ETIM (standard)

ETIM Deutschland e. V. (ElektroTechnisches InformationsModell, or electro-technical information model) is an initiative to standardize the electronic exchange of product data for electrical and electronic products (electrical installation products, home appliances and consumer electronics) to enable the electronic trading of these products. The standard is designed to meet the requirements of the electrical industry and allows for the uniform, technical description of electrical goods and their assignment to a class of products.

ETIM classification

Products are arranged in two hierarchical levels:^[1][2]

• Article group
• Article class

The article groups each contain a set of article classes associated by theme. An article class can only be assigned to one article group. Within the article class, comparable or "alike" products are classified together. The name of an article class can have synonyms assigned in order to specify alternative names for the article class. The same synonym can be assigned to more than one article class. Each article class is assigned a list of features that unambiguously describe the product. This creates the ETIM classification.

This standardization allows suppliers of electrical goods to be found on the basis of class name (including synonyms) or of technical features.

ETIM is especially common in the creation of product catalogs. The transfer of catalog data is in an expanded BMEcat format. BMEcat is short for BME Catalog and refers to a standardized data format for electronic product data exchange that uses XML. In this case, the BMEcat standard for the transfer of a complete product catalog is used.^[3]

ETIM versions

• The "ETIM Clearing Center - Specification Product Data Exchange Format Version 1.02" uses BMEcat 1.01 as the basis.
• ETIM BMEcat 1.2 contains the ETIM-2.0 specification and is adapted to BMEcat 1.2.
• ETIM version 3.0, 30 May 2005, in German and English.
• ETIM version 4.0, 15 January 2008, in German, English and Dutch.
• On 27 March 2008, a corrected version was published. The changes apply only to some units.

Cooperation with other organizations

Since 1 January 2006 ETIM is a member of eCl@ss and vice versa. eCl@ss is the equivalent of ETIM in for field machines and plant construction. Both organizations have set a goal of unifying the classifications to a standard and are working together with the organizations VDMA, ZVEI, and the DIN.

Industrial products and services categorization standards

• eCl@ss
• ETIM (standard)
• UNSPSC
• eOTD
• RosettaNet
• TUN

References

1. ↑ "Model information". ETIM International. 2007. 
2. ↑ "ETIM 4.0 data model". ETIM International. 2008. p. 3. 
3. ↑ "BMEcat". ETIM International. 2007. 

External links

ETIM