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EPCIS Events

EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Services) is the GS1 standard for supply chain visibility. GTIN1 implements EPCIS 2.0, standardized as ISO/IEC 19987:2024, enabling organizations to capture and share "what, when, where, and why" information about products as they move through the supply chain.

Why EPCIS Matters

Every product has a journey -- from raw materials through manufacturing, distribution, and retail to the consumer. EPCIS provides a standard language for recording each step of that journey as a series of events. This enables:

  • Traceability -- track any product back to its origin
  • Compliance -- meet regulatory requirements like FDA FSMA 204
  • Recall management -- quickly identify affected products by lot and location
  • Visibility -- see where products are in real time
  • Authentication -- verify a product's provenance

Event Types

EPCIS defines five event types, each capturing a different kind of supply chain activity:

ObjectEvent

Records an observation or action on one or more identified objects. This is the most common event type.

Examples: - Commissioning a serial number (creating a new identity) - Shipping products from a warehouse - Receiving products at a retail store - Destroying expired products

AggregationEvent

Records the packing or unpacking of items into or out of a container.

Examples: - Packing individual bottles into a case - Loading cases onto a pallet - Unpacking a pallet at a distribution center

TransactionEvent

Links identified objects to a business transaction such as a purchase order or invoice.

Examples: - Associating products with a purchase order - Linking a shipment to a bill of lading - Recording products against an invoice

TransformationEvent

Records the creation of output products from input products, where the inputs are consumed in the process.

Examples: - Combining ingredients into a finished food product - Manufacturing a device from component parts - Blending raw materials into a chemical compound

AssociationEvent

Records a relationship between objects that is not a physical containment (unlike Aggregation).

Examples: - Associating a device with a specific firmware version - Linking a product to a warranty certificate - Pairing a consumable with its parent device

Event Dimensions

Every EPCIS event answers four fundamental questions:

What -- The Objects

Events reference the objects they affect through two mechanisms:

  • EPC List -- specific serialized identifiers (e.g., https://gtin1.com/01/09506000134352/21/SN001)
  • Quantity List -- class-level quantities without serial numbers (e.g., 500 units of GTIN 09506000134352)

Each identifier or quantity plays a specific role in the event:

Role Used In Meaning
epcList Object, Transaction The objects directly affected
parentID Aggregation, Association The container or parent object
childEPCs Aggregation, Association Items inside the container
inputEPCList Transformation Materials consumed
outputEPCList Transformation Products created

When -- Time

Each event records two timestamps:

  • Event Time -- when the event actually occurred, with timezone offset
  • Record Time -- when the event was captured in the system (set automatically)

Where -- Location

Events capture location at two levels:

  • Read Point -- the specific location where the event was observed (e.g., a dock door, a scanner station)
  • Business Location -- the broader business context (e.g., the warehouse, the store)

Locations are identified by GS1 Digital Link URIs and can be linked to physical location records with addresses and coordinates.

Why -- Business Context

The business context explains the purpose of the event through standardized vocabulary:

Business Step (bizStep) -- what was happening:

Business Step Description
commissioning Assigning an identity to an object for the first time
shipping Sending objects from one location to another
receiving Accepting objects at a location
packing Placing objects into a container
unpacking Removing objects from a container
retail_selling Selling to a consumer at point of sale
destroying Permanently disposing of objects
inspecting Examining objects for quality or compliance
stocking Placing objects on retail shelves
picking Selecting objects from storage for an order
loading Placing objects onto a transport vehicle
accepting Accepting objects into custody

GTIN1 supports all 37 business steps defined in the GS1 Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) 2.0.

Disposition -- the state of objects after the event:

Disposition Description
active Object is in normal use
in_transit Object is being transported
sellable_accessible Available for retail sale
recalled Object has been recalled
destroyed Object has been permanently disposed of
damaged Object is damaged
expired Object has passed its expiration date
returned Object has been returned

Actions

For Object, Aggregation, Transaction, and Association events, the action field indicates what happened:

Action Meaning
ADD Objects were created, added to a container, or associated
OBSERVE Objects were observed without changing their state
DELETE Objects were removed from a container or disassociated

Transformation events do not use an action field -- the transformation itself is implicit.

Business Transactions

Events can be linked to business documents to connect physical supply chain movements with business processes:

Transaction Type Description
bol Bill of Lading
desadv Despatch Advice
inv Invoice
po Purchase Order
poc Purchase Order Confirmation
prodorder Production Order
recadv Receiving Advice
rma Return Merchandise Authorization

Source and Destination

Events can record the transfer of ownership or possession between parties:

  • Source -- where the objects came from (owning party, possessing party, or location)
  • Destination -- where the objects are going

This enables tracking of custody changes through the supply chain.

Entry Records

GTIN1 maintains a current-state projection for each serialized item (EPC). An Entry record represents the latest known state of an identifier, automatically updated as new events are processed.

Each entry tracks:

  • The item's current status (active, decommissioned, or destroyed)
  • The last event that affected it
  • The last known business location
  • The last known disposition

This makes it possible to answer "where is this item right now?" without scanning the full event history.

Serial Number Pools

For organizations that need to assign serial numbers to products, GTIN1 provides serial number pool management:

  • Pools are created per trade item and support numeric, alphanumeric, or UUID encoding
  • Regions define contiguous ranges of serial numbers within a pool
  • Allocations record which serial numbers have been assigned, by whom, and optionally to which lot

This integrates with EPCIS commissioning events to ensure every serialized item has a unique, traceable identity.

Error Declarations

EPCIS events are immutable -- once captured, they cannot be modified or deleted. If an event is found to be erroneous, an Error Declaration is attached to the original event rather than changing or removing it.

Error declarations record:

  • Declaration time -- when the error was discovered
  • Reason -- either "did not occur" (the event never happened) or "incorrect data" (the event happened but with wrong information)
  • Corrective event IDs -- references to events that correct the error

This preserves a complete audit trail while allowing the record to be corrected.

JSON-LD Context

EPCIS 2.0 events use JSON-LD serialization with the GS1 EPCIS context. This means event data is both human-readable JSON and machine-interpretable linked data, compatible with the broader semantic web ecosystem.

Tip

EPCIS events captured through GTIN1 are accessible via the EPCIS 2.0 Query API, which supports cursor-based pagination and JSON-LD responses. See your organization's API documentation for endpoint details.