Data Requirements
You do not need perfect data to start, and you do not need to supply every input yourself. This page explains what Altana does with the data you share and what each lens needs to return a result.
How this works
Altana becomes your trade system of record, and it does three things with your data:
- Stores what you already know. If you already hold a trade attribute, such as an HS code, an origin, an FTA determination, or material information, hand it over and Altana holds it as your value of record, tracked to its source and ready to share and export.
- Enriches what you do not. If you want Altana to determine an attribute you do not have, or to validate one you do, the relevant lens runs. The attributes themselves are outputs the lenses produce, not answers you have to supply.
- Fills the gaps in the inputs, too. You do not need every input up front. The lenses feed each other, so the code, origin, or qualification one lens produces becomes the input the next one uses, and you never re-enter the same fact. Where an input is still missing, Altana can infer it from what it knows, derive it from your supplier network, request it from your suppliers in workflow, or ask you directly for the one detail that would settle the determination.
Bring what you already hold
Give Altana any of these and they are stored as your system of record, tracked to their source, with no enrichment required:
- HS codes, per destination
- Countries of origin
- FTA determinations and certifications, including USMCA
- Material and Section 232 content
- PGA records you already hold
- Supporting documents: certificates of origin, mill certificates, spec sheets, commercial invoices
Providing an attribute you hold does not stop Altana from checking it. The same enrichment can run behind the scenes and flag anything that looks off, for example an HS code that looks misclassified.
What each lens needs
For enrichment, the inputs ladder Good, Better, and Best. The more signal you give, the sharper the result and the less that routes to review. Even the minimum returns a defensible answer.
HS Classification
| Tier | What to provide | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Good | A goods description, even a short one, and your import destination. | A suggested classification to national tariff depth, with the reasoning and sources behind it. Descriptions too sparse to classify are flagged as vague and enriched before classification rather than guessed at. Low-confidence items route to review. |
| Better | Add material composition, end use or function, customer segment, and links to the product's suppliers. | Sharper classifications and far fewer vague flags. Supplier and use context resolve the descriptions that otherwise get misread, so more products classify cleanly without review. |
| Best | Add any HS codes you already hold, for every destination you ship to, plus dimensions, unit price, and a product image. | Full national-depth classification for every destination, near-complete auto-classification, and the code you hold for each destination checked for likely misclassification, all as audit-ready cited records. |
Filling the gaps. A description too sparse to classify is detected as vague and enriched with a targeted web search, using your supplier context, into a fuller customs-ready description that you can accept to lock in. Where a detail is still missing, Altana asks you for the specific attribute that would settle the code.
Country of Origin
| Tier | What to provide | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Good | Your finished goods, a bill of materials listing each input by description, and your supplier links. | Altana works the non-preferential origin determination for you. It classifies inputs that arrive without a code, proposes each input's origin from your value chain, then applies the rule hierarchy: wholly obtained or exclusively originating, the product-specific tariff-shift rule, and the essential-character fall-back where tariff shift does not resolve it. |
| Better | Add the input HS codes you already hold. | The tariff-shift analysis runs and returns origin wherever the codes resolve it. Altana tells you when an input origin or an input cost is still needed, and why. |
| Best | Add input costs and origins for every input, and the operations performed at each facility, such as assembly and minor processing like painting, cleaning, or washing. | The determination runs end to end, including the de minimis allowance where cost resolves it, producing a defensible, audit-ready origin with the rule and test shown. |
Filling the gaps. Input HS codes you do not have are classified for you by the HS Classification lens. A product's manufacturing origin is derived from your supplier links. An input's origin is proposed by walking your value chain to its likely supplier and country, or requested from the supplier. An input is only raised with you when its origin is both unknown and would change the result.
Free trade agreements, for example USMCA
| Tier | What to provide | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Good | Finished goods and a bill of materials by description. | The lens runs even when input details are missing. It sets zero-value lines aside, evaluates every qualifying path, and flags an input only when it would change the answer. Each verdict comes with the rule text and its citation. |
| Better | Add the input HS codes you already hold. | The tariff-shift analysis runs and returns qualification wherever the codes resolve it, and names the input costs it needs where a rule requires regional value content. |
| Best | Add input costs and origins for all inputs. | Regional value content runs by both the transaction-value and net-cost methods, giving a definitive verdict that shows which path qualified, the exact percentage, and the rule with its citation. |
Filling the gaps. Missing input codes are classified for you. Missing input origins are proposed from your value chain or requested from suppliers. Input costs are requested from your suppliers in workflow, and only when a value test is the last path to qualification.
