Overview 

The Televend VDI integration is a data exchange between 365 Retail Markets and Televend Systems using the VDI industry standard for integrating Vending Management Systems and MicroMarkets.

Key Terms       

• Televend – Vending technology company for the VDI integration. The VMS software suite offered by Televend for inventory, pre-kitting and reporting, primarily used to support the vending business.
• Client – The client account where the market operates. The operator “sells” the MicroMarket concept to the client and then installs the store to conduct business.
• Consumer – The individual who actually purchases the product in the market.
• Kiosk – The self-checkout system/hardware used for purchasing products in the MicroMarket.
• Market – The physical room where the MicroMarket exists. The market may contain one or more kiosks. The market may also be referred to as a location on SmartHQ.
• MicroMarket System (MMS) – the key “system” in this solution is the kiosk and associated services that allow consumers to purchase items from the market using a self-checkout process.
• Operator – The business entity that installs and manages the MicroMarket.
• VDI – Vending Data Interchange. VDI is set of vending technology standards managed by the VDI Task Force, overseen by the NAMA trade association.
• VDI VMS-MMS Integration Standard – VDI standard developed by 365 Retail Markets in cooperation with Televend to normalize the exchange of data between MicroMarkets and Vending Management Systems.
• Vending Management System (VMS) – the route accounting system typically used to support the vending business and OCS business.

Key Stakeholders   

• 365 Account Manager – Responsible for initiating project and drafting proposal for Televend integrated kiosk.
• 365 Project Coordinator – Primary contact at 365 to support interface configuration and market go live.
• Televend Project Coordinator – Primary contact to facilitate Televend related configuration.
• Operator Lead – Coordinates client and operator resources.

Operational Changes

As with most data integrations, there are several operational changes since key processes will now be handled by an external system, in this case Televend. At the highest level, 365 generates and sends funding, sales, asset (kiosk) and cash collection data to Televend and Televend provides 365 market and product data.

Procurement   

When ordering a kiosk, the operator will need to notify both Televend and their 365 Account Manager that the market will be integrated. Not all versions of Televend and 365’s software are compatible to the integration, so be sure to leave yourself plenty of time for any necessary system upgrades.

The Televend integration is only supported in Gen2 SP3.8 software versions and later.

Adding a New Market     

Adding a brand new location (market) to ADM will now be handled through the integration to provide one true source for items such as market name and address.

1. The operator provides 365 their Televend Operator ID manually by email or phone.
   
   
2. The new market is configured in Televend.
   
   
3. The integration is enabled in Televend. This sends 365 the name and address of the market through the integration.

Enabling for an Existing Market   

If the market already exists in SmartHQ, the process for enabling the integration is as follows:

1. The operator provides 365 their Televend Operator ID manually by email or phone.
   
   
2. The market is created in Televend.
   
   
3. The operator provides 365 the market’s MM ID.
   
   
4. 365 adds the MM ID to the existing location in SmartHQ.
   
   
5. The integration can be enabled.

Kiosk Staging and Shipping 

365 cannot stage or ship the kiosk until Televend provides the market's data. When we receive the market name and address, 365 will associate the kiosk serial number to the market and return kiosk data to Televend.

This data includes:

• Kiosk serial number
• Date and time of last sync to SmartHQ
• Date and time of last transaction

Product Catalog      

Televend integrated markets will not manage their products through SmartHQ. The initial setup and maintenance of the products will be entirely handled in Televend. After the kiosk data has been received by Televend, they will return product data to 365. The products will import to SmartHQ and then sync to the kiosk. Adding and modifying products in SmartHQ will then be disabled.

Products data includes:

• Target market
• Product ID
• Barcode
• Product name
• Price
• Cost
• Tax
• Fee (bottle deposit)

Reporting         

Activity on the kiosk such as sales, funding and driver cash outs will be sent to Televend so that operators will have a consolidated set of reporting for both vending machines and MicroMarkets. All reports on SmartHQ will still be available.

Sales        

Sales data from the kiosk will be sent through the interface every five minutes (keep in mind that it also takes five minutes for data to sync to SmartHQ). Each sale reported will be represented by a “ticket”, or collection of products as part of the purchase.

This data includes:

• Source market
• Source kiosk
• Date/time of the sale
• Consumer ID (for account purchases)
• Price
• Discount
• Fee
• Tax
• Ticket total
• Product ID
• Barcode
• Cost
• Tender

Transactions (Account Funding)   

Consumer funding activity from the kiosk, SmartHQ or MyMarketAccount.com will be also be sent through the integration every five minutes.

This data includes:

• Source market
• Consumer ID
• Type
  • Cash
  • Credit or debit card
  • Adjustment (through SmartHQ or Admin Portal
• Date and time of funding activity
• Amount
• Bills inserted (for cash funding)

Cash Collection

To create a single source of cash accountability, driver cash out data is also sent through the integration as they occur.

Cash collection data includes:

• Source market
• Source kiosk
• Collection date and time
• Total amount of cash collected
• Driver user name
• Bills collected

FAQ 

Q. How do I add buttons to the kiosk?

A. Any product imported into SmartHQ from Televend can be turned into a button. When the product catalog has been received, go to Manage SKU in SmartHQ. Add a Button Text to the product. You will find that most fields are read only except Button Text.

Q. How do I multi-store link (MSL) markets if they are now first created in Televend?

A. Follow the standard process to let your 365 Account Manager know when two markets will be part of an MSL. After importing the market's data from Televend, 365 can MSL any markets as long as consumers have not performed any transactions.

Q. How do I add or update new products in my MicroMarket?

A. For integrated markets, all product maintenance is performed in Televend. This includes adding new products, changing existing products, or discontinuing products. Product maintenance through SmartHQ is not supported for integrated markets.

Appendix A: About the VDI VMS – MMS Integration Standard

Purpose of the Standard         

Developing and adhering to an industry standard for integrating MicroMarkets and Vending Management Systems provides benefits not only to operators, but also the respective MMS and VMS.

Some of these benefits include:

• Specify the system features needed to manage a MicroMarket business.
• Define which system should be responsible for each feature.
• Reduce cost and time when integrating new MMS or VMS providers.
• Promote interchangeability and compatibility between systems.

Goals and Objectives   

Our objective in developing a standard is to identify key information and system features that are required to manage a MicroMarket business and then decide which system should “own” this information or feature.

Because of the difficulty in managing the same data in multiple systems and keeping the data in sync, our goal is that only one system manages or creates a specific set of data. A set of data can be shared with the other system, allowing the second system to perform certain tasks that are required by MicroMarket operations.

Both systems (and their vendors) can implement all system feature listed in this document. However, we based this document on the fact that this single system does not exist, and we need to clearly define the one system that the operator should use to complete a specific task.

Integrating MMS and VMS will also provide a consolidated source for both MicroMarket and vending machine management.

This includes:

• Full warehouse inventory accountability
• A single source for sales and inventory reporting
• A single source for product and price Information
• A single hand held for servicing both vending POS and MicroMarket POS
• Pre-kitting using as near to real time sales as possible
• Complete cash and inventory accountability