Press Release

ARLINGTON, VA – The Industry Data Exchange Association (IDEA) has announced a modified rollout schedule for the IDEA Connector launch on January 31st. These changes will allow manufacturers additional time to verify their data in the new system and provide company specific on-boarding for IDEA users.

To accommodate this updated rollout plan, the IDW will now run in parallel to the IDEA Connector during the migration period to the new platform.

IDEA’s goal is to make this transition to IDEA Connector as seamless and risk free as possible for the industry.

The modified go-live process for IDEA Connector will include a replication of all data from the IDW to the new platform, verification of the migrated data by both IDEA and manufacturers (over 250 million attributes) and the activation of an ongoing synchronization process to replicate manufacturer daily changes in both the IDW and IDEA Connector.

To allow for this transition, access to the IDW will be suspended (anticipated 6 hours) starting at 6 pm EST on January 30th. Full IDW access will resume on January 31st.

After successfully on-boarding the community to the new IDEA Connector platform, IDEA will sunset the IDW on April 19th, 2020.

Manufacturer specific information:

• Read only access to verify data starting February 14th.
• Manufacturer users will be provided full access (read/write/update) to the new platform for daily operations after all distributors are migrated. Target date April 19th.

Distributor specific information:

• Read only access to verify data starting February 14th.
• Transition to IDEA Connector for daily operations on a company by company basis starting March 22nd with final distributor migration completion on April 12th.
• Distributors will be notified by IDEA staff of their specified transition date and customized training plan options. 

IDEA Connector project milestone dates:

• January 30: IDW suspended from 6pm until 12am EST. At midnight the IDW will be back online and all IDEA customers operate the IDW as normal on January 31st.

• February 1–7: IDEA to verify data migration from IDW to IDEA Connector to ensure 250+ million attributes have transitioned properly

• Feb 8-13: All Manufacturer information submitted to the IDW from January 31st – February 8th will be processed by IDEA Connector and this modified data will be also be verified by IDEA

• Feb 14: All IDEA customers provided full access to mirrored IDEA Connector training and test environments with current data and user profiles

• April 19: Full access to IDEA Connector for Manufacturers; IDW access disabled

“We are continuing to work with the industry to ensure that everyone is adequately trained and their data is verified. Please encourage your staff to continue training in the IDEA Learning Portal so that they are fully prepared.” said Brenda Maxwell, IDEA Technical Product Manager.

Q&A webinars will take place every Thursday from now through June. Contact the IDEA Client Solution Team if you have further questions.

About IDEA

The Industry Data Exchange Association, Inc. (IDEA) is the official technology service provider and eBusiness standards body of the electrical industry. The company helps thousands of manufacturers and distributors find the most cost-effective methods for running day-to-day business. IDEA applications help connect the supply chain and make business processes efficient, easy and enjoyable for people every day. IDEA was founded in 1998 through a partnership rooted in the collective leadership of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) members. Their applications also bring value to vertical markets such as industrial, retail, and consumer-packaged goods. IDEA is headquartered in Arlington, VA. (idea4industry.com)