Introduction
Scannable allows manufacturers to manage their full product catalogue, including products, variants (SKUs), and all supporting documents. This guide gives a quick overview of how product data works in Scannable.
Products and SKUs
Products
A product can have one or multiple variants/SKUs
Think of it as the “base model” or family.
Examples include a rope model, a helmet model, or a harness model.
Each product contains:
Name and category
Images and documents
Certifications
Technical data fields
SKUs (Variants)
A SKU is a specific version of a product. The SKU name is what is visible when end users search our Global Database.
Examples:
A rope in different lengths
A life vest in different sizes
A helmet in different colours
SKUs inherit most information from their product, but can also have unique details like:
Part number
Barcode/UPC
Variant-specific data (Size, Length, Colour, etc)
Items
An item is what is produced, a physical instance of the ‘Product/SKU’.
Often described as a ‘serialised item’ when each item has its own unique serial number.
In our data model, an item is created when a SKU is linked to a specific serial number in the database. This is now a unique record within the Scannable database that can be owned by individual accounts, inspected, and assigned a safety status.
Examples:
A sling with a Sew-in NFC tag, serialised by the manufacturer.
A helmet with a retrofit NFC tag placed on it by an equipment owner.
Product Data Fields
Scannable has built templates of data fields for every product category.
We are standardising the naming of these data fields and the formatting of the data.
For example, a rope may include fields such as Diameter or Plait Strand, while a harness will have different fields.
There are up to 150 data fields available in our standard templates, but only the populated data fields will show to the end users.
SKU Data
Every SKU has ‘ key identifiers’:
Part Number — common industry reference
EAN/UPC Barcodes — printed on packaging
SKUs show the same data fields available at the product level, with the option to override inherited values.
Data Quality Score
Each SKU has a data quality score.
When the required fields are completed, the score turns green, indicating the SKU has the minimum information needed for reliable use in the field—such as an image, name, and core specs.
Inherited Data
Data added at the product level automatically applies to all SKUs.
SKUs can override product-level data if needed.
This helps keep your catalogue consistent and reduces duplicate work.
For example: Any SKU’s without a photo will inherit the photo from their parent product.
If the SKU does have a photo then it will show the SKU level photo before the product level photo.