CSIDS/DUNS Numbers


Q: Who can request updates to supplier records in MDG-S or CSIDS? Can a supplier provide updates to specific DUNS numbers (name change, company legal structure or ownership change)?
A:

GM requestors may submit their requests the VDRF form. The form can be provided to the supplier for completion, however, the supplier MUST return the form to the GM requestor for submission. The completed form is submitted to the Vendor Master Team, who in turn submits the request to the GM Supplier Maintenance Activity Group (MAG).

With the exception of notification of a large name or ownership change, suppliers are not allowed to contact the MAG team members (gmsupplier.maintenance@gm.com) directly to request maintenance to their supplier records.  They will be directed to submit their requests through their GM requestor. 



Q: What is an Ultimate DUNS?
A:


An Ultimate DUNS number is that number assigned to the legal entity holding the highest level of ownership of an organization. The ultimate DUNS can be multiple levels above the headquarters of the organization actually doing business with General Motors. It can represent a holding or an investment company, not recognized by the employees of the manufacturing company with which GM has a contract. While some suppliers would prefer that the headquarters for their legal entity be shown as the ultimate DUNS, GM relies on Dun & Bradstreet for this linkage information, and we do not deviate to satisfy individual suppliers.

In order to be reported as an ultimate of other organizations, the highest level must hold a 51% or more interest in a company. If two companies form a 50/50 joint venture, that joint venture will be listed as an ultimate, separate from either of the member companies of the joint venture. If one of the joint venture member companies holds a majority share of 51% or more, the joint venture will be listed under the ultimate for that majority shareholder organization.

It is not unheard of for a company to establish separate legal entities, for tax or legal reasons that, while related to the other organization through some common management or monetary investment, are not considered to be a holding of the other legal entity. These organizations, while they will have similar names, will not be linked together under one ultimate.



Q: What is a DUNS Number?
A:


The Data Universal Numbering System, abbreviated as DUNS or D-U-N-S, is a proprietary system developed and regulated by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) that assigns a unique, nine-digit numeric identifier, referred to as a "DUNS number" to a single business entity site.



Q: What is a Parent DUNS?
A:

A parent DUNS is that number assigned to the highest level of responsibility of a single entity within an organization owned by another legal entity. This could be the headquarters location of a division or subsidiary of another entity.



Q: What is a branch/site/child DUNS?
A:

GM refers to the level of locations that report to a headquarters or parent DUNS as a child, branch or site DUNS. These numbers generally are the manufacturing locations, plants, sales offices. If a company has a single location, the same number is considered to be the child, the parent and the ultimate DUNS.



Q: Why did my Ultimate DUNS change?
A:

An Ultimate DUNS will be changed when the ownership of a company or the legal structure of that company changes. If a company is acquired by another legal entity, the company will be linked to the Ultimate for that new legal entity. If there has been a partial buyout of a specific division or unit of one legal entity to a new legal entity, the Ultimate would change for the DUNS numbers assigned to the locations of that division or unit. In this case, the headquarters for the division or unit would also receive a new DUNS number. Dun and Bradstreet maintains history relative to the company as the original legal entity at the headquarters level. Therefore, that site would receive a new DUNS, which would be linked to the new Ultimate. All of the child records linked to that old headquarters location would be changed to reflect the new Parent DUNS and the new Ultimate DUNS.



Q: Where does the information regarding supplier changes come from?
A:

Supplier change related information is provided to the GM Supplier Maintenance Activity Group (MAG) from numerous sources:

a. GM users, especially GM buyers, are notified about company name changes, relocations of facilities, and company buyouts by their supplier contacts.

b. GM suppliers at times will contact the MAG directly regarding large changes, such as buyouts or company name changes. This normally only happens if they have dealt with a member of the MAG in the past on another issue. Suppliers should NOT be directed to the MAG by other GM users.

c. A member of the MAG becomes aware of the need to change a name or linkage as the results of an investigation of another change. There are times when the MAG runs across much larger changes while investigating an individual request to change a single record.

d. The D&B monitoring function provides alerts on changes to US records previously viewed by a MAG team member within the D&B database.

e. A MAG team member or GM user reads about an ownership or name change via a business periodical.



Q: Why did I lose my access to GM applications like eSAP/eContract/ GQTS/SQMS/CLIPS when my Ultimate changed?
A:

Ultimate changes impact your access to GM applications because the Ultimate DUNS number is the "key" to the security. If an organization is acquired by another in its entirety, then the impact on the users should be minimal because GM Supply Power will pick up and move all user grants by making the old Ultimate a child of the new Ultimate. However, if only specific divisions or units are acquired by a new organization, the users being moved will now be associated to a completely different legal entity. Access to DUNS numbers and data related to the old organization must be revoked for users associated to the new legal entity. This type of change requires that the users re-register in Covisint under the new ultimate. Once the users have re-registered, the Supply Power SA (security administrator) for the new ultimate/organization must reassign grants to specific service packs and DUNS numbers as required for the users that have joined the new organization.



