EPDs cover families, customers ask per SKU.
One declaration covers hundreds of articles. Which article belongs to which EPD — and which indicator applies — is known only to a few people.
Use case · Illustrative scenario
01 · CONSTRUCTION & INTERIOR PRODUCTS
Every panel, every tile — with its passport, its EPD and its data.
A manufacturer of flooring, wall and ceiling systems links environmental product declarations, declarations of performance and technical data to every article, prepares Digital Product Passports, and gives retailers and planners the data they now ask for.
“The architect needs the EPD, the retailer wants recycled content per SKU — and both live in a PDF that covers two hundred articles.”
02 · SITUATION
Sustainability data exists — just not per article.
The company makes flooring, wall and ceiling systems, acoustic panels, profiles and installation accessories. Around 30,000 articles: every product line in many formats, colors and surface finishes.
Technical data and marketing texts live in the PIM. Weights, packaging and country of origin live in the ERP. Environmental product declarations according to EN 15804 exist for each product family — as verified PDFs, plus structured exports from the life-cycle assessment work. Declarations of performance sit on the website as PDFs. None of this is linked per article.
Demand has changed. Builders' merchants and DIY retailers ask for sustainability attributes in their templates. Architects and planners need EPD indicators and BIM-relevant properties for building assessments. Technical wholesale wants ETIM. And the Digital Product Passport is expected to reach construction products as the revised EU Construction Products Regulation and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation are implemented.
| WHO ASKS FOR WHAT | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| BUILDERS' MERCHANTS · DIY | recycled content, VOC class, origin, packaging | RETAILER TEMPLATE (XLSX) |
| ARCHITECTS · PLANNERS | EPD indicators, fire class, acoustic values | PORTAL · OPEN DATA |
| BIM CONTENT TOOLS | structured properties | FEED · API |
| TECHNICAL WHOLESALE | ETIM class and features | BMECAT 2005 |
| MARKET SURVEILLANCE · FUTURE | passport data | DPP · DATA CARRIER |
03 · CHALLENGES
Where sustainability data gets stuck.
Validity runs out quietly.
EPDs and certificates expire. Nobody notices until a planner uses an outdated value in a building assessment.
Every retailer template is different.
Sustainability fields, units and code lists differ per retailer; each request becomes a spreadsheet project.
Planners can't find structured data.
Values are buried in PDFs. BIM content tools and assessment software need properties as data, not as documents.
ETIM on top.
Technical wholesale requires ETIM classes and features for the same articles — maintained separately today.
The passport needs one record.
A Digital Product Passport pulls from PIM, ERP, EPD and declarations. Without one linked record per article there is nothing to build it from.
04 · THE PIM GATE SETUP
One record per article. Three modules on top.
PIM Gate combines PIM, ERP, EPD exports and declarations into one record per article, linking each article to its EPD by product-family rules and checking validity on every export. On that record run three modules: the Digital Product Passport, Open Data for planners and tools, and ETIM & BMEcat for wholesale. Retailer templates and the portal use the same data.
Diagram. PIM, ERP, EPD exports and declarations feed PIM Gate, which builds one record per article and holds records with expired EPDs. Outputs are Digital Product Passports with data carriers and access levels, open data for planners, retailer sustainability templates, ETIM and BMEcat for wholesale, a portal for retailers and planners, and an API for BIM content tools.
Open data for planners and tools
The passport, from record to QR code
05 · WORKFLOW
From EPD file to passport scan.
- STEP 01
PIM, ERP, EPD, declarations.
Technical data from the PIM, logistics and origin from the ERP, EPD indicators and validity from structured LCA exports, declarations and certificates as documents with metadata.
- STEP 02
Every article to its EPD.
Rules assign articles to EPDs by product family, format range or material. Indicators are inherited per article; exceptions are handled explicitly and logged.
- STEP 03
Validity at the gate.
Expired EPDs or certificates hold the affected records before they reach passports, feeds or templates. Sustainability owners see what needs renewal.
- STEP 04
ETIM and planner properties.
Articles are mapped to ETIM classes for wholesale; fire class, acoustic and emission values become structured properties for planners and BIM content tools.
- STEP 05
Build the Digital Product Passport.
A passport record per product or batch, a data carrier on the product or packaging, access levels for public, professionals and authorities, and an immutable history.
- STEP 06
Retailers, planners, open web.
Retailer templates with sustainability fields go out on schedule; planners find data in the portal and via open data; tools pull through the API.
