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Retail Store Automation Systems Management

and the Role of the Bar Code Scanner
What Is Retail Store Automation
Management?
Remote Systems Management is the ability to
manage and control the individual components, both
hardware and software, of Retail Store Automation
from a remote location. Retail store systems are ever
increasing in complexity, and devices include Point-of-
Sale (POS) systems (store controllers, POS terminals,
printers, payment devices, displays, fixed and
handheld bar code scanners), kiosks, scale systems
self-checkout systems, the software that controls all
these devices, and the networks that connect them.
The real benefits of remote management increase
with the complexity of the IT infrastructure of retail
stores, provided there is a common means to access
it all.
Benefits to the retailer accrue with the ability
to standardize and manage store systems and
operational processes without intervention by
untrained store personnel. The goal is, of course,
reduced IT costs but also include increased
performance and up-time of store level systems
that maximize operational efficiency and increase
the customers’ satisfaction with their shopping
experience.
The Benefits
Managing retail store systems, especially remotely, is
an excellent opportunity for retail chains to improve
operational efficiencies. Cost reductions result from
less labor resources required, especially of store
personnel who are better directed to providing
customer service. However, information collected
from and data sent to store systems also help the
retailer to increase systems availability and ensure
peak performance.
Benefit categories include:
Event and Device Monitoring which
includes
• Diagnostic and situational alerts that can
include such things as component failures, out
of paper, off-line POS system, off-line payment
device, communications network issues and
others.
• Retrieval of diagnostic information from
individual devices allows the retailer to quickly
identify failing or failed units and can speed
their repair.
• An effective remote management system will
not only provide the alert to headquarters
personnel but can also recommend or take
action like e-mailing or paging key store
personnel with the recommended corrective
action.

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Software and Configuration
Management
• Software fixes and/or enhancements can
be sent to store systems and scheduled for
activation or loading at the appropriate time
without store level personnel involvement.
This allows a change to take place in each store
enterprise-wide simultaneously.
• New software features can be cost
effectively added to devices by reducing the
implementation costs traditionally incurred
by sending personnel to each store to enact
changes.
Operator and Device Performance Data
Collection
• Operator productivity can be measured and
results that fall outside of pre-determined
norms can be addressed by additional training
or other corrective measures which increases
operational efficiency at the store.
• Data may also indicate other variables like poor
quality bar code labels produced by out-of-spec
consumer products suppliers or in-store printers
that reduce overall checkout productivity and
increase customer dissatisfaction.
Asset and Process Management
• Serial number, firmware version and model
number retrieval can help with asset
management. By monitoring device age and
usage, replacements can be directed to the
locations most benefited.
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• The ability to remotely monitor and enforce
power-off policies reduces energy costs and may
increase the device’s life.
• Device usage data can allow the enterprise to
balance workloads to increase the life of in-store
equipment. For example, rather than opening
the same subset of store checkouts every day if
the store can balance usage it may increase the
device’s life.
These are just some examples of benefit categories.
The remote management system plays a crucial role in
not only gathering and disseminating large amounts
of data but serves its true role by analyzing the data
and reporting only exception events. This exception
reporting serves as a trip-wire that alerts enterprise
management to events or conditions that require
action to correct or improve.
Information Provided By Bar Code
Scanners
The following is representative of the
information fixed POS and handheld bar code
scanners can provide. Not all scanners from all
vendors have all the capabilities listed.
Five value-added features are described: Host
Download, Diagnostic Reporting, Productivity Host Download
Reporting, Cashier Training, and EAS functionality. Host Download provides a means by which a POS
These features or subsets of these features are terminal can update the scanner application firmware,
available on leading bar code scanners available
the scanner configuration settings, or both. When
today. Specific information on the capabilities of updates are available, they are transmitted by POS
any given scanner is available from the scanner terminal application software to the scanner. This
manufacturer. process can be done using the customer’s POS
checkout application written to take advantage of
OPOS driver capability, or by third party developed
Remote Management software.
Host Download is a valuable tool for ensuring that
all scanners in a store system have the currently
required configuration, and for easily upgrading
that configuration if the store operations standard
changes.
Host Download also provides a convenient automated
method to upgrade scanner firmware throughout a
store when vendors release improvements and new
features.
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Diagnostics Reporting Scanner performance statistics information Label Quality
available
A host POS system can interrogate the scanner for The Productivity Index data identifies specific bar
three basic types of diagnostic information. This • Scanner power on time in hours code labels that are consistently harder to read than
interrogation can be initiated by the in-store POS • Motor ‘on’ time in hours others in the store. Store management can use this
systems or by extension from a remote location. • Laser ‘on’ time in hours data to isolate poorly performing in-store printers, or
Typical bar code scanners can provide the following • Number of labels scanned to identify manufacturers who need to improve their
three basic types of information: label print quality.
