EPCIS Standard Description
The goal of EPCIS standard is to enable disparate applications to create and share visibility event data, both within and across enterprises. Ultimately, this sharing is aimed at enabling users to gain a shared view of physical or digital objects within a relevant business context.
“Objects” in the context of EPCIS typically refers to physical objects that are identified either at a class or instance level and which are handled in physical handling steps of an overall business process involving one or more organisations. Examples of such physical objects include trade items (products), logistic units, returnable assets, fixed assets, physical documents, etc. “Objects” may also refer to digital objects, also identified at either a class or instance level, which participate in comparable business process steps. Examples of such digital objects include digital trade items (music downloads, electronic books, etc.), digital documents (electronic coupons, etc.), and so forth. Throughout this document the word “object” is used to denote a physical or digital object, identified at a class or instance level, that is the subject of a business process step. EPCIS data consist of “visibility events,” each of which is the record of the completion of a specific business process step acting upon one or more objects.
The EPCIS standard was originally conceived as part of a broader effort to enhance collaboration between trading partners by sharing of detailed information about physical or digital objects. The name EPCIS reflects the origins of this effort in the development of the Electronic Product Code (EPC). It should be noted, however, that EPCIS does not require the use of Electronic Product Codes, nor of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) data carriers, and as of EPCIS 1.1 does not even require instance-level identification (for which the Electronic Product Code was originally designed). The EPCIS standard applies to all situations in which visibility event data is to be captured and shared, and the presence of “EPC” within the name is of historical significance only.
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