Big Hammer Data Services - Suppliers

GLNs

The GLN (Global Location Number) is a globally unique 13-digit number that provides a standard means of identifying any legal, functional or physical location within a business or organizational entity such as:

Legal Entities - companies, subsidiaries, suppliers, distributors etc.
Functional Entities - a specific department within a legal entity, e.g. payroll dept.
Physical Entities - a warehouse, loading dock, room in a building, shelf in a room.

GLN Components

The 13-digit GLN is composed of three basic components:

An EAN.UCC Company Prefix
A Location Reference
A Check Digit

EAN.UCC Company Prefix	Location Reference	Check Digit
# # # # # # # # #	# # #	#

EAN.UCC Company Prefix - the number assigned to a company by either an EAN Member Organization or by the UCC. The inclusion of the EAN.UCC Company Prefix ensures uniqueness throughout the world. The EAN.UCC Company Prefix is assigned to companies in varying lengths.

Note: A typical UCC Company Prefix is six digits in length. If you already have a UCC Company Prefix, you can simply convert this number to an EAN.UCC Company Prefix by adding a zero to the beginning of the number. If you do not have a Company Prefix, you may to click here to obtain one. http://www.uc-council.org/ean_ucc_system/membership/notmember.htm

For Example: if your UCC Company Prefix is 329477 your new EAN.UCC Company Prefix would be 0329477.

Location Reference - the number assigned by the holder of the EAN.UCC Company Prefix to uniquely identify a location within the company. The Location Reference varies in length as a function of the EAN.UCC Company Prefix length. Note: The combined length of the EAN.UCC Company Prefix and Location Reference is always 12-digits.

Check Digit - A calculated one-digit number used to ensure data integrity.

Creating a GLN

Note: If your company already has a GLN, you do not need to create a new one. Your GLN is globally unique and can transfer to any data pool you choose. For example, if you were previously using another data pool and are now be using Big Hammer Data as your GDSN Data Pool, do not create a new GLN. In this case, simply use your existing GLN.

As an example,

Assume your EAN.UCC company prefix number is 123456
Assume your location reference number is 21

Step 1: Convert your UCC company prefix, to an EAN.UCC company prefix by adding a leading zero. Your new EAN.UCC company prefix is 0123456.
Step 2: Convert your location reference to a 5 digit number by adding 3 leading zeros. This is essential in order to bring the combination of your EAN.UCC company prefix and your location reference number to 12 digits total. The combined number ise 012345600021.
Step 3: Calculate your check digit, by utilizing the following process.

Calculating Check Digits
The calculation of the check digit for 012345600021 is as follows:
- Step 1: Starting at the far left with the first digit, add all the digits in the odd numbered positions.
  1 + 3 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 10
- Step 2: Take the number found in Step 1 and multiply it by 3.
  10 x 3 = 30
- Step 3:: Starting at the far left with the first digit, add all the digits in the odd numbered positions.
  0 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 0 + 2 = 14
- Step 4: Add the answer from Steps 2 and 3.
  30 + 14 = 44
- Step 5:The check digit is the number which, when added to the value obtained in Step 4, equals a number that is the next highest multiple of 10. In this example, since the value in Step 4 is 44, the next multiple of 10 is 50.
  Answer: The check digit for this sample GLN is 6.
  44 + 6 = 50

Whereas, 68 + 2 = 70, meaning, the check digit will be 2. If the number is 10 (if you are already at a multiple of 10), the check digit will be 0.

Answer: The check digit for this sample GLN is 8.
52 + 8 = 60

Therefore, your new 13 digit GLN, composed of your EAN.UCC Prefix Number, your Location Reference Number, and your Check Digit is 0123456000218.

As an additional example:

Assume your EAN.UCC company prefix number is 123456789
Assume your location reference number is 21

Step 1: Since you already have an EAN.UCC company prefix number, you must add a leading zero to your location reference number in order to bring the total number of combined digits in your EAN.UCC company prefix and your location reference to 12. Therefore your location reference will now be 021. The combination of your EAN.UCC company prefix and location number will now be 123456789021.
Step 2: Calculate your check digit.

The calculation of the check digit for 123456789021 is as follows:
- Step 1: Starting at the far left with the first digit, add all the characters in the odd numbered positions.
  1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 2 = 27
- Step 2: Take the number found in Step1 and multiply it by 3.
  27 x 3 = 81
- Step 3: Starting on the left and beginning with the second digit, add all the characters in the even numbered positions.
  2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 0 + 1 = 21
- Step 4: Add the answer from Steps 2 and 3.
  81 + 21 = 102
- Step 5: The check digit is the number which, when added to the value obtained in Step 4 equals a number which is the next highest multiple of 10. I.e., If the value in Step 4 were 68, the next multiple of 10 would be 70.

Whereas, 68 + 2 = 70, meaning, the check digit will be 2. If the number is 10 (if you are already at a multiple of 10), the check digit will be 0.

Answer: The check digit for this sample GLN is 8.
102 + 8 = 110

Therefore, your new 13 digit GLN, comprised of your EAN.UCC Prefix Number, your Location Reference Number, and your Check Digit will be 1234567890218.