---
title: "The Importance of a standard code"
id: "16789"
type: "post"
slug: "the-importance-of-standard-code"
published_at: "2021-08-02T10:36:34+00:00"
modified_at: "2022-01-04T15:23:48+00:00"
url: "https://www.caenrfid.com/it/the-importance-of-standard-code/"
markdown_url: "https://www.caenrfid.com/it/the-importance-of-standard-code.md"
excerpt: "Automatic Identification technologies start always from a basic point: assign an identity to the object. RAIN RFID is not..."
taxonomy_category:
  - "News"
---

# The Importance of a standard code

2nd August 2021

Automatic Identification technologies start always from a basic point: **assign an identity to the object**.

RAIN RFID is not an exception and, like many other AutoID technologies, permits to **choose the right code for the object**, in other words, the memory where the code is stored inside a label is rewritable.

## So, how to choose the right code for your item?

There are two main options: using a **proprietary** or a **standard coding scheme**.

A **proprietary**code is typically simpler to implement, you choose the rules to build your code and you generate the codes accordingly. Having full freedom you can **adapt the code to your needs**, you can **make the code human readable** or to be simply numeric. It’s your code and when you use it inside your company it works well but …

What happens when one of your labels leaves your company? You are the **only one knowing the rules** used to build the code and, consequently, the **only one able to decode it**. If you are a manufacturer probably your resellers are not happy about that, they will need to replace your labels if they use RAIN RFID to organize their processes. Same situation if a foreign label enters your company.

But this is not the worse thing! With barcode labels you read only one label at a time so it’s simple to understand which item is coded incorrectly, it is the one you are reading in that moment. With RAIN RFID technology you read multiple labels at a time, typically hundreds of labels in a few seconds and without a line of sight so it **is not simple to recognize** which labels are **coded incorrectly**. Even worse, some of the foreign labels can have a code that can be decoded using your rules even if it was encoded with different rules!

## As a silly example look at the picture below.

**The code “EVENTONE#1234”** can be created starting from different data sources.

The result is that you can enter an event using a cosmetic product or you can think to have a cosmetic product on the shelf while, maybe, a customer has a ticket in his pocket.

**The solution** for all these potential problems (and others) is simple: **using a code scheme** compliant with a global **standard**. A global standard, like **GS1** or **ISO codes**, ensures that your code is unique not only inside your company but across all organizations in the world. They also have other useful features, like **standard headers** that define the type of code and that you can use to filter unwanted labels avoiding errors in your database.

Using **standard codes is mandatory**if your product flows along an open **supply chain** where different stakeholders need to read and decode correctly your code but, as discussed above, it is always a good idea, even if your tag never exits from your company.

But, if you still have some special reasons to use proprietary codes, there is a fair way to do so, **ISO standard**provides a method to define proprietary codes with a **special header** that says “Hey, this is a proprietary code!” informing the user who can decide to ignore it or to decode it.