PAB 2

Electronic exchange and distribution of data have become everyday occurrences. However, as soon as you go beyond your "own" system, there is a lack of uniformity, which means that greater effort is required to exchange the data correctly and ready for use. This has resulted in Ketenstandaard Bouw en Installatie, along with the participating companies, switched to defining a number of rules and agreements for uniform use some years ago, which is known as: ASCII* Product Data & Article (PAB). The most recent version is PAB 2.03 and it is no longer being developed further**, but is still one of the most commonly used standard exchange formats in the industry.

Comprehensive information and division into file formats:

(Zip) ASCII Product Data & Article (PAB) 2.03

(Zip) ASCII Product Information & Article Message (PAB) 2.0

(Zip) ASCII Article Classification (ICS) E5W12 - format description

(Pdf) PAB 2 with ETIM international codings and additional ETIM options

InstallData input sheet

If your software does not support the PAB format, you can make use of the InstallData input sheet. The InstallData input sheet is Excel-orientated and makes it possible to view your data via the PAB exchange format, as well as to edit and possible upload your data to the InstallData database.

Downloading and more information:

InstallData input sheet

* ETIM uses the term "ASCII" for the GABI, PAB 1 and PAB 2 formats.. However, in practice, it is replaced with the ANSI / Latin-1 (officially: ISO/IEC 8859-1) character set. This is essential when exchanging with InstallData. For more information: WikipediA ISO 8859-1

** By introducing the uniform description of the ASCII reports within the installation industry, the Ketenstandaard Bouw en Installatie Foundation decided to put a stop to further development. The point of departure for data communication within the installation sector is the functional division which, together with GS1 Netherlands, is to be incorporated into the GS1 input convention for the installation industry. The reports based on this convention are the industry standards on which further development of the Ketenstandaard will take place.