FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: John Hervey
February 10, 2004 (703) 518-4297
‘High-Energy’ Meetings Help Define PCATS Strategic Direction
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – More than 100 retailers and suppliers last month participated in four days of meetings that helped further define the strategic direction of the Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS).
PCATS’ Standards Committees, Business Committees, Executive Committee and Board of Directors all held meetings to examine long-range issues and set the strategic direction for the organization during PCATS Winter 2004 Technology Standards and Business Meetings, which took place January 20-23 in Tampa, Florida.
Calling the meetings “high energy,” PCATS President and Chairman of the Board Scott Hartman (Rutter’s Farm Stores) said that the meeting helped “set the tone for where PCATS is going.” During the meetings, the PCATS Board of Directors also approved a budget of nearly $700,000 for 2004.
PCATS, which currently has 75 retailer and supplier member companies, was established in late 2003 to continue the development and maintenance of standards work initiated under the NACS Technology Standards Project. Its initial project work has focused on developmental efforts in network and system integration, business-to-business document exchange and payment systems. Ultimately, PCATS will seek implementation of these standards by the industry’s retailers and suppliers.
During the Winter Meetings, PCATS four Standards Committees met to discuss and advance current activities:
- POS Back Office Standards Committee: Approved standards for data interchange; version 3.3 is now ready for release.
- Open Site Architecture Standards Committee: Formulated plans for a demo of architecture during NACStech 2004 (May 17-19 in Grapevine, TX).
- Retail Merchandise-EB2B Standards Committee: Announced that it would seek to develop a closer working relationship with the Uniform Code Council (UCC) on EDI/XML issues.
- Motor Fuels–EB2B Standards Committee: Announced it would seek to involve more supplier, wholesalers and retailers in implementing standards.
In addition, the PCATS Implementation Committee announced that it will survey PCATS members to identify their top priorities/expectations from PCATS standards and approved a mission statement for the committee: “To drive implementation of jointly developed PCATS standards in the convenience retail and motor fuels industries through education and promotion of their business benefits.”
“I encourage retailers and suppliers alike to get involved in PCATS and help shape the future of standards and the standards effort within the petroleum/convenience industry,” said Hartman.
PCATS will hold its 2004 Strategy Planning Meetings on February 19 and 20 in Alexandria, Virginia. Information on PCATS is available at www.pcats.org.
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The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS) was founded in September 2003 to continue the development and maintenance of standards work initiated under the National Association of Convenience Stores’ (NACS) Technology Standards Project. With more than 70 retailer and supplier members, the group’s membership represents almost 20,000 convenience stores. Membership is open to any petroleum marketer, convenience store owner/operator or any of their suppliers or vendors.