How to choose DPP software for a mid-size manufacturer
Last updated: November 11, 2026.
DPP software has one job. It turns the product data you already hold into passports a regulator can verify. Choose it on five capabilities: connecting your existing systems, handling identifiers at every level, validating against each regulation, publishing where the rules require, and coping with rule changes without a rebuild.
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What must DPP software actually do?
Five things, in practice.
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Connect to your existing systems.
Read product data in ERP, PLM, PIM, spec sheets, and supplier documents, where it already is.
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Handle identifiers at every level.
One passport per unique identifier, with or without a GTIN, down to each individual battery where the rules demand it.
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Validate before publishing.
Check every passport against the sector's data model so nothing goes out with missing or wrong data.
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Publish so it can be checked.
A hosted, signed record a regulator can verify, opened from the QR code on the product, registered where required.
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Cope with rule changes.
Delegated acts keep arriving through 2030, and a rule change should mean configuration, not a redevelopment.
Three ways companies do this
| Template tool | Build in-house | Configured platform | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to first passport | Days | Months | Weeks |
| Works at catalog scale | Breaks beyond dozens of SKUs | Depends on the team | Built for thousands of SKUs |
| When regulations change | New template, re-enter data | New development cycle | Configuration on the same model |
| Source systems | Manual copy-in | Custom integrations to maintain | Connected once, stay the source |
| Cost shape | Low entry, high labor per SKU | High fixed, ongoing engineering | Subscription, scales with portfolio |
A template tool is fine for a handful of products. An in-house build can pay off if passports are the business itself. Most mid-size manufacturers are in neither camp. They have a real catalog, more than one regulation coming, and no appetite to rebuild. That is the case for a configured platform, where the second regulation costs less than the first.
Want to see what a DPP could look like with your data?
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Ten questions to ask any DPP vendor
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Can it build passports from our existing ERP, PLM, and document data, as they are today?
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Does it manage identifiers with and without GTIN, down to individual item level?
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Does it support GS1 Digital Link natively, so one QR code serves scanners and consumers?
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Is every passport validated against the sector's data model before publication?
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Is each passport cryptographically signed and verifiable?
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How does it connect to the GS1 Registry, and how is it preparing for the EU DPP registry?
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When a delegated act changes the requirements, what exactly do we have to redo?
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Where is it hosted, and what security audits exist? (EU-compliant hosting and SOC 2 Type II are reasonable minimums.)
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How many languages and markets does it serve from one product model?
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Can a regulator, a customer, and a recycler each see the right view of the same passport?
The battery passport applies at individual battery level from February 18, 2027, which rules out any tool for battery makers that stops at model-level records.
How Data Graphs fits
Data Graphs' Digital Product Passport solution turns the ERP, PLM, and spec-sheet data that manufacturers already have into registry-ready passports. Solution Partner for GS1 Germany and GS1 Switzerland. The platform answers the ten questions above by design: identifiers with or without GTIN, GS1 Digital Link native, validation against GS1 Keystone and sector schemas, signed and verifiable passports, EU-compliant hosting, SOC 2 Type II, in production across 27 EU member states and 24 languages.
Choosing DPP software?
See all ten questions answered live, with your products on screen.