Newsletter

ADS Retail Publicly Praises ARTS Data Model
	We were surprised but very pleased when Ed Weiss of ADS Retail sent us his Chain Store Age article for accuracy review. Says Ed: "ADS Retail was one of the early adopters of the Model and we calculate that using it for our NextorR POS application saved us at least one man year in design time. The end result is a database model that represents best practices across virtually every retail vertical market." ADS should know, they are an ARTS Data Model-compliant vendor.
ARTS 2004 Dues Must Be Paid by April 30
	ARTS 2004 membership dues must be paid by April 30, 2004 in order to maintain your company's access to the Members' Only area and to have access to the RFPs. We have recently send a reminder letter to those unpaid. If you have a question on your member status, please contact ARTS' Membership Director Karen Shunk.

Upcoming Meetings and Events:
	ARTS will not hold a member meeting this year at RSA in Chicago. Rather we encourage you to visit ARTS vendor member booths to receive the latest ARTS information. Members can be found on our website nrf-arts.org under the heading ARTS Members. We encourage you to support vendors that support ARTS.
	IXRetail Meeting May 3 - 5 RadioShack Headquarters, Ft. Worth TX
	Data Model Meeting, May 6 - 7 Also at RadioShack Headquarters, Ft. Worth TX Register to attend at www.nrf-arts.org under Meeting Registration
	ARTS to present at the IBM Stores Systems User Group conference May 23 - 26 Hilton Anaheim, Anaheim CA. For more information visit http://www.ibmstoresystemsug.org/Conference/default.htm.
	ARTS to present at JDA users conference April 26 - 28 Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV. For more information, visit http://www.jda.com/focus/
	UnifiedPOS meeting June 21 - 24 NRF Offices, Washington DC. The agenda will focus on the next release1.9. Register to attend at nrf-arts.org under Meeting Registration.

Welcome New ARTS Members
5R Online Solutions, Inc	Canada
VersaPOS, Inc.	United States
Vxceed Technologies LLC	UAE
Workbrain, Inc.	United States

Top Story of the Month
Schema Downloads demonstrate ARTS' Success:
More than 850 member and nonmember companies from over 50 countries have downloaded ARTS schemas in the 10 months - they have been downloaded by companies on every continent except Antarctica (no stores yet). A quick list of countries includes Argentina, Australia, China, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and Uruguay, so this should finally lay the question of ARTS' international relevance to rest. The most-requested schemas are POSlog (252), Price (231), Digital Receipt (154) and Remote Equipment Monitoring and Control - REMC (72). Although the schemas themselves are in the public domain, access to the schema documentation, the ARTS data model and the Standard RFPs remain ARTS members only benefits. While we are on the topic of statistics, it is worth noting that the ARTS Data Model, over the course of seven releases, has been accessed either on CD or through the ARTS website by over 900 companies who have been ARTS members at one time or another. And the new RFP program has already generated nearly 200 requests with only the POS RFP currently available. With the release of the Workforce Management RFP this month, we expect that number to increase significantly. ARTS is gratified to know that many of the RFPs currently in vendor hands require adherence to ARTS standards and request for compliance testing. If you have downloaded and are using ARTS standards, we would like very much to hear from you. Success stories are welcome but we are especially interested in your suggestions for improvement.

Recent Activities and Events

Workforce Management (WFM) RFP Available Soon
	ARTS and NRF members in good standing will be able to download this new RFP the third week of April from www.nrf.com or nrf-arts.org . The first two schemas to support implementation of WFM, Worker Management and Time and Attendance, will be available following the May IXRetail meeting at RadioShack headquarters in Ft. Worth. You can register to attend on nrf-arts.org and contribute to the development.

POSlog V2.1 now Available
	Version 2.1 is a fix release based on feedback from implementing vendors. It is an operationally sound version that you can implement with confidence that will greatly reduce the need for extensions.
Systems Management Survey - Please Respond!
	The Board requests that members complete this survey to guide ARTS future efforts in systems and device management, including enhancements to the Remote Equipment Monitoring and Control (REMC) Schema. If you want the link to the survey to provide input please contact ARTS@nrf.com.
Are You Getting the Most from Your ARTS Membership?
	Are you using the ARTS webboards? If not, you are not getting the most from your membership. On the webboard you can review and comment on developing standards long before public release. Available now on the webboard are the Charter (scope document) for the Item schema and first drafts of the WFM schemas. Also on the webboard you will find the complete minutes of all meetings of the IXRetail, Data Model and UnifiedPOS committees. To access the webboard, go to nrf-arts.org, click on Members' Only button, sign on and select the webboard of interest: XML, Data Model or UnifiedPOS.
Take the Lottery Retailer Survey, Help an ARTS Partner
	NASPL, the standard group for state lotteries and one of the organizations with which ARTS has a cooperative relationship, is conducting a survey of retailers that sell lottery tickets. They are hoping to use the results of this survey to help them streamline the work required by retailers to reconcile and process lottery sales. If you are interested in taking the survey please go to nrf-arts.org and click on What's New.