Merchant CIF provides a common architecture for back end merchandising or distribution systems to communicate with Merchant RMS.  Whether your software runs on Win2000, NT, AS400, or Unix, Merchant CIF allows you to continue to use your back end system to maintain product information, control pricing, and monitor sales, while allowing Merchant RMS to control store operations.  This seamless integration of multiple systems allows retailers to enjoy the benefits of utilizing best of breed solutions to manage their operations.

Any information, which is to be transmitted to remote locations, is exported from the back end system in a format provided by Merchant CIF.  This information is then placed in a directory for Merchant CIF to pick up and import into the main database.  An audit trail ensures no information is missed during the upload.  A log is also produced detailing any issues encountered during the upload.  The following information can be uploaded:

• New products or changes to existing product information

• Price changes (either markdowns or promotions)

• Inventory adjustments

• Purchase Orders

• New customers or changes to existing customer information

• Special customer or location pricing

The Merchant RMS system will then handle the transmission of this information to all remote locations. 

Once the end of day process has been completed and all of the information from the remote stores has been downloaded to the main database, the Merchant CIF system will export this information in a standard format.  This information is placed in a directory for the back end system to pick up, convert to its format, and download into its database.  An audit trail ensures that no information is missed during this process.  The following information is downloaded:

• Detail sales information, including discounts, taxes and methods of payment

• New customers or changes to existing customer information

• Inventory adjustments

• Purchase orders

Merchant CIF allows retailers to utilize their back end system and take advantage of its functionality, while at the same time, utilize Merchant RMS to manage store operations and take advantage of its features, many of which are not available in back end systems.  This integration of multiple systems allows retailers to maintain their investment in their existing system while at the same time allowing for future expansion.