Learn! Click here, to listen to the GMA IS/LD session, New Ways of Working Together Update. Click here to review the Trading Partner Performance Management: How To Guide. New Ways of Working Together New Ways of Working Together is an industry initiative which introduces a new business approach for trading partners (retailers and manufacturers) to use which enable them to focus on agreed-to plans while they collaborate to eliminate supply chain disruptions and jointly grow their businesses. New Ways of Working Together started by Wegmans Food Markets and The J.M. Smucker Company with The Next Generation Sales Call (approx. download time is 1 minute) concept which enhances trading partner collaboration by placing focus on the consumer and eliminating disruptions. From here additional companies participated in a pilot where they discovered learnings to refine this concept to The News Ways of Working Together. To get started with New Ways of Working Together, follow these best practices: Select trading partners to work with Develop Diamond team in order to align resources Prioritize strategic choices by aligning strategies Do joint business planning Develop common goals and common measures in order to jointly track progress There are 4 strategic choices of the New Ways of Working Together Framework to guide trading partners through the process. The image depicts both an Industry Track, where trading partners may share pilot results and learnings, industry associations either through publications and/or workgroups, committees, etc. may focus on a segment of New Ways of Working Together, such as the shared supply chain, and perform a deep dive into opportunities and challenges. The Trading Partner Track provides a framework for trading partner pairs to focus on their shared strategy, common goals, definitions and measures, and to continue to look for opportunities to communicate, share, etc. with the one goal in mind: eliminate disruptions and grow sales with the focus on the consumer Trading Partner Performance Management (TPPM) supports common measures and common measurement (approx. download time is over 1 minute) for trading partners. GS1 US can help you address key supply chain and consumer strategic initiatives by helping you connect your business information with your trading partner. Specifically, TPPM and GS1 Standards will help you measure the effectiveness of your strategic plans and resolve issues that might arise. As trading partners, you should select relevant TPPM measures that will reflect on the successful delivery of the agreed-to strategic initiatives and the health of your relationship. These TPPM measures should be carefully reviewed with the diamond team to ensure everyone understands how each of these measures is defined and the source of the information that forms that measure. Much of the information used to calculate these measures derive their root information from GS1 standards. For example, Arrivals, as the transaction for “% on time delivery” measure, can be improved by the consistent use of Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs), Global Location Numbers (GLNs), Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC), and Global Data Synchronization (GDS) (approx. download time is 1 minute). Together, these standards allow for identification of the product to be delivered and the communication from the supplier to the retailer regarding the type of product and the amount of product. The Global Data Synchronization Network® (GDSN®) is a standards-based network where trading partners exchange information via GDSN-certified data pools. It is a key communications tool for aligning information used between trading partners. Most of the information that forms each measure can be transmitted via some electronic communications vehicle such as EDI or XML. When the measures and their goals have been identified, and everyone understands the input to the measures, trading partners must agree on a method to consistently exchange that data and incorporate the measures into their internal systems. GS1US will be offering a solution to accomplish this as part of its other standards-based solutions. Questions? Ask us! NWWT@gs1us.org