Q: Why didn't my buyer know about my DUNS change (inactivation – delete/transfer – ultimate change)?
A:

There are different methodologies used to advise different customers relative to these types of changes.

a. Inactivation: A DUNS inactivation is performed when a number is reported as no longer being valid in Dun & Bradstreet's database. This could be because that particular site was closed. When the GM Supplier Maintenance Activity Group (MAG) becomes aware that a DUNS is no longer valid, and is unable to identify a DUNS number that should be used as a replacement, the DUNS number is scheduled to be inactivated. These transactions are scheduled four weeks out from the date on which it is added to the schedule. This means that the record is made inactive on that date, and will become unavailable for use by the insertion of an inactivate date on the record. In the case where the DUNS number is found to exist on an open GPS contract, the GM buyer assigned to that contract receives advanced notification of the pending DUNS inactivation in their GPS Event Calendar. If that is the case, it is the buyer's responsibility to advise the supplier beforehand and determine what alternative DUNS number should be used on the existing contracts.


b. Delete/Transfer: A DUNS delete/transfer is performed when a number is reported as no longer being valid in Dun & Bradstreet's database and has been replaced by another number. This may happen when two location of the company merge into one, resulting in duplicate records or when a headquarters location is bought out by another legal entity, resulting in the assignment of a new DUNS. These transactions are scheduled three weeks out from the date on which it is added to the schedule. The buyer is not notified in this situation, because there is a process that will automatically update any direct material contract where the old DUNS number appears as the Header, Manufacturing or Ship From DUNS. The buyers are not notified in this case, however, a bulletin is produced by the GM Global EDI Communication Group N.A., advising the MGO plants, as well as the Supplier EDI Coordinator, of the pending DUNS change.

c. Ultimate Change: The reasons for an ultimate change have been defined previously in Question 14. The buyers are not notified when an ultimate change has been performed, or has been scheduled for a future effective date, but a notice is sent by the GM Supply Power Security Team, to the Company Security Administrators of both the old and new Ultimate, indicating that an ultimate change has taken place or will take place at a future date. These changes are scheduled for a future effective date when the change includes a large number of child records. The notice from GM includes the date that the change took/or will take place and the date the change will be viewable in Covisint, the child record(s) impacted, the new ultimate DUNS number and whether the change is a Full ultimate change or Partial ultimate change. A full ultimate change (sometimes referred to as a full buyout) means that the entire organization will be changed to a new ultimate DUNS, including the old Ultimate record. This type of change has the least amount of impact on the SupplyPower users for that company, because it simply changes the status of the old ultimate DUNS to a child of the new ultimate, and moves all of the user IDs and grants under the new ultimate DUNS.

A partial ultimate change (partial buyout or spin off) is described as a change to some locations of the old organization (specific divisions, units or individual locations) to a new ultimate DUNS. In this case, the old organization continues to operate as a legal entity under the old ultimate DUNS, while those locations impacted are moved to a new legal entity ultimate DUNS. All users requiring access under the new ultimate DUNS will have to re-register in Covisint/GM SupplyPower and have a new GMID assigned. Once the users have received their new ID's, the Company Security Administrator for the new Ultimate will have to reassign any required service packages and associate the user ID to the appropriate DUNS numbers within the new organization.



Q: What is MDG-S? What is CSIDS?
A:

MDG-S is the acronym for an application called Master Data Governance - Supplier, which is a SAP module.  This application is where all of the DUNS records are maintained, and it is the gold source of supplier DUNS, name, address and linkage information for the majority of GM's global systems.  MDG-S feeds CSIDS and eSAP (for indirect material and tooling purchasing).

CSIDS is the acronym for a GM application called Corporate Supplier Identification Source.  CSIDS feeds downstream systems, such as the Global Purchasing System (GPS), MGO (scheduling and receiving of direct parts/materials), eDACOR (N.A. disbursements), Direct EDI (transmission of schedules and receipt of Advanced Shipping Notifications), GQTS (Global Supplier Tracking System), and GM SupplyPower.



Q: Can suppliers be granted access to MDG-S or CSIDS?
A:

No, MDG-S and CSIDS are not applications to which suppliers may be granted access.



Q: We are still using a DUNS number that GM has deleted/inactivated? How do we get it reinstated?
A:
The DUNS number is proprietary to Dun & Bradstreet. As such, D&B has their own business rules about why and when a DUNS number is marked as out of business or is removed from their database. However, there are instances when a number has been marked as out of business in error, and in those cases, when the supplier contacts D&B and explains that the operations at the site of that DUNS number are still active, D&B will reinstate the DUNS if it still exists on their database in an out of business state. If that number has been physically deleted, D&B is not able to call the number back. However, if a number was removed because there had been duplicates created (either accidently or when one supplier facility moved to another facility that already had a DUNS assigned) then D&B's rules about which number will be retained are the final answer.


