Top 12 ONIX Issues for Data Recipients that Data Providers Need to Know

Owned by Lauren Stewart
Last updated: Jan 04, 2022
1 min read

In December 2019 & January 2020, Graham Bell, Executive Director of EDItEUR, posted a list of the top ONIX issues that cause the most problems for data recipients, in their own words. This list is an essential resource for data providers to consider as they create records and feeds for their trading partners. Graham advises data recipients to ask themselves if their ONIX exhibits any of these issues. If you’re not sure, open the ONIX file in a text editor or a web browser to check.

This listicle is posted as an “Application Note” for the ONIX 3.0 Specification and is available with other Notes on the EDItEUR website at https://www.editeur.org/93/Release-3.0-Downloads/#How%20to.

Want to stay on top of ONIX implementation issues in a global discussion led by EDItEUR? Join the group at https://groups.io/g/onix.

Here’s Graham’s list, in ascending order:

12. Putting information into title fields which really shouldn’t be there
11. Including invalid characters or using the wrong character encoding
10. Use of terms like ‘N/A’ rather than omitting fields
9. Use of CDATA sections (ie using <![CDATA[ … ]]> when it isn’t necessary)
8. "Horrendous" HTML tagging
7. Trying to format text using white space (spaces, tabs, returns)
6. Sending the wrong notification type
5. The use of codes that are exclusive to ONIX 2.1 in ONIX 3.0 messages, or vice versa
4. Failing to ensure the <RecordReference> is unique and does not change
3. Sending prices without an associated territory, or assuming that currency implies country.
2. Using inappropriate age ranges
1. Sending ONIX that doesn't validate using the XSD schema

Read the complete document below or at https://www.editeur.org/files/ONIX 3/APPNOTE Twelve ONIX problems.pdf.