The holistic material compliance & sustainability platform DataCross offers decisive advantages/USPs from several perspectives. It is worthwhile to understand these perspectives, as together they guarantee the successful and legally compliant implementation of sustainability requirements.
1. User-friendly and convenient supplier support
From your suppliers’ point of view, DataCross is the most user-friendly, convenient inquiry tool on the market with regard to sustainability compliance. If you send an inquiry to your supplier from DataCross, he will be presented with various registration options right at the start and can therefore quickly get started with DataCross. The use of DataCross is completely free of charge for your supplier. It is also possible for them to answer your request(s) either directly in the system or via deep links, with or without creating an account, which ultimately leads to unprecedented supplier acceptance. His user experience is further improved by the fact that he can maintain or process the inquiries of several customers in one account at the same time.
If your supplier finds himself in the unfavorable situation of not being permitted by his company to maintain conformity statements directly on a platform such as DataCross, we have created a convenient way for him to send you all the necessary information via Excel. If your supplier lacks the necessary specialist knowledge to answer your queries, we will be happy to take them “by the hand” in free, multilingual webinars and explain questions specific to the regulations and provide practical tips on how to use our software.
If a supplier is unable to attend one of our webinars due to time constraints, they can pick up the phone and contact our hotline. Our extensively trained colleagues will help them to find their way around the inquiries or the operation of DataCross. In addition, your supplier will find specific (and multilingual) video instructions on all important topics directly in DataCross. DataCross is now available to your suppliers in the following languages: German, English, French and Chinese. Regardless of the language in which your suppliers use DataCross, you will receive your declarations in the language in which you are logged into the software.
When it comes to the user experience on the supplier’s side, we have made it our goal to provide them with the best possible support in using DataCross, so that they too can make a virtue of their duty.
By giving maximum consideration to the needs of suppliers, both in the system approach via DataCross and via the extensive range of training courses, it is easy for suppliers to meet customer inquiries – a fact that is characterized by high data quantity and data quality as a result.
2. Excellent interface compatibility and legally compliant implementation according to the state of the art
From our customers’ point of view, DataCross is the best way to meet sustainability requirements in a legally secure, economical and state-of-the-art manner. If we look at the practical advantages for you in using the software, the first thing to mention here is the possibility of connecting all common ERP systems as well as databases and third-party systems via an API interface. These open interfaces make it possible to quickly and conveniently implement system connectivity and enable process-integrated data transfer.
DataCross also offers our customers considerable advantages in terms of IT security. By using the Mendix development environment and the Mendix hosting platform, DataCross is on a par with many banks and insurance companies that also develop and host their applications in the Mendix world in terms of system security.
3. Modern business user concept with flexible declaration options
Thanks to the option of single sign-on and our customized multi-business concept, DataCross is available to companies of all sizes in the most modern way. In DataCross, you can combine up to 150 business units (or locations) in your OEM account and manage them either centrally or with the individually selected theme modules. With regard to suppliers, articles and parts lists, any combination of centralized and decentralized data management/data processing is conceivable and possible in DataCross. This versatile, changeable management structure is guaranteed by automatic recognition of identical suppliers, articles and parts lists – across the various business units of a customer. Accordingly, your requests can be bundled in DataCross and all incoming declarations from suppliers can be made available to all or selected business units. This is even possible if your individual business units use different ERP systems with different number ranges. Furthermore, DataCross provides you with an individually configurable roles and rights system that simplifies the administration of access rights.
As DataCross is flexible in the processing of information density, you can switch between full and partial declarations for specific articles as required. For certain materials, you can also select a full declaration via the material catalog stored in DataCross or store your own material catalog. It is also possible to request declarations in accordance with the IPC 1752 standard from the supplier or to use the declarations stored via the standard.
All necessary article and supplier information can be imported flexibly and easily into DataCross using new, high-performance import formats for parts lists, commercial goods lists or purchasing lists. You can manage up to 500,000 parts lists and articles as well as 15,000 suppliers in your account. This structure enables DataCross to automatically calculate the rules status of a BOM in real time and when it is opened. The system performance can be described as exceptional.
4. Excellent data service for high-quality results
As part of our data service, which can be optionally booked by our customers as part of the software usage, we offer you a unique full service that you will not get from any of our competitors. We take care of all supplier communication for you via DataCross, we ask your suppliers about the conformity of the regulations you have booked, validate all returns (whether inside or outside DataCross), research missing conformities and thus compile all results in your DataCross account.
The holistic leadership of tec4U-Solutions in the area of sustainability is also reflected in DataCross. DataCross is characterized by legal certainty and economic efficiency in constant comparison with the state of the art and software innovations and, in conjunction with excellent supplier acceptance, guarantees the successful implementation of sustainability requirements.
5. Software logic on the pulse of legislation and market surveillance
From a legal perspective, DataCross is ahead of its market competitors in many respects. Through direct dialog, both with the legislator and with enforcement authorities and courts in the customer mandate, DataCross always represents the current status of legal requirements and the state of the art.
DataCross is truly unique thanks to the upstream trustworthiness check and risk assessment of your suppliers. As far as we are aware, no other sustainability software on the market offers this safeguard in accordance with DIN EN IEC 63000. DataCross offers you increased legal and liability security by implementing the standard requirements of IEC 63000 in accordance with your requirements. The risk assessment of suppliers is carried out in DataCross by means of a questionnaire that precedes the article inquiry. This contains questions specific to the regulations, which use a stored logic to determine the supplier’s sustainability status. The result is displayed in DataCross using a traffic light function.
Legal certainty in DataCross is based on several pillars. In addition to a wealth of experience from almost weekly process consulting and auditing projects, our team of seven consultants has in-depth knowledge of all current and the most important material compliance requirements and sustainability regulations worldwide. With this knowledge, our team ensures the overarching maintenance of regulations for our 23 legal modules in DataCross with a high level of expertise. For us, being legally compliant also means preparing for future regulations/requirements today and implementing them at an early stage in consultations and in DataCross, such as querying for PFAS that are not yet regulated.
Our aim is to enable you, as our customer, to map your far-reaching sustainability requirements in a legally secure and cost-effective manner via DataCross in the future.
6. Holistic assurance of sustainability requirements: Now and in the future!
Looking to the future, DataCross is the only system that already offers the collection and presentation of data and information on various aspects of sustainability in a single system – a unique selling point that is constantly being developed further! In particular, addressing suppliers in the entire field of sustainability via a single system greatly increases the system effectiveness of DataCross and offers far-reaching user-friendliness for both our customers and their suppliers. DataCross not only sets new standards in the area of material compliance. DataCross also redefines the communication of sustainability requirements in the area of supply chain due diligence. Continuing these benchmarks, tec4U-Solutions offers a CO2 module that will enable our customers to determine Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 emissions and to request Scope 3 emissions easily and efficiently in the supply chain. This will make DataCross the first tool on the market that can calculate a real CO2 footprint. This product information and many other details that are relevant in the context of the new Ecodesign Regulation will be summarized in the Digital Product Passport via DataCross. We attach particular importance to ensuring that the product passport generated in DataCross can be communicated flawlessly not only via our system but also via customers’ own platforms. As an important topic extension, an independent CSRD application will also be available for our customers in DataCross in the future, in which the necessary analyses can be carried out and suppliers can be asked about the required data and key figures. The content and structure of a sustainability report can then be prepared in DataCross.
DataCross stands for sustainability from a single source – legally compliant, transparent and economical. Don’t miss your chance to be part of our growing and cross-industry sustainability network!