For example, ballpoint pens at the eight-digit level are a subset of writing instruments at the six-digit level, which is a subset of office supplies at the four-digit level. These descriptions are varying degrees of "Office Equipment, Accessories and Supplies" at the two-digit level. An additional level (the 9th and 10th digits), the business function, can be added to indicate a business relationship to the supplier such as rental/lease, wholesale, retail or original equipment manufacturer. Each UNSPSC is unique and allows unambiguous translation of the commodity's description in any language.

The UN/SPSC code is passed to BW with the version (see 0UNSPSC_VS) from the document. The document always contains historical UN/SPSC codes. As the UN/SPSC classification spreads, new versions will be brought out. This new numbering could affect old UN/SPSC codes and renumber them. 12345678 could become 12333333. So that the historical data does not have to be changed, each UN/SPSC code always has a unique key (according to nomenclature of the UNSPSC SQUID), that describes the classification. This key remains the same but is assigned to different UN/SPSC codes in different versions.

From SAP BW Release 3.0B, the procedure for loading data (master data and texts) has been changed to InfoSources with flexible update (see also Flexible Update for Central Master Data Objects).