A computer system is provided for generating standardized product data.
The computer system includes a database which maintains data for a
plurality of known products, each known product associated with a
respective standardized product code. A processing facility, coupled to
the database, receives raw data for an unidentified product from a
plurality of diverse data sources, each of which has its own separate
identifier for the unidentified product. The processing facility compares
the raw data for the unidentified product against the data for the
plurality of known products. If there is a match between the raw data for
the unidentified product and the data for one of the plurality of known
products, the processing facility assigns the respective standardized
product code of the matching known product to the unidentified product.