ARTS MEMBERS UPDATE - January 2003

Exclusive retail standards information for Members Only  

Top Story of the Month

ARTS Update Session at NRF Annual Convention a Great Success 
The ARTS Update Session was a high-water mark for ARTS standards as large retailers presented successful case studies proclaiming the benefits of working standards. 

Tom Jeffery, CIO of KB Toys, discussed his company's new IT architecture, providing a single solution for sales from all channels, which includes use of the ARTS Data Model and new POSlog schema. Zeke Duge, CIO, and Bob Graham, VP, Stores Technology of Smart & Final Inc., described their use of ARTS standards with a special focus on the IXRetail Digital Receipt. And Brian Kilcourse, principal at BK Consulting and former CIO at Longs Drug Stores Corporation, presented a compelling case for retailers to build standards-based architectures. The full story will be published in the next edition of STORES Magazine and the PowerPoint presentations are now available in the Public Presentation area of nrf-arts.org.

Recent Events:

The Remote Equipment Monitoring and Control (REMC) IXRetail schema released to members and the public
The Remote Equipment Monitoring and Control (REMC) IXRetail schema released to members and the public REMC provides standard XML messages that can be communicated from remote locales to monitoring sites, enterprise-central or third-party equipment maintenance providers using simple e-mail, AS2 or full XML transports like SOAP. A full range of equipment is supported in the initial release, including HVAC, cooking and cooling, petroleum and POS devices, using existing standards for end-point connections like UnifiedPOS. The Schema and supporting documentation are available for downloading from the Home Page of nrf-arts.org.
Significantly enhanced version of the ARTS XML Data Dictionary now available
Significantly enhanced version of the ARTS XML Data Dictionary now available This release adds 61 new entities and 479 attributes, which brings the total data elements defined in the Dictionary to over 4,000. Each element has a standard XML tag name, type and clear business definition. The full members-only version and public versions are now on nrf-arts.org along with the full press release.
ARTS Standards Pavilion at NRF Annual Convention sponsored by 11 suppliers and four other standards associations
ARTS Standards Pavilion at NRF Annual Convention sponsored by 11 suppliers and four other standards associations Please support these companies that endorse and use standards: 360Commerce, AfterBOT, Inc., CyberData Corporation, IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, NCR Corporation, Retek, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc., TranStar Systems, Inc., Triversity Inc., Ultimate Technology Corporation and Wincor Nixdorf, Inc.. The Infrared Data Association (IrDA), National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), Open Applications Group (OAGI) and Uniform Code Council (UCC) are cooperating standards groups with valuable standards for your consideration.
Dues invoices for 2003 mailed late December
Dues invoices for 2003 mailed late December If you have not received yours and/or have questions, please contact Karen Shunk by email or call her at +1-202-626-8140. IXRetail meeting schedule for 2003 announced 
The IXRetail Technical Committee meeting schedule
The IXRetail Technical Committee in their meeting on January 15 established the following schedule. Plan now to attend one or more of this year's meetings:

Feb. 10 - 12 Menlo Park CA Hosted by Sun Microsystems
May 7 - 9 Ft Worth TX Hosted by Radio Shack
Aug 11 - 13 Toronto Hosted by Triversity
Nov. 9 - 11 Paris or Amsterdam
IXRetail Best Practices Subcommittee establishes guidelines for schema extensions
IXRetail Best Practices Subcommittee establishes guidelines for schema extensions Reviews of the current POSlog schema by 360 Commerce, IBM, NCR and Triversity, all of whom plan to complete or have already completed implementations of this standard TLOG, indicated a need for extensions to the base standard. The Best Practices Subcommittee has posted a recommended extension method to the IXRetail Webboard that is available to members only. Please review and provide your comments.

Upcoming Events:
Next IXRetail and Data Model meetings set for February 10 - 14 
Next IXRetail and Data Model meetings set for February 10 - 14 More information is available on nrf-arts.org in the What's New section. To attend, please register on the Website.

Next UnifiedPOS, OPOS and JavaPOS meetings set for March 10 - 14 in San Jose, CA OPOS will meet on the 10th, UnifiedPOS on the 11th and 12th and JavaPOS on the 13th and 14th. This will be the final review of UnifiedPOS release 1.8 prior to public availability. You can register to attend on nrf-arts.org.
ARTS, NRF and UCC representatives to meet in February
ARTS, NRF and UCC representatives to meet in February to plan a coordinated effort to support the adoption of RFID and the associated Electronic Product Code (EPC) Watch the ARTS and NRF Websites for more details. RFID holds the promise of enabling new enhanced business practices to the retail industry. To become a leader in the revolution consider joining NRF and ARTS. ARTS invited to present at the IBM Store Systems User Group Annual Meeting This will be the third year we have presented at this outstanding conference. It is clearly worth your attending. This year's conference is May 18 - 21 in Miami, FL. See ibmstoresystemsug.org/ for more information.
ARTS to meet with National Association of Convenience Stores
ARTS to meet with National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Technical Committees ARTS and NACS continue to work together to develop technology standards for retail. Through annual meetings we share information to avoid duplicate efforts and keep our members involved of new developments of interest.

INTRODUCING ARTS Newest MembeRS
Episys Limited United Kingdom
Escalate, Inc United States
Ingenico US/France
John Lewis Partnership United Kingdom
profit i Karlstad AB Sweden
Toys "R" Us, Inc United States