ARTS MEMBERS UPDATE - August 2003

Exclusive retail standards information for Members Only  

Top Story of the Month

 
Retail Standards Summit

ARTS and the National Retail Federation (NRF) will hold the Retail  Standards Summit, a one day event developed with guidance from our  European members on October 1, 2003 at the Le Meridien Russell Hotel in  Russell Square, London. The objectives of the event are:

To update the Retail IT community in the UK and Europe on  NRF technology offerings.

To gain new, and retain current ARTS and NRF members by  providing a local educational forum on the use and benefits of standards.

The program includes presentations by Reebok, Wal-Mart, Retail Systems Alert, EAN, NRF and ARTS on how standards can provide flexibility for the future, increase speed of implementation and reduce costs. In-depth education on existing ARTS standards will be provided by members of the ARTS IXRetail Technical Committee.

This is the first NRF and ARTS co-branded event in Europe and will be attended by David Hogan, NRF's SVP and CIO. He will conduct the conference business track with members of the NRF CIO Council, a great opportunity to learn the latest trends in Retail IT. The event is free to ARTS and NRF members. Thanks to our sponsors: 360Commerce, PCMS Group and Manhattan Associates. For sponsorship opportunities, contact MarzettiL@nrf.com

The Retail Standards Summit will be followed on October 2 by the RSA Leadership Forum in the same hotel. See www.nrf-arts.org for full details and to register.

The Digital Asset Management (DAM) standard XML message
The Digital Asset Management (DAM) standard XML message set for managing and communicating images will be released to the public at the NRFtech Conference August 9 - 12 in San Diego. The initial DAM release will enable retailers and manufacturers to exchange requested images and manage their internal usage. ARTS members may obtain an advance copy on the ARTS Webboard.
The standard method to extend ARTS XML schemas
The standard method to extend ARTS XML schemas is available on > www.nrf-arts.org in the What's New section. This extension method allows vendors and retailers to add elements to IXRetail schemas and remain compliant.
IXRetail Conformance testing policy and process description is available for review
IXRetail Conformance testing policy and process description is available for review on ARTS in the What's New section. We encourage  members to provide comments before programming the testing routines. UnifiedPOS 1.8 public release has been delayed due to last-minute IP issues. ARTS makes every effort to ensure protected intellectual property is not embedded in our standards. Release is now planned for September 5, 2003.

Upcoming Meetings and Events:
 
The standard RFP Committee will meet at NRFtech in San Diego. We have received 20 RFPs from 8 companies and the RFP for POS applications is in draft form for committee review. We need RFPs for merchandise planning and allocation. Please send to ARTS.
 
The Data Model and IXRetail committees will meet in the NRF offices in Washington DC on August 11-15. There is still time for you to register on ARTS. The subsequent meeting will be September 29 through October 2 in London at the NCR offices.
 
ARTS will phone conference with ".Net for Retail," the Japanese organization developing XML messages on August 20. ARTS welcomes this opportunity to discuss collaboration to speed development of XML standards for retail.
 
The next meeting of UnifiedPOS will be September 22-25 in Chicago at the BearingPoint offices. The committee is working on release 1.9 that will include an interface for RFID readers and expand the Smartcard reader-writer interface to include payment data. You can register on ARTS.
 
The ARTS Standards Pavilion will be at the center of the January 2004 NRF Annual Convention exhibit floor. If you are interested in demonstrating the application of standards in your products, contact ARTS.
 
 

INTRODUCING ARTS Newest MembeRS
Bostech Corporation IN
Boston Electronic Cash Register MA
ConnecTerra, Inc. MA
Office Depot, Inc. FL
Sobeys Inc. CANADA
 TietoEnator Retail AB SWEDEN