Product information

Several different kinds of national, international and branch standards which makes it hard to exchange information of both products and services between SMEs in a structured standardised way, both for blue and green data.
There are existing services for catalogues and display of product information but the adoption differs much between branches, for example high adoption in health care and office supplies.
The area of product information used in standard formats needs to be explored and extended to fit the needs for sustainability reporting, calculation of VAT, bookkeeping and analysis.
There are several green international and national initiatives that have to be coordinated and scoped.

• SMEs use their business systems to structure the product and service information. This enables the system to help the SME calculate and report the right VAT either from the systems or through the transactions.
• SMEs can increase sales by displaying their products and services through structured information available for search.
• SMEs can move from paper based, manual product and service information to a sustainable data driven, automated processes to reduce costs in reporting and accounting and the environmental footprint.
• SMEs can easily document products classified as hazardous and inform their customers in a structured way to make sure that the goods are handled according to regulations.

Analysis and documentation of the current situation.
Define the content in the reporting, VAT and green data to identify the scope.
Scope the pilot scenarios and stakeholders to reach early stage benefits for the SME to find low hanging fruits and create awareness among SMEs of the benefits of using the systems and e-catalogues.
Identify key stakeholders and get a common picture of the benefits for SMEs in using digital product information.
Identify the processes and whether they are aligned between the Nordic countries.