Q: How will a DUNS change (delete/transfer) impact my indirect material (eSAP) purchase orders?
A:
There is no immediate impact to a purchase orders issued by the GM eSAP indirect material system. The fact that the old DUNS number has been inactivated has been transmitted to the eSAP vendor master file, which results in an accounts payable "posting" and "purchasing" block being placed on the supplier record. When an invoice or receipt record is received against a purchase order or release issued against the now inactive DUNS number, the accounts payable team will confirm that the DUNS has been delete/transferred to a new DUNS number. They can temporarily remove the "account payable" block in eSAP, enabling the supplier invoice to be paid.


Q: How are DUNS numbers designated as either a Header, Manufacturing, Ship From or Remit To DUNS?
A:

DUNS numbers are NOT designated as any "type" of DUNS in CSIDS. That designation comes from how the DUNS is used in the downstream systems. For example, a single DUNS can be used as a Header DUNS, Manufacturing DUNS and Ship From DUNS in the Global Purchasing System (GPS) on a specific CONTRACT. The number shown as the Manufacturing DUNS will be entered as the Manufacturing DUNS in GQTS for that contract. The number shown as the Ship From DUNS will be designated as the Ship From DUNS in MGO for that contract. The Ship From DUNS from MGO is linked to a Remit To DUNS in the GM accounts payable system (DACOR or eSAP). That same DUNS number can be used on another GPS contract as the Manufacturing location, however, there could be other DUNS numbers on that specific contract designated as the Header and/or Ship From DUNS.

In addition, DUNS numbers are not labeled as either Direct Material or Indirect Material suppliers, since a single DUNS can be used on purchase orders or contracts in both the direct material and indirect material purchasing systems.


Q: How is the DUNS number used by GM?
A:
GM uses the DUNS number as the supplier ID for each individual supplier location (internal and external). DUNS numbers are assigned by address, as either a branch, parent, domestic ultimate/headquarters, subsidiary or global ultimate. If a company is a wholly-owned subsidiary or a holding of 51% or more of another company, then it will be linked to that company in the corporate hierarchy. GM also maintains that hierarchical information; as a result, all locations of an organization are linked to their specific Ultimate DUNS. The Ultimate DUNS number is used in GM SupplyPower as the key to the security for users associated to the child or site DUNS numbers linked to an Ultimate. The Ultimate DUNS is also used in many of GM's reporting systems to consolidate spending data or communications to the organization as a whole.


Q: Why is my DUNS number less than nine positions long?
A:
All DUNS and user block numbers are 9 positions in length. However, some systems drop the leading zeroes from the number, therefore you may see numbers of various lengths.


Q: Why can't I find my Ship From DUNS in Dun and Bradstreet's database?
A:
If the Ship From DUNS on your GM contract begins with three or more zeroes, that number is a User Block number. This is a number assigned by GM, not Dun & Bradstreet, and it will not appear in their database. All user block/ cottage/tier 2/direct ship or dummy DUNS numbers begin with three or more leading zeroes.


Q: What is a user block/cottage/tier 2/direct ship or dummy DUNS number?
A:

GM refers to these numbers interchangeably; they all mean the same thing. While they may be referred to as a DUNS (cottage DUNS), they are not actually a DUNS number because they are not assigned by Dun & Bradstreet. These numbers are assigned internally by GM, to represent the following situations:

a. The majority of these numbers are assigned to represent a tier 2 relationship between the company with which GM has issued a contract and a sub-contractor to that company. These are often warehouses (direct ship) or the location of a tier 2 that is performing kitting, packaging or final assembly of parts provided by the tier 1. These physical locations are addresses that do not belong to the tier 1, therefore Dun and Bradstreet will not assign a number to the site as the tier 1 legal entity. However, to ensure that the tier 1 gets paid by GM, these numbers are assigned and used as the Ship From DUNS. Parts or materials are received in MGO under this Ship From DUNS; the receipt records are then passed to the payables system to authorize payment. Therefore, the name on these records will read as:

Tier 1 Company A c/o Tier 2 Company B

b. An individual that is not registered as a business, being contracted to perform a service for GM. These are normally one-time situations to satisfy unusual requirements.

c. Branch locations in countries where D&B's database does not issue branch DUNS numbers.

Contacts:

Covisint Help Desk / Covisint Support Portal:

For questions related to passwords, onboarding instructions, DUNS changes, technical assistance with the GM SupplyPower portal related to the Homepage, Bulletins, and Secure File Exchange.

 

GM Global Service Desk

For questions related to GMID, GMIN, Two Factor Authentication, Supplier Provisioning, Document Library, and GM Application Support.