Defense Logistics Information Services ties together International Logistics.

The Defense Logistics Information Services (DLIS) produced the first edition of the Multilingual A CoD P-2/3 Cd-ROM in April 2003. This CD-ROM is a logistics tool many countries have long anticipated.

The end of World War II found the U.S. Defense Department with no common methods for cataloging materials. This lack of commonality had lead to significant duplication, waste and inefficiency. The U.S. Federal Cataloging System (FCS) was established to provide a "common language", and quickly this language became international, through the adoption by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of these same cataloging standards. Internationally, they are now referred to as the NATO Codification System (NCS). The rules for naming, classifying, describing and numbering supply items are an important contributor to logistics interoperability between the United States and its allies. The NCS is used by not only the nineteen member countries of NATO, but has now been adopted by twenty-seven other nations. In addition, the Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA) has declared the NCS to be a best practice and is using it as a baseline to establish a standard for use in Electronic Commerce.

The two official languages of NATO are English and French. Historically, DLIS has produced a bilingual catalog of the Classification and Naming Standards as one of the cataloging handbooks on the "H-Series" CD-ROM publication. Now, working with the national cataloging centers of eight other nations, DLIS has produced these standards in nine languages. Languages currently included are Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Spanish. Plans are underway to incorporate many other languages into this product in the future.

The new CD-ROM product includes the NATO Supply Classification Handbook (A CoD P-2) and the NATO Item Name Directory (A CoD P-3). The Multilingual A CoD P-2/3 is available in a 32-bit configuration only, the Department of State version is not available, and will be published semi-annually, in April and October.

This resourceful, user-friendly product is now available to military, government and private industry customers around the world. Users can select the language in which they want to view the data and navigate easily between languages. The buttons on screen, data, "Help" and instructions appear in the language selected. The A CoD P-2/3 can be a useful tool for naming and classifying items of supply in accordance with the NATO Codification System, whether for day-to-day operations, emergency preparedness or combat readiness. Plans are to phase out the current A CoD P-2/3 (French/English only version) which is now included on the "H-Series" CD-ROM publication.

The Multilingual A CoD P-2/3 can be ordered through a military publications account, a foreign military sales case, or by direct purchase from DLIS. The web address for details concerning the purchase of the Federal Catalog System CD-ROM is http://www.dlis.dla.mil/cd.rom.asp.

Ann Sajtar is a Supply Systems Analyst with the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) in the International Codification Division of the Directorate of Cataloging. She has worked for twenty-six years at DLIS, with the last ten years being in the International Codification Division as a cataloger. Ann's current job responsibilities include Program Manager of the Multilingual A CoD P-2/3, cataloging U.S. manufactured items for NATO nations, training new employees, and providing demonstrations/briefings to NCB College students and visitors from NATO nations.