ARTS Member Update - March 2008

ARTS XML and Data Model Committee Meetings in San Jose, CA Set New Attendance Record

With more than 60 people participating in the development of ARTS standards, the January ARTS XML and Data Model Committee meetings hosted by Cisco Systems set a new attendance record. 

	Video Analytics continues to be the HOT topic.  In a recent presentation, Nikki Baird of Retail Systems Research identified the lack of standards as one of the obstacles to widespread implementation of Video Analytics.  ARTS is working to remove this barrier by developing standard data formats for exchanging data between different providers of video analytics hardware and software.  Under the leadership of newly elected co-chairs Tim Hood of SAP and Yamin Daud of Cisco, the first draft of the proposed standard should be available to the public by August.
	Also in the February meeting, the Tax Transaction work team lead by Scott Gamel of ADP Taxware completed version 1.0, to be released in April (appropriate month!), and began work on version 2.0.  The Data Model committee completed review of the final test version of the soon-to-be-released new data dictionary, confirming it is ready for prime time by adding the new Tax Transaction schema.
	Perhaps the most significant activity of the meeting was the sharing of ideas between the 60+ attendees.  Register now for the next meeting, May 12 – 15 hosted by Alpha Bay in Salt Lake City.  Follow this link: http://www.nrf-arts.org/MembersOnly/loginform.asp?Page=commmeetingregistration.asp.

ARTS Member Survey Results

The 189 survey responses largely validated the 2008 direction announced in last month’s newsletter but suggested a few modifications that have been approved by the Board. Here is a summary of responses:

	With 55%, enhancing and expanding the SOA support effort was priority number one for XML, followed by development of schemas for sales forecasting and planning which will be added to the 2008 plan.
	WOW, 84% want ARTS to create standard common services for SOA; a plan to manage this effort will be developed by the ARTS-XML Technical Committee.
	The next Standard RFP identified by the survey for development will be Business Intelligence, and
	74% said ARTS should consider developing standard data formats for mobile transaction.  We are researching the current state of existing standards in this space to determine the “right” direction.

Complete survey results available for review at http://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=hGwg1TMhQEyA7vh03hloXsUhJQ6265GYasUi599F_2fbE_3d.

SOA Blueprint Update Due for July Release

The SOA Blueprint committee is preparing an updated version for July release.  The new version will address member comments and questions, with major expansion in the area of tool selection and tips for migrating to SOA.  If you have additional suggestions, please email them to arts@nrf.com.

ARTS Board Changes

ARTS is pleased to welcome Mike Julson, CTO of Escalate Retail, to the ARTS Board.  Mike is an active member of the SOA Blueprint committee, playing the leadership role in defining common services.  In other Board news, Dave Ashcraft, formerly of NCR, has resigned from the Board after many years of service.  Dave was a founder of the ARTS-XML initiative in 1999; best wishes to Dave in future ventures.

ARTS Launch in Scandinavia

ARTS will make its first presentation in Scandinavia at the ProfitBase Users Conference in Oslo.  The first company to implement a data warehouse based on the new ARTS Model, Profitbase has included a special full-day session at their users' conference, Wednesday April 22^nd at the Holmen Fjordhotell in Oslo, Norway.   

Presenters experienced with ARTS standards will discuss:

	Implementing ARTS standards
	Data Management from Point of Sale (POS) through Business Intelligence with KPIs via ARTS standards
	Using standards to increase the efficiency of your IT business support.

ARTS-only Conference registration is NOK 900 (approximately 110 euro). For more information and to register for the conference, please contact Profitbase directly at Conference@profitbase.com.

ARTS Wins Again!

ARTS vendor members Bizerba and GK Software won two of the three Retail Technology Awards Europe (RETA) presented this March Euro-Shop Conference in Düsseldorf.  Awards are presented to retailers implementing the best application for Customer Experience, Enterprise Solution and In-Store Operation with applause for the vendors who provide the system.  Look for the complete story in the next edition of Stores, http://www.stores.org/

Are you enrolled on the ARTS Webboard? 

Unless you are enrolled to receive notices on subjects of interest you are missing a valuable benefit of ARTS membership.  For example, in the past month a continuous discussion on using the organizational structures of the Data Model has been underway.  Access the webboard through the members-only area of the ARTS website at www.nrf-arts.org.

ARTS Testimonials and Success Stories

Last month we requested that you share stories with us about your use of ARTS standards.  This is very important information to support adoption of ARTS standards.  Remember all implementer win when more vendor adopt our standards.  In the past month we learned that Swedish retailer H&M has implemented POSlog and that Nike is using a component of the Data Model.  We again encourage you to share by emailing Richard Mader at MaderR@nrf.com  or Karen Shunk at ShunkK@nrf.com with a brief outline.

This is a free service to keep you up-to-date on the latest new programs and publications available to you through ARTS.

It is our hope that you will find ARTS Update a valuable resource and will share it with your friends and colleagues. Please send an email to arts@nrf.com if you wish to unsubscribe. 

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