NAMA Publishes Vending And Micromarket Data Integration Standard

CHICAGO -- The National Automatic Merchandising Association reports that its Vending Data Interchange taskforce has released a standard designed to expedite the integration of vending and micromarket management information systems. Titled "VDI VMS-MMS Integration," the draft version was promulgated a year ago and since has undergone field trials. The findings of those trials were incorporated into this final draft.

The value of providing a standard for unifying the kinds and formats of data stored and processed by a vending management system (VMS) and a micromarket system (MMS) is that it can enable operators to run full-line vending and micromarket businesses without the need to enter and maintain two sets of data.

The standard specifies the features needed to manage a micromarket business, and defines whether the MMS or the VMS is to be responsible for each feature. This will reduce time and expense when integrating new MMS or VMS providers, the document explains; and the standard promotes interchangeability and compatibility between systems.

The "Goals and Objectives" preamble to the document explains that its purpose is to identify the essential information and system features needed to manage a micromarket business, and then decide which system should "own" this information or feature.

"Given the difficulty of managing the same data in multiple systems and keeping this data in synch, it is a goal of ours that only one system manages or creates a specific set of data," the drafters of the standard explain.

The integration of vending and micromarket management systems is intended to provide a consolidated source for software providing full warehouse inventory and accountability, as well as a single source for sales and inventory reporting. It will do the same for product and price information, and will permit the use of a single handheld device for servicing both vending machines and micromarkets on location. It will provide complete cash and inventory accountability, and will encourage "pre-kitting" route orders on the basis of "as near to real-time sales as possible."

The published standard also provides definitions that will be helpful in discussing businesses that operate both vending machines and the new micromarkets. These include identifying the "kiosk" as the self-checkout system hardware used to make purchases and the "market" as the physical location of the micromarket. A "market" can house more than one "kiosk." The "operator" is, of course, the business entity that manages the micromarket, just as it manages the vending operation. The "client" is the account in which the market is installed; the document explains that "the operator 'sells' the micromarket concept to the client and then installs the store to conduct business." And the "consumer" is the end-user individual who purchases the product in the market at the client's premises.

The taskforce developed the standard under the leadership of chairman Chris Lilly, Best Vendors Management (Minneapolis), and Michigan State University's Dr. Michael Kasavana (E. Lansing, MI), who served as coordinator.

"VDI standards are never published without careful and thorough vetting and testing, and the VMS-MMS standard was no exception," Kasavana said. "As the industry continues to evolve and adapt, we hope this standard simplifies operators' user experience of these systems, keeping data in sync and making it easier for them to grow and expand their businesses."

Serving as early adopters and investigators of the new standard were 365 Retail Markets, a micromarket system provider; Cantaloupe Systems, a developer of vending management software; Canteen, a national operating company; and Streamware, a division of Crane Merchandising Systems, a major vending machine manufacturer and software provider.

Click here to download the standard document. The document includes a list of taskforce members.