Passing ACES and PIES validation is the start of delivery, not the finish. Every receiver loads your file against its own rules, and a record that is perfectly valid to the standard can still be held, trimmed, or dropped once it reaches a retailer program.
Where a valid file loses data on the way in.
Required fields go past the standard. PIES makes many segments optional. AutoZone, NAPA, O’Reilly, Amazon, and Advance Auto often treat some of those optional fields as required for their programs: descriptions at specific lengths, package dimensions and weights, country of origin, or particular product attributes. A file can validate cleanly and still have items held back because a receiver-required field is blank.
Version and code-set timing does not line up. Your file references one VCdb, PCdb, or PAdb release; the receiver may be loading against another. A part type or attribute that exists in your release may not resolve on their side yet, and the rows tied to it can drop out quietly instead of failing loudly.
Full and net-change files get mixed up. Sending a partial update as if it were a full replacement can delete coverage the receiver already had. Sending a full file without clear supersession and discontinue handling can leave old numbers active next to new ones.
The feedback report never gets read. Most programs return load results, error lists, or scorecards. When nobody owns that report, rejected items stay rejected, and the next file repeats the same gaps.
A delivery habit that keeps the data you already built.
- Keep a short requirements sheet for each receiver that lists what it needs beyond base ACES and PIES, and check your file against it before you send.
- Record which VCdb, PCdb, and PAdb releases each file was built on, and confirm the receiver can load against them.
- Label every submission as full or net change, and confirm supersessions and discontinued parts are handled the way that receiver expects.
- Treat the receiver’s load report as part of the delivery. A file is not delivered until the rejected rows are fixed or explained.
InterWest Technology Group prepares and checks catalog files against each receiver’s requirements, so the ACES and PIES work your team already did shows up where buyers search.