Section 232
| Tier | What to provide | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Good | The product's HS code and origin, both produced by the HS Classification and Country of Origin lenses. | A first-pass estimate from the classification alone. Whole-good measures, such as those on timber and wood furniture, apply directly by code, and products likely to contain the covered metals of steel, aluminum, and copper are surfaced. You are not asked for material composition. |
| Better | Add your verified supplier network and any documents already associated with the product, such as material or mill certificates and spec sheets. | Altana reads the documents alongside your verified network to estimate each covered metal's content and origin, surfaced for your confirmation. Exposure is computed at the material level on full customs value, with the correct tier applied and the under-threshold exemption where content is low enough. |
| Best | Add verified data and documents solicited from your upstream suppliers, plus the product's value. | Content and origin grounded in first-party, verified upstream evidence, with the exposure quantified in dollars and the exact tier treatment shown. |
Filling the gaps. Material content and origin are estimated from the HS code, refined by documents and by walking your value chain to each input's supplier, and made first-party by evidence solicited from upstream suppliers. Each step is surfaced for your confirmation.
Duties
| Tier | What to provide | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Good | HS code, origin, and import destination, all produced by the lenses above. | A net effective duty rate for each product that stacks the base rate and the country- and code-driven programs. |
| Better | Nothing extra to provide. Your Section 232 and FTA results fold into the rate as they resolve. | The rate reflects material-level Section 232 duty and any preference you qualify for, so it shows both your real exposure and the savings you are entitled to. |
| Best | Add the product value, and antidumping or countervailing status where it applies. | A fully resolved per-product net effective rate in dollars covering every applicable program, recalculated when the data behind it changes. |
Filling the gaps. Duty is always computed. Each input it needs, meaning HS code, origin, composition, and qualification, is produced by its own lens and folds into the stack as it resolves.
PGA
Applicability is derived from your HS code and import destination, so once products are classified Altana surfaces which agency requirements apply, and from there what additional data you need to gather from your internal teams or your suppliers. How PGA records are ingested and managed is in active development.
How to send it
- The supply chain data template, a CSV, is the structured on-ramp for products, attributes, and value chains.
- Any CSV that carries your value chain, trade attributes, and input data.
- Any existing data feed or integration you already have with Altana continues to carry what it does today.
- Documents upload directly and attach to the relevant product or supplier, and Altana reads them to suggest attributes for your confirmation.
What holds at every tier
- The result is only as good as the input. Where data is thin, Altana makes the same reasonable assumptions your team already makes, and tells you what it assumed.
- Determinations run on verified data. Where Altana proposes a supplier or an origin by walking the trade network, that is a suggestion you promote into your verified network first. The network proposes, you verify, the determination uses the verified value.
- Nothing is written to your catalog until a person on your team accepts it. Every determination is a suggestion until then, and anything Altana is not confident in routes to review for your team to check.
- The lenses feed each other. A code, origin, or qualification one lens produces becomes the input the next one uses.
- More data raises the floor, it does not gate the value. Even at Good you get a defensible result. Better and Best reduce review and make the result audit-ready.
FAQ
Do I need to classify my products before I start? No. HS codes are an output of the HS Classification lens, not a prerequisite. If you already hold codes, provide them and Altana stores them as your record and can check them for likely misclassification.
What if all I have is product descriptions? That is enough to start. Descriptions plus an import destination return a suggested classification, and a description too sparse to classify is enriched first rather than guessed at.
What happens when an input is still missing? Altana computes what it can and asks for the rest. It infers the input where it can, requests it from your supplier where that is the right path, or asks you a specific question in the lens. See Trade Agent.
Does providing an HS code stop you from checking it? No. Altana stores it as your value of record and can still run the classification behind it, flagging codes that look misclassified.
Will data you infer from the network drive a determination on its own? No. Network-derived suppliers and origins are proposals. You promote them into your verified network, and the determination then runs on what you have verified.