ARTS releases Version 6.0 of Standard Retail Data Model

12 Jan '09

4 min read

The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), the standards division of the National Retail Federation, is pleased to announce the release of version 6.0 of the standard Retail Data Model with an accompanying Data Dictionary.

Version 6.0, two years in development and with more than 100 enhancements, is the eighth release of the Model. The Model is in use around the world, supporting a full range of computer applications to operate retail businesses across multiple segments such as El Corte Inglés, the largest department store retailer in Spain, Shell International Petroleum Company, McDonalds, Circuit City, Parfumerie Douglas, Nike and many, many others.

“Version 6.0 is more than a new release of the Model,” said Kirstin Wright of Retail Anywhere and Chair of the Data Model Committee. “It was developed using new tools to manage enhancements to meet the demands of our users and establish collaboration with the ARTS XML and Data Warehouse committees. We are committed to developing a solid foundation for successful enterprise data management”.

Version 6.0 has been coordinated with the ARTS Data Warehouse Model and the popular ARTS POSLog XML schema to capture all the data recorded at point of sale, be it in-store, web or kiosks.

The new ARTS Data Dictionary announced with version 6.0 provides standard retail data names with descriptions for use in XML schemas and messages. The Dictionary has new search and sort features to allow users to quickly find the desired data elements. This is particularly valuable to retailers and vendors who manage their data by using the Model as a standard data repository and integrate applications using messages that conform to ARTS XML schemas.

While the Data Model continues as a member-only product, the Dictionary, as a service to the industry, is publically available to facilitate communications between trading partners, customers and cross platform, multiple vendor applications.

Key enhancements in version 6.0 include:

• Transaction Taxes: Improved support for transaction taxes, addressing a wider variety of retail transaction taxes, levies, and fees across multiple tax authorities and jurisdictions.
• Geo Coordinates: Expanded ability to support multiple geo-coordinate systems used to map coordinates to physical addresses (Geocoding).
• Commissions: Enhanced support for Commission Plans
• Price Modifications: Enhanced and expanded ability to both increase and decrease item prices via promotions or price adjustments.
• Shipment tracking: Improved support for tracking estimated and actual shipping information
• Loyalty Programs: Enhanced support for loyalty reward card types and expanded loyalty award tracking.
• International Currency: Extended money-related attributes to improve support of international currency requirements.
• Gift Certificates: Enhanced support for new media types of gift certificates, plus extended tracking of balance amounts.

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