Learn ACES Terminology to Maximize Sales Opportunities

	Gigi Ho, founder of Digital Performance Inc., led the SEMA webinar entitled, “Getting Your Data House in Order: Application Data Standards.”

The SEMA webinar series provides on-demand information in hour-long sessions that cover a range of topics designed to help specialty-equipment professionals improve their business operations. Members have the added benefit of making the program fit their schedules by tuning into the live broadcasts or downloading past webinars.

The recent SEMA webinar entitled, “Getting Your Data House in Order: Application Data Standards,” was led by Gigi Ho, founder of Digital Performance Inc.

To increase efficiency and avoid confusion, vehicle manufacturers and the specialty-parts industry have created a standard language by which to identify vehicles and their parts. When exchanging parts through a business system, common terminology must be used to find a match. For example, the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES) terminology for the 2010 Ford F-150 includes a hyphen. Miscommunication in the categorization of a vehicle or part causes invalid applications, which, according to Ho, leads to lost sales opportunities.

Electronic data standards that have been introduced to the industry are ACES and Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES). Examples of product field information are brand identification, part number or category, product description, pricing and specs.

The AAIA Legacy standard is the original vehicle application standard introduced in 1997. It covers 14 data fields, including year, make, model and engine attributes.

However, introduced in 2003, ACES is a more complete and thorough application data used to identify a part and the vehicles it fits, according to Ho. It is comprised of three databases: vehicle configuration (VCDB), parts categorization (PCDB) and qualifier (QDB). The VCDB is published monthly and contains 49 data fields covering the vehicle, engine and certain vehicle attributes. The PCDB consists of five tables, including the category, subcategory, part terminology, position and code master. The QDB refers to part fitment on certain vehicles. The rule for delivering ACES data for your parts is to deliver the relevant vehicle information required to ensure your part fits correctly. For instance, if you sell tonneau covers, provide truck bed dimensions to ensure proper fit.

Learn about and start using ACES terminology for your parts. Standardize how you term your part types and vehicle fitments to help your customers process your product and fitment data. For help with ACES terminology, visit www.enhancedstandard.com.

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