06 · MODULES & PORTALS
What this setup uses — and what is live today.
- LIVE
Ingestion XML · REST pull · scheduled SFTP
PIM, ERP, EPD exports, document metadata
- LIVE
Canonical schema · attribute metadata (type, unit, locale, market flags)
One record per article incl. sustainability attributes
- LIVE
Validation rules · held-for-review
EPD and certificate validity
- 2026
Digital Product Passport module
Passport records, data carrier, access levels, history
- 2026
Open Data module
JSON-LD, feeds, public API for planners and tools
- 2026
ETIM & BMEcat module
ETIM mapping, BMEcat 2005 for wholesale
- LIVE
Customer Portal
Retailers and planners: data sheets, EPD, DoP
- 2026
Supplier Portal (optional, second portal module in M)
Raw-material suppliers submit recycled content, origin and material declarations
- LIVE
Scheduled delivery · versioned exports
Retailer sustainability templates
- LIVE
Versioned REST API /v1 · delta sync
BIM content tools, website
- ROADMAP
Data-quality scoring dashboard
Completeness of sustainability data
07 · EXPECTED EFFECTS
What typically changes.
Indicative
EPD per family in a PDF
EPD indicators available per article, with the source declaration linked.
Indicative
Expired declarations go unnoticed
Expired EPDs and certificates hold records at the gate.
Indicative
One spreadsheet project per retailer
Retailer templates generated from the same record, on schedule.
Indicative
Values buried in documents
Structured properties for planners, BIM content tools and assessment software.
Indicative
ETIM maintained separately
ETIM mapped on the same record, checked on every export.
Indicative
DPP as a future project
Passport records ready to build as requirements are specified.
Qualitative expectations for this scenario, not measured results. Regulatory requirements and their timing are defined by the EU and national authorities; PIM Gate provides the data layer.
08 · TYPICAL CONFIGURATION
Version M with all three data modules — at the bundle price.
Product data, sustainability, marketing and key accounts need 11–25 seats; 30,000 articles fall into the ≤ 100k band; five languages fit Version M. Booking DPP, Open Data and ETIM together saves 20% on the modules. Retailers and planners are portal users — unlimited. Indicative list price €28,440, EUR, annual prepayment, excl. VAT.
| Item | € / year |
|---|---|
| Version M — 11–25 seats, ≤ 100k SKUs, 2 portal modules, 8 languages | €10,200 |
| Customer Portal for retailers and planners (included in M) | incl. |
| Digital Product Passport module · ≤ 100k | €9,600 |
| Open Data module · ≤ 100k | €6,000 |
| ETIM & BMEcat module · ≤ 100k | €7,200 |
| Bundle discount, all three data modules (−20% of module subtotal) | −€4,560 |
| Indicative list price | €28,440 |
09 · ROLLOUT
Link the data first. Then publish, then passport.
- 01
WEEKS 1–3 · SCOPE
WEEKS 1–3Data inventory. Which EPDs exist for which families, which sustainability fields retailers ask for, which ETIM classes apply, which data is public, professional or restricted.
- 02
WEEKS 4–9 · ONE RECORD
WEEKS 4–9Connect and link. PIM, ERP and EPD exports connected; EPD-to-article rules; validity checks; portal for retailers and planners with EPD and DoP per article.
- 03
WEEKS 10–16 · PUBLISH
WEEKS 10–16Retailers, wholesale, planners. Retailer templates, ETIM mapping and BMEcat, open data feeds and JSON-LD for planners and tools.
- 04
FROM WEEK 17 · PASSPORT
FROM WEEK 17DPP pilot. Passport records and data carriers for one product line; access levels agreed with compliance; extend line by line as requirements are specified.
Indicative plan. Module phases start when the modules are available for your tenant.
10 · NEXT STEP
Recognize your data gap? Book a scoping call.
Bring one EPD and the article list it covers. We show how it becomes per-article data, a retailer template row and a passport record.
11 · Keep reading
More on this scenario
2026
Digital Product Passport
PIM Gate assembles passport records per article or batch from your existing PIM, ERP and document data, shows you the gaps, and publishes each passport behind a QR code.
2026
Open Data
A governed, public slice of your catalog as structured, machine-readable product data — schema.org JSON-LD, versioned feeds and a read-only API. You decide what is public.
2026
ETIM & BMEcat
Classify once, deliver to every wholesaler — complete, in the right ETIM version, as full catalog or delta.