Questions on data providers and XML file for tariffs

[Former Member]

Hi,

We are looking into GTS for maintenance of our tariff numbers. We would like to use the data from a data provider to keep the numbers up to date. Regarding this I have a few questions. I hope someone can help me out here.

- What dataproviders are "SAP-certified"?

- In what format is the data delivered. FI. the US uses a 10-digit code, while France uses a code between 11 and 13 digits. Others use another format again.Are all these codes included in one file or are country-specific files delivered?

- How automated is the process? Can a file be downloaded and immediately be uploaded in GTS or is manual work involved?

- Do the providers offer additional functionality like alerting on codes that are not valid anymore, reporting on changed duty rates etc?

Thanks

Ed

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I know Bundesanzeiger and Customsinfo who provide tarifcodes and are certified for GTS.

You get xml files for each tarifschemes you require.

You can upload the file to GTS very easily.

I think they provide updates on changes on a regular basis but I do not know much about it.

But I hope this helps.

Balazs

[Former Member]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the helpful answers. Hope you can help me with some additional answers as well.

- Do all providers deliver the data in the same way or are there diferences? In other words, should we wait with defining the numberschemes until we have decided for a specific provider?

- Our plan is to have separate numbering schemes and legal reglations per individual country. Would this be the right decision?

- Not sure why you mention LSMW when we have the standard upload program in GTS. Can you explain?

- Do the providers provide other functionality such as alerting on new codes or codes that are not allowed to be used anymore?

If not, is there a standard process in GTS to alert on codes that can not be used anymore?

Thanks,

Ed

[Former Member]

Hi Ed,

Answers below.

- Do all providers deliver the data in the same way or are there diferences? In other words, should we wait with defining the numberschemes until we have decided for a specific provider?

Yes, you should wait until you choose a vendor to define your number schemes, as they have to match the structure in the header portion of the XML files. An an example, FTN issues a structure that has levels (matching the level field in GTS configuration) 10, 15, 20, .... While CustomsInfo has the structure levels 10, 20, 30 ....

- Our plan is to have separate numbering schemes and legal reglations per individual country. Would this be the right decision?

Ordinarily, yes. This is the way we have done it.

You might, however, have one numbering scheme shared between two legal regulations under certain circumstances. One that springs to mind is the following. If you are both an importer and an exporter into/from the US, and you have received permission to use HTSUS numbers for both import and export (i.e., HTSUS instead of using Schedule B numbers for export), then you would create a numbering scheme for HTSUS and assign it to both your legal reg for US import and your legal reg for for AES.

That is, instead of:

Legal Reg----

---

Numbering Scheme

US Import----

---

US_CUS_FTN

US FTR (AES)----

---

US_FTR_FTN

you would have:

Legal Reg----

---

Numbering Scheme

US Import----

---

US_CUS_FTN

US FTR (AES)----

---

US_CUS_FTN

- Not sure why you mention LSMW when we have the standard upload program in GTS. Can you explain?

You'll see when you start loading them In our case, we have around 50 countries. When you add up duties and taxes, HS, and texts, this comes to around 14,000 files from our current vendor. Depending on how much else you have going on in your system, you will or will not be able to slurp all 98 chapters for one country in one upload. I have been breaking them down into 2 loads per country -- ch 1 thru 49 then ch 50 -- 98. As more and more numbers are added, the posting time to the database seems to rise logarithmically. Hence, you'll want to create a recording in LSMW to automate the uploads.

[Former Member]

Hi Ed,

Some problems with the SDN editor. So, here's a second post with the rest of your answers.

- Do the providers provide other functionality such as alerting on new codes or codes that are not allowed to be used anymore?

When new numbers are released from gov't, the providers publish them in delta files and send them to you. The file version increments and the filename has a "U" instead of "I" (update, Initial). There exists a log so you can keep track of additions and deleted HS numbers.

- If not, is there a standard process in GTS to alert on codes that can not be used anymore?

Many of the transactions (e.g., /SAPSLL/SLLNS_TARIFF_SHT01) allow you to input a key date for the validity of the number(s). As numbers expire and are replaced by new numbers, you'll see the assignments in the product master screen / classification tab appear as new icons (white page) in the left pane of the screen. Thus, when in a product master, if a product has HS number xxxxxxxxxx and at the beginning of the year that number is retired and the product now is classified xxxxxxxxyy, you'll see those two numbers expressed as icons on the left side of the screen, and when you click on each on the right side of the screen you'll see the validity dates for each of the two numbers.

Moreover, the system has a great enforcement mechanism and will issue a pop-up if, e.g. you try to classify a product with a number and assign in a validity data for the classification period of the product/HS combo that is greater than the validity number of the HS number itself.

The classification stuff in GTS is first-rate.

Regards,

Randy

[Former Member]

Hi Randy or other experts,

Can you elaborate a bit more on what you had to do in LSMW to automate the upload of these files?

[Former Member]

Hello Ed,

In answer to your questions.

What dataproviders are "SAP-certified"?

The "big three" data providers are FedEx Trade Networks (FTN), CustomsInfo, and Bundesanzeiger. There may be other certified providers, but most customers I know use one of the three mentioned.

In what format is the data delivered. FI. the US uses a 10-digit code, while France uses a code between 11 and 13 digits. Others use another format again. Are all these codes included in one file or are country-specific files delivered?

The data is delivered in XML files organized by tariff chapter into a .zip file. So, one .zip file contains the duty and tax rates, the HS numbers, and the texts associated with the numbers bundles for a given country. E.g., for FTN the .zip file may include:

FTN-DT-US84_I_00047001005.xml

FTN-HS-US84_I_00047001001.xml

FTN-TX-US84_I_00047001001.xml

The way to read the file name, going left to right, is: Data Provider - content type - Ctry - Chapter - (I)nitial or (U)pdate - Version - Filenumber - of TotalFiles.XML

Btw, in the example above DT = Duties and Taxes, HS = numbers, TX = texts.

The XML files themselves contain -- using the XML schema which is interpreted by the GTS program-- both the fully-qualified numbers (e.g., 10 digit HTUS or or 13 digit French HS number) as well as the tariff structure for the country. Thus, the program moves step-wise through the XML files and builds the Chapter/subshapter/heading etc. structure into GTS as the file uploads. The necessary prerequisite to this is that the numbering scheme defined in GTS configuration must match exactly the schema in the header of the XML file from the data provider. But this actually is an easy, one-time setup.

How automated is the process? Can a file be downloaded and immediately be uploaded in GTS or is manual work involved?

It's a two step process. Most of the data providers will work with you to push the files to your company e.g., to send them to a handler program of your choosing via secure FTP or some other transmission protocol to store them into a share on your side. Then you have to load them via the upload program. The laborious part is that you have to do this step once per Numbering Scheme, so depending on how many countries you maintain data for, this can be intensive. The second step can be automated by using LSMW.

Hope this helps, regards.

Randy

Edited by: Randy Strader on Jun 23, 2009 6:59 PM