ARTS MEMBERS UPDATE - March 2004

Exclusive retail standards information for Members Only  

Top Story of the Month

ARTS to coordinate Standard RFP and IXRetail Programs
Most retailers purchase applications only to be faced with the challenge of integrating them into their existing application architecture. Through coordination of the RFP and IXRetail programs, ARTS will support the complete cycle of application selection and implementation by developing appropriate interfaces while the standard RFPs are being written.
Retailers, including members of the ARTS Board and NRF CIO Council, will select the RFPs to be developed, ensuring those developed match what retailers are interested in purchasing. 
As the RFP is being written, IXRetail will work with the RFP Committee to identify the data interfaces required to implement the application and assign top priority to their development.
Retailers using the RFP to select new applications will be advised to work with vendors who have built the standard IXRetail schemas into their applications. 
Finally, ARTS provides an insurance policy by offering IXRetail conformance testing to verify for retailers that the selected vendor's application does indeed follow the standard. 

ARTS and NRF currently offer a standard RFP for POS. Workforce Management will be released in April, followed by Loss Prevention and Warehouse Management. The Standard RFP committee is very much in need of previously used RFPs for Loss Prevention and Fraud analysis. Please send them to Arts@Nrf.com. All contributions will remain confidential.

Recent Activities and Events
Two New IXRetail Work Teams
Two new work teams were formed at the IXRetail meeting in February. The Workforce Management team will create schemas to support the new RFP. The Item Work Team is tasked with developing a schema to enable downloading of this critical data to store level POS for price lookup and other functions. 
POSlog v 2.1 Scheduled for Release this Month
A correction release for POSlog will be released this month that also incorporates suggestions and comments from vendors who have implemented this schema. Enhancements will be held for complete release 3.0, due later this year. 
European IT Leaders Meet to Discuss Formation of NRF-ARTS Technology Council
Nine European IT leaders met with NRF CIO Dave Hogan and ARTS Executive Director Richard Mader to discuss formation of an NRF-ARTS Technology Council to guide ARTS activities in Europe and to create a networking link to the NRF CIO Council. The response was excellent and the next meeting is scheduled for June to plan activities for 2004/2005. While in the UK, ARTS had the opportunity to meet with Unipower Solutions and Shell to review their use of the Data Model and POSlog. Workforce Management Draft RFP available for review March 22 The final draft will be available March 22 for review and comments prior to Board approval and release. If you would like to participate in the review please email arts@nrf.com. 
UnifiedPOS Committee meets with OPOS-J
The UnifiedPOS committee met in Tokyo with members of the OPOS-J and JavaPOS organizations and finalized items for inclusion in the next release. Support for .NET was a key topic; look for a new implementation chapter in the next release.
IBM First Company to Access IXRetail Conformance Test
The test currently for POSlog will be expanded over the next few months to include all published IXRetail schemas. 

Upcoming Meetings and Events:
IXRetail Meeting, May 3 - 5, Data Model Meeting May 6-7 Ft. Worth TX Register to attend at www.nrf-arts.org under Meeting Registrations. Thanks to RadioShack for agreeing to host these meetings.
ARTS to present at the IBM Stores Systems User Group conference May 23 - 26 Anaheim CA.
ARTS to present at JDA users conference Las Vegas NV April 26 - 28. <>
ARTS to confer with NRF CIO Council for RFP priorities and general standards direction in their meeting April 18 and 19. 
UnifiedPOS meeting June in Washington DC to continue work on release 1.9. Register to attend at www.nrf-arts.org under Meeting Registrations. 
 

                  Welcome New ARTS Members
DPC United States
El Puerto de Liverpool Mexico
NetByTel United States
Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation Canada
Oracle Corporation United States
ProfitLogic United States
Sharper Image Corporation United States
Sistemas Fourgen S.A. Colombia