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Glossary

The words this industry uses, without the fog.

Every term below appears somewhere on this site or in a contract you will be asked to sign. Each one gets a plain definition and an honest note on why it actually matters, because most glossaries in logistics define the acronym and skip the part you needed.

ASNBYOCCMRControl towerDDP and DAPDPPEPCISERPESPRGS1 Digital LinkGTINItem level vs parcel levelISO/IEC 15459Last mileMulti-carrierOMSSerialisationSGTIN3PLTMSWMS

ASN

Advance Shipping Notice

A message sent ahead of a delivery telling the receiving site exactly what is coming, when, and in what packaging. It is what turns an arrival from a surprise into a plan.

Why it mattersWithout one, a warehouse discovers its inbound at the dock. With one built from real item identities rather than a forecast, space and labour can be planned about a week ahead.
Where this shows up in the product

BYOC

Bring Your Own Carrier

An arrangement where the customer keeps their own carrier contracts and negotiated rates, and the software generates labels against those accounts rather than reselling transport.

Why it mattersYour rates stay exactly as negotiated and the labels count against your plan allowance. It is the default option outside France and the United Kingdom, and a first-class one inside them.
Where this shows up in the product

CMR

The consignment note used for international road freight under the CMR Convention. It is the contract of carriage, the receipt and the evidence of condition, all on one document.

Why it mattersIt is the paper trail behind a road leg. When a claim is disputed, the CMR is usually the document that settles it, which is why the evidence needs to be attached before the dispute starts.
Where this shows up in the product

Control tower

A single operational view over shipments, orders, exceptions and compliance, with the authority to act rather than only to watch.

Why it mattersThe term is used loosely across the industry. The distinction that matters is whether the view is assembled from one shared item identity or stitched together from four systems that disagree.
Where this shows up in the product

DDP and DAP

Delivered Duty Paid, Delivered At Place

Two Incoterms that decide who pays import duty and tax. Under DDP the seller pays and the customer receives nothing extra to settle. Under DAP the buyer settles duty on arrival.

Why it mattersThe choice decides whether a cross-border customer meets an unexpected bill at the door, which is one of the larger drivers of refused deliveries and returns.

DPP

Digital Product Passport

A structured, machine-readable record of an item covering its identity, composition, origin and lifecycle events, accessible by scanning the item itself.

Why it mattersUnder ESPR this becomes a legal requirement across a widening set of categories sold into the EU. Built at the source it is a by-product of shipping. Retrofitted it is a reconciliation project.
Where this shows up in the product

EPCIS

Electronic Product Code Information Services

The GS1 standard for recording and sharing supply chain events in a common vocabulary: what happened, to which item, when, where and why.

Why it mattersIt is the grammar that lets a factory, a forwarder, a warehouse and a carrier describe the same event in a way the others can read without a bespoke integration for every pair.
Where this shows up in the product

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning

The system of record for a business: purchasing, finance, inventory valuation and often production planning.

Why it mattersIt knows everything until the purchase order leaves it, and very little afterwards. That boundary is where most brands go blind, and it is the reason the thread has to start at the purchase order.
Where this shows up in the product

ESPR

Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

The EU regulation that sets ecodesign requirements for products sold in the Union and introduces the Digital Product Passport as a compliance instrument.

Why it mattersIt is the reason product passports stop being optional. Which categories are covered, and from when, is set by delegated acts that arrive category by category.
Where this shows up in the product

GTIN

Global Trade Item Number

The GS1 identifier for a product line. The number behind a retail barcode. It identifies the model, not the individual unit.

Why it mattersA GTIN tells you what something is. It cannot tell you which one. That difference is the whole argument for item-level identity.

Item level vs parcel level

Parcel-level tracking follows a container from label to delivery. Item-level tracking follows the thing the customer bought, through packing, consolidation, receipt, re-picking and return.

