August 20, 2002
Nothing Is Fixed in Life - Why Should Our Data Be? ... Let's take five with Moira Gunn. This is "Five Minutes".
It's taken about a quarter of a century, but we've finally run out of bar codes. Twelve digits seemed like a pretty big number back in the 1970's. After all, it could identify a trillion possible items. So while Y2K has become only a speck in our rear view mirror, retailers now have to worry about preparing for 13 digits.
If you're a manufacturer and already have a set of Universal Product Codes, you may have a false sense of security. You only need to put a zero at the front end, and the check-out computer can even do it for you; if it only detects 12 digits, it could insert a zero.
But it's not the manufacturers who will take the hit here. It's all those stores with point-of-sale terminals that read the UPC codes. Supermarkets and large chains even use the codes to manage inventory and track consumer buying habits.
Believe it or not, as a programming problem, Y2K did have some good features. For one thing, we all agreed on what year it was.
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You see, our 12-digit UPC codes are only valid in the US and Canada. There's actually a separate entity located in Brussels which has been assigning 13-digit codes for some 99 countries.
The bright idea of simply tagging a zero on the front of our current UPC code only partially solves the problem. It can actually match another code already in use internationally. Today, foreign manufacturers apply for a second UPC code for use here in the States. Soon, their products will carry two 13-digit codes - one for North America and one for everywhere else. Now that's confusing.
In addition, the official numbering organizations have gotten together and proposed a completely different kind of bar code, one which is physically smaller and holds 14 digits.
And now we get to the point.
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One description of the problem is that US and Canadian retailers need to revamp their check-out systems to handle the new 13-digit North American UPC codes.
Another version of the same problem is that the world needs to get on the same page, and still another version of the problem says, why stop at 14?
So, let's learn a little Computer Science here.
In the old days, when we programmed computers, we used what are called "fixed fields." Social Security Numbers were 9 digits long. Period. That's how many digits were allocated in the file, and that's how many were stored. But what are the computers going to do when we run out of Social Security Numbers? We only have a billion of them.
The truth is technology can plan for change. In this instance, plan for multiple assignment agencies and bar codes of different lengths and design. Then design a bar code that will tell you what kind of bar code it is and what standards it follows.
This is called embedding a description of the data within the data itself. If someone comes up with a new numbering system, you don't need to cancel the old one. You just add on new software. The new codes will work, and old codes will, too.
Simply put, the technology we build from here forward must be able to adapt to change.
I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.
