For
Immediate Release
Contact: Kathy Grannis or Ellen Davis (202) 783-7971
Email:
grannisk@nrf.com or
davise@nrf.com
ARTS and NRF
Announce Release of Master
Data Management Standard Request for Proposal
Washington, DC, August 7, 2006 –
The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Association for Retail Technology
Standards (ARTS) today announced the release of the Standard Request for
Proposal (RFP) for Master Data Management Systems, the seventh in a series of
Standard RFPs. RFPs assist retailers in selecting the "right" software
applications for their specific business processes. NRF and ARTS Standard RFPs
are provided in a form and format to allow retailers to easily tailor them to
their specific needs.
Master data is a set of core
subjects — the people, places and things about which we store information such
as customers, vendors, products and stores. This information must be accurate
and consistent across the enterprise.
Many master data management (MDM)
projects are initiated because compliance legislation, such as the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, often mandates data quality, reliability and
auditing of changes. Retailers also start MDM projects in order to provide the
foundation for strategic business initiatives such as customer data integration,
customer profiling, and supply chain optimization. Master data management
solutions increase the consistency and accuracy of corporate performance
reporting and operations, including manufacturing, finance, marketing and
customer service.
A recent AMR
Research article noted that a master data management strategy is a prerequisite
for retailers’ demand-driven strategies. “The RFP recently completed by NRF and
ARTS is an important tool for retailers selecting this technology to implement
their data management strategy,” said AMR Research vice president Bill Swanton,
“The RFP appears to be a comprehensive guide, and by incorporating the ARTS Data
Model, it forces retailers to consider their overall MDM strategy.”
“Shell Retail Division was
pleased to participate in the development of the MDM RFP; in fact we are
currently in the process of implementing our own global MDM strategy,” said
Peter Fanning, Retail IT Portfolio for the Shell Retail Division, which operates
over 45,000 service stations and convenience stores in 80 different countries.
“Shell long ago recognized the importance of data standards and was an early
adopter of the ARTS Data Model, which is a cornerstone of data management at
Shell Retail, and is contributing to the successful implementation of MDM.”
This RFP presents a
comprehensive list of features and functions that retailers, based on
experience, have found valuable in Master Data Management solutions. Some of the
topics addressed are data quality, data cleansing, workflow and reporting
metrics and analysis.
The Master Data Management RFP
was developed by a committee of retailers, vendors and consultants from
documents used by multiple retailers to select their master data management
applications. The committee, chaired by Ann McCool, included members from EDS,
El Corte Inglés, PCMS Datafit, RadioShack, Shell Petroleum and Soft Solutions.
NRF and ARTS RFPs are available
free to members at
www.nrf.com or
www.nrf-arts.org. RFPs are available for purchase by non-members for $5,000.
In addition to the seven RFPs
now available for POS (Workforce Management, Loss Prevention, Signature
Capture/Online-Offline Debit Devices, Warehouse Management, Price Optimization
and now Master Data Management Systems), ARTS and NRF are developing an RFP for
Fresh Product Management as well as enhancements to the POS RFP to guide package
selection for retailers operating in multinational environments that will be
released in early 2007.
The Association for Retail
Technology Standards (ARTS) is an international membership organization
dedicated to reducing the costs of technology through standards. Since 1993,
ARTS has been delivering application standards exclusively to the retail
industry. ARTS has three standards: The Standard Relational Data Model,
UnifiedPOS and IXRetail. Membership is open to all members of the international
technology community- retailers from all industry segments, application
developers and hardware companies.
www.nrf-arts.org.
The National Retail Federation is the world's largest
retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and
channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog,
Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores
as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF
represents an industry with more than 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments,
more than 23 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2005
sales of $4.4 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more
than 100 state, national and international retail associations.
www.nrf.com.
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