Why it mattersA parcel is a temporary container that may hold several items and may be repacked twice. Recalls, warranties, provenance claims and passports are all questions about an item, not a box.
Where this shows up in the product

ISO/IEC 15459

The international standard for unique identifiers applied to items, transport units and locations in the supply chain.

Why it mattersIt is one of the specifications the passport implementation is built against, alongside the W3C CE-DPP work.
Where this shows up in the product

Last mile

The final leg of a delivery, from the local depot to the customer's door or a pickup point. Typically the most expensive leg per kilometre and the one the customer actually experiences.

Why it mattersIt is also where a parcel most often changes hands between networks, which is why a single consolidated status matters more here than anywhere else in the chain.
Where this shows up in the product

Multi-carrier

Running more than one carrier from one system, with rules deciding which carrier gets which shipment.

Why it mattersThe benefit is not only price. It is that a single network's bad week stops being your bad week, provided the tracking and the invoice audit still read as one.
Where this shows up in the product

OMS

Order Management System

The system that decides where an order is served from and keeps its state across channels and locations.

Why it mattersWhere a brand runs one, it is read rather than replaced. Where a brand does not, a single-warehouse operation rarely needs to buy one.
Where this shows up in the product

Serialisation

Assigning a unique identifier to each individual unit produced, rather than to each product line.

Why it mattersIt is the single decision that makes everything downstream possible, and the single thing that is painful to add retrospectively. Minting identity at the label, or earlier at the care label, is how it stops being a project.
Where this shows up in the product

SGTIN

Serialised Global Trade Item Number

A GTIN extended with a serial number, so it identifies one specific unit rather than a product line.

Why it mattersIt is the identity used by default across Next Horizon. It is what makes a passport belong to one item and what lets a return be recognised as the unit that went out.
Where this shows up in the product

3PL

Third Party Logistics provider

A company that runs warehousing, fulfilment or transport on a brand's behalf.

Why it mattersA good 3PL is an asset and moving away from one to prove a point costs a season. The useful change is usually not replacing the operator but reading their system through the item identity.
Where this shows up in the product

TMS

Transport Management System

The system used to plan, book and settle freight movements.

Why it mattersIt tracks consignments, because that is what it moves. Your business runs on items. Most inbound visibility problems come down to that mismatch.
Where this shows up in the product

WMS

Warehouse Management System

The system that runs receiving, putaway, stock locations, picking and dispatch inside a warehouse.

Why it mattersIt counts well and identifies poorly. Reading the same WMS through an item identity answers both the replenishment question and the traceability question without replacing anything.
Where this shows up in the product

Where to go next.

SolutionsFour ways in NetworkCoverage and rates CheckFour-minute ESPR readiness check StackEvery integration

Questions we get asked.

What is the difference between a GTIN and an SGTIN?

A GTIN identifies a product line, which is the number behind a retail barcode. An SGTIN is a GTIN extended with a serial number, so it identifies one specific unit. A GTIN tells you what something is; an SGTIN tells you which one.

What is the difference between item-level and parcel-level tracking?

Parcel-level tracking follows a container from label to delivery. Item-level tracking follows the thing the customer bought, and survives packing, consolidation, receipt, re-picking and return. Recalls, warranties and product passports are questions about an item, not a box.

What is a Digital Product Passport?

A structured, machine-readable record of an individual item covering its identity, composition, origin and lifecycle events, reachable by scanning the item. Under the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation it becomes a legal requirement across a widening set of categories.

What does bring your own carrier mean?

The customer keeps their own carrier contracts and negotiated rates, and the software generates labels against those accounts rather than reselling transport. Rates stay exactly as negotiated and labels count against the plan allowance.

What is EPCIS used for?

EPCIS is the GS1 standard for recording and sharing supply chain events in a shared vocabulary: what happened, to which item, when, where and why. It lets separate parties describe the same event without a bespoke integration for every pair of systems.

Definitions are the easy part.

If one of these terms is on a contract in front of you right now, bring it to the call. We will tell you what it commits you to.

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