Conexxus offers a broad depth of standards and specifications for the convenience store and retail fuels industry. These standards improve profitability by reducing the cost of IT ownership as well as improve competitiveness. Conexxus members at the Silver or Gold levels enjoy access to the full documentation and schemas for each standard. This page provides information about the Device Integration Committee Standards. Click here to view available standards for other Conexxus Committees.
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Site Asset
Retail convenience and fueling locations have many devices in the store and on the forecourt which collectively comprise the “site assets.” The Conexxus Site Asset Specification allows the various site systems in retail convenience and fueling locations to transmit site asset data in a standard format to an offsite entity for collection, processing, and analysis.
The Site Asset Specification includes XML schema that allows implementers to create or consume XML documents containing site asset information. The Working Group chose to report network information (e.g., IP addresses, ports, subnets) in an XML format to maintain consistency with other Conexxus standards. Should use of standard management systems (such as SNMP) be desired in future revisions of the standard, formats for those systems can be considered in addition to XML.
The XML schema provides for reporting of site information (e.g., Site Name, Branding, Location, IDs), as well as devices, including but not limited to POS terminals, payment terminals, scanners, site controllers, fuel controllers, dispensers, carwash controllers, and tank gauges. Information about these devices may include the vendor, model, versioning (e.g., hardware, software, operating system, firmware and/or kernels), networking configuration, and device capabilities (e.g., EMV or encryption). Device-specific information (e.g., blending capabilities and configuration for a dispenser) is also included in the schema. All devices are uniquely identified and mapped so that data relationships with other devices may be reported.
Being able to electronically transmit and receive information about a site and its devices enables merchants to better track site assets. With this information, it is possible to identify whether changes to the equipment have occurred and whether equipment software is up to date, which in turn helps to validate the security of reporting devices. For example, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 3.1 and later versions require payment-related asset reporting. By implementing the Conexxus Site Asset Specification, merchants may be better able to meet such requirements.
Forecourt Device Controller
A Forecourt Device Controller (FDC) is a software application that interfaces to forecourt devices (e.g., fuel dispenser, tank gauge, car wash, price pole) in a retail petroleum location. The FDC Specification replaces proprietary protocols that exist between the Point of Sale (POS) and forecourt devices and allows a POS to use standard messaging to interface to the FDC, which provides for device control and enables exchange of device status and data. A standard interface eliminates the need to implement multiple protocols and/or determine the model/version of a particular forecourt device. This reduces complexity and therefore reduces the cost of development, maintenance, and validation.
The FDC Specification includes XML schema for communication between a Forecourt Device Controller and one or more POS systems including messages to:
- Provide logical device states to inform about the current condition of a device;
- Provide information about and allow configuration of a device and its settings (e.g., fueling limits, service modes, prices);
- Allow for control of a device (e.g., reserve or authorize a dispenser, obtain a carwash code);
- Provide data reporting from a device (e.g., tank levels); and
- Provide information about state changes and alarms through unsolicited messages
This global specification is built on a previous version of the IFSF FDC standard, adding adaptions for use in North America, while simplifying the associated schema.
Click here to view available standards for other Conexxus Committees.
Members, please login to access standards. To learn about Conexxus membership, click here.