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Supplier Insights: Categorisation (UNSPSC) Dashboard

Gary Leach Updated by Gary Leach

Introduction to UNSPSC versions and the Categorisation Dashboard

In April 2024, the version of UNSPSC used on Purchasing was upgraded which means the UNSPSC you assign to your products should be compliant with V26.

A dashboard on Insights (Categorisation Dashboard) has been created to help you understand the version of UNSPSC assigned to your products, and understand the changes UNSPSC have made in the latest version (V26), and for future upgrades of versions.

For all Community Members and Leaders, it can be accessed by following the below steps:

  1. From the supplier portal, select Insights from the left navigation menu. This will open the module in a new tab.
  2. From Insights, use the menu on the left-hand side (it may need expanding first), and locate the Categorisation Dashboard

What is a UNSPSC Version?

Each year a new version of the UNSPSC code list is published. The changes that can occur in this list are:

  1. Codes are deleted and no longer valid
  2. New codes are introduced
  3. Code descriptions are changed

UNSPSC Overview Dashboard:

The UNSPSC Overview dashboard provides analysis of the UNSPSCs that are assigned to your products, and if they are compliant with our version of UNSPSC (currently V26):

What does 'Valid UNSPSC Items' mean?

The UNSPSC that is assigned to your product is a valid V26 UNSPSC code.

What does it mean if a product has an 'Invalid UNSPSC' code?

When items are loaded into Purchasing, the catalogue upload will include a UNSPSC code for an item. If this code is deleted as part of the annual changes to the UNSPSC version, then the item will have an invalid code until its code is updated via a catalogue update. Items will still appear in the system if they have an invalid code but as end users can use the UNSPSC categories to find items, they may not easily find items which have invalid categorisation.

When a catalogue is uploaded, if an item's UNSPSC code is deemed invalid at the point of upload (i.e. not a V26 code), the item will not be rejected but the UNSPSC code assigned will be your supplier default code that has been defined.

To check and amend your current supplier default code, please go to the My Profile tab, then go to My Products. If nothing is showing, please contact your Customer Success Manager who can confirm the current details.
How can I find which of my items have an invalid UNSPSC code?
  1. Click into the UNSPSC Overview element to access a drill down report. This will show any invalid UNSPSC codes that appear within your catalogue, and the number of items assigned to that code.
  2. To review the explicit catalogue numbers that are impacted, click the Export button on the right-hand side, either for a specific UNSPSC, or for the entire data set:

UNSPSC Update Dashboard

The second element on the Categorisation Dashboard (UNSPSC Update) summarises the number of updated codes and deleted codes in the latest version.

Please note that the analysis will only show changes that are relevant to your existing catalogue data. It is not a list of all changes between UNSPSC versions.

For example, in the above example, it shows that 7 UNSPSC codes have been updated which are currently in use by this supplier. It also shows that there is 1 code that has been deleted from the UNSPSC code list that are currently assigned to items in this catalogue.

How can I find codes that have been updated or deleted?

Click into the UNSPSC Update element to access a drill down report.

The filter at the top of the screen can be used to just look at items with changed and/or deleted codes. The default is to show both changed and deleted:

  • Updated Codes: can be seen as there are old and new descriptions for those codes.
  • Deleted Codes: Those that have an old value and no new value are items assigned with deleted codes.

Please note that some of the UNSPSC code changes can be very subtle, such as changing form single to plural only.

UNSPSC Level Analysis

UNSPSC has 4 levels at which items can be categorised. In terms of end user experience for purchasers, commodity level is the best categorisation level to use as this is the most granular. The dashboard element summarises the number of items in the supplier catalogue that are categorised at each level.

Hovering over the question mark tooltip for this element provides an explanation of the various level and how the UNSPSC codes are structure for each level.

How can I find details of UNSPSC levels and items ?

Click into the UNSPSC Level Analysis element to access the drill down report.

The filters at the top of the screen can be used to items with codes at a specific level and/or UNSPSC codes. The default is to show all levels

Exports can be used to either export this summarised view or details of items with the codes.

What is my default UNSPSC code ?

Each supplier organisation is assigned a default UNSPSC code. When items are uploaded via a catalogue file, if an item is missing or has an invalid UNSPSC value then the default code will instead be used and allocated to that item. This ensures the item is not rejected but at the cost that categorisation quality is reduced.

The default code usage is then an indication of these possible issues in the catalogue. For this reason there is a dashboard element that highlights the current use of the default code.

There is no drill down report for the default code element.

How can I update my UNSPSC codes?

Now you know which products have data that needs amending, please follow the our guide on editing product data here: How do I edit my product data?

How did we do?

Supplier Insights: On and Off Catalogue Orders

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