• Scale zero attempts (if equipped with scale)
Bar code scanner Identification • Scale calibration attempts (if equipped with Scanner Performance
Bar code scanner Health scale)
The Productivity Index data identifies specific
Bar code scanner Performance Statistics • Last scale calibration time
scanners in the store that are performing at a lower
• Number of EAS labels deactivated (if equipped than normal level. Store management can use this
Diagnostics Reporting is a valuable tool for verifying
with EAS)
that every scanner in a store system has the expected information to schedule cleaning or preventative
• Number of EAS manual deactivation button maintenance of specific scanners.
firmware and configuration. It is also valuable for
presses
reporting the current health of each scanner to (if equipped with EAS)
a storewide status monitoring system, thereby
providing early warning of potential failures. Store Productivity Reporting and
management can use the information to schedule
preventative or corrective maintenance.
Cashier Training
Scanner identification information available Productivity Reporting Overview
• Scanner model number Productivity data consists of a per label measurement
• Scanner serial number of the time and effort required by the scanner to
• Scanner main board serial number successfully decode the label just read. By measuring
this effort and comparing it to all labels read the
• Scanner application revision level
scanner is capable of identifying difficult to read
• Scanner configuration file ID
labels. When implemented for the retail store and
• Internal scale information (if equipped with for the enterprise this data is very valuable for two
scale) purposes: Label Quality and Scanner Performance.
• Remote display version (if equipped with
display)
• Smart EAS version (if equipped with EAS)
• Scanner interface type
Scanner health information available
• Motor is working/failed
• Horizontal (or single) laser is working/failed
• Vertical laser is working/failed (if equipped with
2 lasers)
• Internal scale is working/failed (if equipped
with scale)
• Scale requires calibration (if equipped with an
integrated scale)
• Remote display is working/failed (if equipped
with display)
• EAS system is working/failed (if equipped with
EAS)
• EAS communications failed
• Camera is working/failed (if equipped with a
camera/imager)

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Cashier Training Overview
Cashier data from high performance bi-optic
scanners identifies which scanner window (vertical
or horizontal or both) was used to capture the data
in the bar code just read. In a normal productive
environment it is expected that the cashier will use
both windows in normal operation approximately
equally. Values that indicate a preference for one
of the windows sometimes points to unnecessary
orientation of items prior to scanning. This can lead to
lower productivity and/or repetitive stress injuries.
Additionally is a measure the dynamic weight of each
product as it is scanned (if the scanner is equipped
with an integrated scale). The ideal scanning method
involves cashiers sliding items over the scanner
without picking them up which can also result in
lower productivity and/or repetitive stress injuries.
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This data can be used to identify poor habits of
individual cashiers, such as a tendency to orient all
products to the vertical window, or a habit of lifting
all items across the scanner. These habits can result in
excessive product orientation and lifting, which will
both reduce cashier productivity and also possibly
lead to repetitive stress injuries. Early identification
of these poor habits can give store management the
opportunity to provide needed corrective training.
When collected for all lanes in a store, Cashier Training
data has an added use of identifying scanners that
may be performing poorly due to dirt or obstructions
in one of the two scan windows. Cashier Training
data can be gathered in either On-line Mode during
normal customer transactions and later analyzed to
understand the scanning habits of individual cashiers
and to propose corrective training or Training Mode
where the scanner is installed in a dedicated training
environment with special training materials, and the
data captured is used to provide immediate corrective
feedback to the cashier.
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Electronic Article Surveillance
(EAS) Integration
Some high performance scanners combine a bar
code scanner/scale, EAS antenna, and EAS control
electronics in an integrated system. This system
provides a means of reading bar coded products while
automatically deactivating EAS security tags. Beyond
normal bar code data, the scanner may provide
data to the management system related to EAS
deactivation activity. This information can be used
to identify missing EAS tags, unauthorized EAS tag
deactivations, hard-to-deactivate tags, and manual
deactivation attempts.
Identification, health, and statistics related to the
EAS subsystem are also provided via the diagnostic
reporting of the scanner.
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EAS Coupled Mode
EAS Coupled Mode is where the scanner will not allow
the deactivation of a security tag without also having
scanned the item’s bar code. Scanners equipped with
this mode may have the ability to report data that aids
in the management of the EAS systems and how they
are performing at the checkout.
• Bar code was read, and EAS tag sensed and
deactivated but more than one deactivation
attempt was required
- This indicates that the tag may be defective
or the tag may be located on the “fringe” of the
deactivation volume.
• Bar code was read, and an attempt to deactivate
a hard tag occurred
- This indicates that all deactivation retries have
been exhausted and a tag is still active.
• Bar code was read, and EAS tag sensed but not
deactivated
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- Operator may be sweeping product too fast or
location of tag hinders deactivation.
