Identify

In today’s highly computerized world, it is essential that information be identified. Information identification provides the capability to find, retrieve, report, change, or delete specific data without ambiguity. Hence, it is only natural that the unique and global identification of things – physical and logical –is the foundation of the GS1 System. The GS1 Information Keys are used to name any objects or locations so interested parties can get information or business messages related to them.

Furthermore, these GS1 Information Keys are globally accepted identification numbers that provide a common language to communicate product information from company to company. Thus, GS1 is the language of business.

This means that authorized users of the GS1 global system (user companies) all around the world can globally and uniquely identify their physical things like trade items (products & services), assets (returnable & fixed), logistic units, shipments, and physical locations and logical things like a corporation or a service relationship between provider and recipient. In order to avoid ambiguity and confusion, each identified physical and logical things must have a globally unique identification number or defined data structure, i. e. a numeric or alphanumeric field intended to enable the recognition of one entity versus another. The user company can create these identifications by using the GS1 Company Prefix assigned to them.

The GS1 Identification consists of this globally unique identification number together with the corresponding GS1 Key. There are nine GS1 Identification Keys and these are:

The following table gives example of how these different GS1 Identification Keys are used:

What needs to be identified	Example	GS1 Identification Key
Product	CDs to sell online or a cake to sell in the shops or a can of mackarel or a case of instant noodles	Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)
Parties and Locations	Company, warehouse, factory, store	Global Location Number (GLN)
Logistics unit	Pallet load, container load, roll cage load	Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)
Returnable asset	Pallet base, trays, totes, crates	Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI)
Individual Assets	Manufacturing equipment, Medical equipment	Global Individual Asset Identifier
Persons	Members in a loyalty program, patients of a hospital	Global Service Relation Number (GSRN)
Document	Shipment forms, Insurance policies	Global Document Type Identifier (GDTI)
A grouping of logistics units that travel under one dispatch advice of bill of lading	Customs authorities identify shipments going in and out of the country	Global Shipment Identification Number (GSIN)
Freight Consignment	Logistics units that comprise a single consignment	Global Identification Number for Consignment (GINC)

The GS1 Identification keys are complimented by the GS1 Application Identifiers (GS1 AIs), which act like a code list of generic and simple data fields for use in multi-sector and international supply chain application.

GS1 keys are often put into bar codes or RFID tags, or used in EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) messages or for GDSN (Global Data Synchronization Network) and EPCIS (EPC Information Service).