The printed EAN code can also be used as a reference to an article. Provided that the number sequences of the EAN/manufacturer article number(s) are managed in the master data, the PDC software can reference a wide variety of fields and thus identify the article by the EAN and also other article numbers. This functionality reduces costs, as the creation of own labels can be omitted. The recording of the goods receipt is also considerably easier, as the article can be clearly recorded under a wide variety of designations.