Property indicating its values are defined for different levels. The levels define operating ranges for products within the class. The levels that can be defined are MIN, NOM, TYP, MAX.
The text attribute named PreferredName is the official name of the structural element and is a mandatory text field.
The property's data type is a mandatory attribute and defines what kind of information a property transports.Example for data types are STRING, REAL_MEASURE or BOOLEAN.
The deliverables, are the files that are available to the users after every ECLASS release: Basic CSV/Basic XML, Advanced XML, Asset XML and Update files.
The Release Update Files (RUF) contain the information on what has changed in one major release compared to the one before. It is a “human readable” collection of CSV files and is only relevant for the basic release.
RUF differs between classification and transaction updates. Changes are documented for classes, properties, and all other ECLASS elements regarding modifications, additions and deletions (MOVE, SPLIT, JOIN).
RUF only contains modified elements.
Any interested person or organisation can participate in the development of the ECLASS classification system. The proposal of amendments (CR) is open to everyone with the help of the online development and maintenance platform ECLASS Content Development Platform.
A segment is the most general categorization and usually stands for a specific industry or market.
Shows the current state of a change request. CRs can have various statuses in the change request workflow.
SDF is an XML genericode list for BASIC and ADVANCED of all those identifiers that were changed in a certain dictionary release. SDF shows all elements that have changed or have been added on element level (like class, property, value etc.) information on the relations is not included.
Example:
The file contains all absolute changes of elements and the type of change, but not the content of the change. I.e. all elements that are no more part of the TargetRelease are listed as “DEPR” (deprecated), all new ones are listed as “NEW”. Those elements marked with “UPD“ have been updated, i.e. their version number was raised.
An alternate name for a property.
The TQL indicates the quality of the linguistic content and gives an indication of how the content of the preferred name or the definition of the structure element was created. It can be distinguished between five language levels: Native, Non-native, Translator, Norm and DeepL.
VALUE(S) are enumerations within the DATA TYPE of a PROPERTY which restrict the set of possible Values for the Property
Defines a set of permissible Value(s) being implicit by the Data-Type or explicit by listing the possible Value(s).
Last modifaction date of a single structural element.
Since ECLASS 7.0, it is also available as an additional export format in ECLASSXML format for automatic ECLASS standard processing. This export format is based on an ISO-standardized XML format for product data exchange.