GS1 Global location numbers in the Danish public sector eInvoice

Acronym of the case:

GS1_GLN

Web address of the case:

http://www.gs1.dk

Country of the case:

Denmark

City/region:

Denmark

Posting Date:

4 September 2008

Last Edited Date:

04 September 2008

Author:

Doug Hill (GS1 Denmark)

GLN | einvoice | GS1

Type of initiative

Project or service

Case Abstract

In 2003 a Danish law on public sector payments was passed paving the way for the mandatory use of the electronic invoice when raising an invoice on the Danish public sector.

As a pre-requsiste for the project, the Danish Finance Ministry required a unique, unambiguous numbering identification system for public sector entities based on two primary requirements:

? To be a tool for routing electronic messages via the VANs (Value Added Networks).
? Be a mechanism to identify public sector entities in electronic messages

To solve these issues, the Danish government purchased 1,000,000 GLNs, Global location numbers (formerly known as an EAN number) from GS1 Denmark as a main component of the electronic invoice.

The GS1 Global Location Number (GLN) is now a mandatory element of the Danish governmentâ€™s eInvoicing initiative where each public sector institution is required to have a GLN for use in the Danish public sector eInvoice initiative.

Over the last two years, the application of eInvoicing within Denmark has become a European showcase for a successful implementation of Business to Government e-commerce.

Many countries are now looking towards Denmarkâ€™s eProcurement model as a successful blueprint for their own government initiatives. The adoption of the GS1 GLN in the public sector is an example of the type of application which is serving to add value to the public sector supply chain whilst being in harmony with established private sector GLN usage.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

eProcurement

Sector

Procurement

Start date - End date

January 2005 (Ongoing)

Date operational

September 2008

Target Users

Business (industry) | Business (SME) | Administrative

Target Users Description

Scope

National

Status

Implementation

Language(s)

Danish

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

IT infrastructures and products

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Not applicable/not available

Funding source

Public funding national

Project size

Implementation: €49-299,000

Yearly cost:

€1-49,000

Technology solution

What is the GS1 GLN in Denmark?
As the name implies, the Global Location Number, like in every other MO, is a 13 digit GS1 identification key for locations.

The GLN in Denmark is used in a variety of ways, specifically in electronic messages as a routing mechanism by Value Added Networks and as a location and legal entity identification key, and is also a mandatory component of the GS1 Denmark datapool.

The GLN can be used to identify physical locations and official entities where there is a need to retrieve pre-defined information (Master data) to improve the efficiency of communication within the Danish supply-chain. In Denmark, GLNs are of course a prerequisite for GS1 XML eCom messages but also mandatory in the GS1 Denmark simple electronic business profiles based on EANCOM.

Impact, innovation and results

Economic effects

Larger than €10,000,000

Impact

Post implementation (2008) of the Danish eInvoice in the public sector:

1. eProcurement savings to the Danish government, â‚¬300,000,000. Estimated to date 2008

Lessons learnt

1. The GS1 GLN a good choice for the public sector location and routing in EDI/XML

a) The GLN is a major VAN global routing key.
Ensured GLN adoption by VANs as a routing key for EDI messages. The GLN is the de facto routing key for
Danish EDI and is well established.

b) The GLN is a major global location identification key.
GLN adoption by supply and retail in Denmark has been huge and is widely adopted in the private sector as part of GS1 Denmarkâ€™s simple electronic business concept based on master data alignment.

c) Guaranteed Number Capacity.
Large availability of numbers makes the GLN a scaleable solution and is an unambiguous identification scheme.

d) Numbering integrity.
Strong GS1 governance and control of the GLN system. The check digit algorithm helps number integrity.

e) Non-significant GLN number .
Secure, GLN has no meaning attached to it (in Denmark) apart from identifying it as a GLN allocated to the Danish public sector.

f) The GLN is cost effective (Minimal investment)
The cost for the government of purchasing the 1,000,000 GLNs from GS1 Denmark for the project is only 0.006 % of the annual gains achieved by applying eInvoicing in the Danish public sector.

2. After the implementation of the eInvoice in Denmarkâ€™s public sector there have been several lessons learned to come out of the project. One major consideration worth emphasising has been that the implementation of globally applicable standards that have already gained traction in the commercial market place is an effective method of ensuring adoption and success of an eInvoicing eGovernment initiative.

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