• Bar code was read, and EAS tag not sensed and
not deactivated
- This is the normal case of a bar code being read
without an EAS tag on the package.
• EAS exception button was pressed, and EAS tag
sensed and deactivated
- The operator initiated a manual deactivation
and was successful in deactivating the tag.
• EAS exception button was pressed, and an
attempt to deactivate a hard tag occurred
- This indicates that all deactivation retries have
been exhausted and a tag is still active.
• EAS exception button was pressed, and EAS tag
sensed but not deactivated
- The operator initiated a manual deactivation
but there was a problem deactivating the tag.
Tag may be defective or located on the ‘fringe’
of the deactivation volume.
RETAIL STORE AUTOMATION SYSTEMS MGMT
OPOS: What Is It And Why Should
You Care
OPOS for Retail POS consists of architecture for Win32-
based POS device access. OPOS is currently supported
by virtually all versions of Microsoft Windows. It also
consists of a set of POS device interfaces sufficient
to support a wide range of POS solutions. It provides
a consistent interface to POS peripherals for use by
application creators. OPOS was the first widely-
adopted POS device standard to help integrate POS
hardware into applications for the Windows family of
operating systems.
UPOS is the acronym for Unified Point of Service.
Under the UPOS specification, the OPOS and JavaPOS
implementation specs have been defined to provide
flexible approaches for POS application developers.
It is an architectural specification for application
interfaces to point-of-service devices that are used in
the retail environment. This standard, which has been
in existence for several years, is both operating system
independent and language neutral and defines:
• An architecture for application interface to retail
devices.
• A set of retail device behaviors sufficient to
support a range of POS solutions.
Currently, 36 different point-of-service peripheral
types are supported by the standard.
The advantages are that OPOS/UPOS drivers provide
access to data stored within scanners throughout the
retail enterprise. This access and data is based on
an industry standard that allows third-party Store
Automation System Management developers to use
this data within their applications. Some examples of
these systems management solutions include:
IBM Tivoli/Director
IBM’s Remote Management Agent (RMA) is their
POS endpoint management agent and is tightly
integrated into IBM Director. RMA runs on IBM POS
hardware and allows for managing and monitoring
in store servers, POS terminals and peripherals with
the same headquarter management tool (which is
IBM Director). Together they provide the ability to
remotely track, monitor, upgrade, and configure the
POS and its peripherals, including scales, printers, and
scanners. It supports the UPOS interface for universal
support of UPOS enabled devices.
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Wavelink Avalanche
Avalanche is a device and network management
solution that will run on any Microsoft Windows
based system. In addition to its interface to POS
systems and peripherals it has the ability to interface
with mobile computers running Windows embedded
operating systems and to manage wireless networks
and access points, providing a central tool for
managing network security and maintaining PCI
compliance. Avalanche is scalable with versions
available for site based management and enterprise
wide management. Avalanche is also extendable,
with modules available for added control and security
that can be implemented as the user’s needs change.
Any Windows Management
Instrumentation (WMI) Tool
WMI is a standard peripheral interface and included
with the Microsoft Windows operating system. It
allows scripting languages like VBScript or Windows
PowerShell to manage Microsoft Windows personal
computers and servers, both locally and remotely.
These tools can also be used to write custom
applications to access data from scanners and other
peripherals through the OPOS interface protocol.
Summary
Retailers today need to be aware that the majority
of devices being installed as part of Retail Store
Automation projects have capabilities that allow them
to provide information on performance, productivity,
diagnostics, and are capable of being remotely
managed. This data is, in many cases, not utilized
fully or not utilized at all. Point-of-sale peripherals
have become very intelligent and represent the
point that is in closest contact with customers. It is
important that these devices perform at full capacity,
that their up-time is maximized, and that the retailer
take advantage of the valuable information they can
provide. Remote store automation management
systems can aggregate and manage this information
and provide the enterprise with the tools to increase
operational efficiency, lower costs, and increase
the customer’s satisfaction with their shopping
experience.
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© 2009-2012 Datalogic ADC, Inc. • All rights reserved. • Protected to the fullest extent under U.S. and international laws. • Copying or altering of this document is
prohibited without express written consent from Datalogic ADC, Inc.
Datalogic and the Datalogic logo are registered trademarks of Datalogic S.p.A. in many countries, including the U.S. and the E.U. and the Datalogic Automatic
Data Capture logo is a trademark of Datalogic S.p.A. • All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
• Cashier Training and Productivity Index Reporting are trademarks of Datalogic ADC, Inc.
Reasonable measures were taken to ensure that the information provided is complete and accurate at the time of publication. • Datalogic ADC is not responsible
for errors of omission or inaccuracies, as material becomes dated shortly following publication. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

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