Discuss about the Strategic Information System Of Woolworths.
Woolworths is one of the major organisations of the Australia and one of the most significant reason for its sustainability is the organisation’s strategic information system (SIS). Hence, it becomes a necessary action to evaluate the organisation’s SIS and many literary work have done the same. The discussed paper has also added to the literary work, for which the report has discussed the organisational structure of the deemed organisation and identified the potential errors that the organisational operations may face. The most readily system acquisition method has also been suggested along with a flowchart of the sales procedure. The paper will also discuss potential fraud and control issues that are possible in system before moving to the second part where the development & adoption of an accounting software package is done. Identification of the market size, market leaders and the challenges of the accounting software will be done before concluding the paper with appropriate recommendations. The details presented in the paper have been collected by reviewing the literary work that had been done in the past over the same topic.
The organisational structure of an organisation defines the working pattern of the organisation and in the process its sustainability. The subject of the paper follows the functional organisational structure where the board of directors are at the top of management chain followed by the management board and so on.
The IT management structure of the organisation is presided by a central computer that links all the electronic cash registers. The data of the offerings (goods such foods, groceries and others that are offered by Woolworths) of the subject are in the barcode form. The contributors to the information system (IS) of the organisation are the staffs who inputs the data into the system by scanning the organisational offerings. Another notable fact about the IT management structure off the organisation is that it is hierarchical, which means that if one information process is halted than the others will too face difficulty.
The centralisation of the power in both the organisational structure and the IT management structure can offer significant challenges to the organisation. First, in the case of the of administration, the board of members can introduce some organisational change which the internal stakeholders may consider unfit and the difference of opinion may result in some undesirable results for the subject.
Secondly, as stated earlier all the systems of the organisation are linked to a central computer and in case of the failure of that central source, the whole operation of the organisation may get halted which will cite some impactful negative results on Woolworths. The halting of the system will generate discomfort for the external stakeholders which will ultimately affect the sustainability of the organisation in long run. Another notable, fact is that Woolworths have a geographically distributed network and hence, to sort the problem at one of the divisions, the central system must be informed which can prove to be time and effort taking task. Instead of having a centralised system, the organisation may decide to have two or more systems attached parallel to act as the central computer which will ensure the functionality of the organisation even if, there is failure of one of the central system.
Acquisition of the ERP system is one of the most complex issue, because of the cost factor and the care it demands. Post implementation of the system also, it will have to offer the same amount of care and cost that are associated with the maintenance. The discussed procedure takes place in steps. The initiation phase is the phase where the team is formed for the acquisition and they are shouldered with the responsibility of identifying & solving the problems associated along with defining the process of caring out the process. Woolworths in this phase can formulated a team consisting of its IT staff along with general staff to help the IT team in identifying the problems and formulating the plans accordingly.
The second step involves identification of the most suitable system for acquisition. The market offers various ERP system which offers almost same features but suitable for different environment and structure. Hence, depending on the structure of the Woolworths, the team should identify, the most suitable ERP vendor and adopt the system. The identification of the most suitable ERP system for the system can be done by gathering the organisational information and analysing them to conclude on the need. The final phase of the involves verifying and justifying the selection of the ERP system. The stage takes consideration of the functional, technical and economical aspects of the selected ERP vendor and their offering. Pursing the discussed step will ensure the suitability of the system for the organisation while meeting other requirements of the organisation. Another notable thing that is evaluated in the final stage is the vendor. The reason for doing so is based on the fact that depending on the vendor’s evaluation the sustainability of a system can be predicted. The technical verification involves integration of the proposed system with the existing infrastructure of the organisation, comfort that the database offers, development language, system architecture and others. The functionality verification involves the comfort that the stakeholders enjoys with the system and similar others. The economical aspect measures the budget proposed by the organisation and whether or not the system fits within it. The evaluation of the vendor involves measuring the market of the vendor and the customer satisfaction it is offering. Following the deemed measure can verify the suitability of the system after which, the findings about the system should be submitted to the management of the Woolworths as a report to justify the selection.
It is a crucial discussion because the sales flowchart of an organisation states the processes, decisions and the tasks that are needed for the satisfaction of a customer. The figure above shows the sales procedure of the subject which starts with a quotation and ends at the delivery. The reason for selecting the word quotation here is because the flowchart here represents the big customer and not the small customers who use the offerings of the organisation for personal use. Additionally, the quotation is also validated to ensure that the offering requested by the consumer can be provided by the organisation. The first step involves measuring the quotation and validating it. If the quotation is determined to be valid then it will move on to the sign in process. After that the next step is validating the availability of the offering, if it available, then the payment will be received and the delivery process will be initiated. Contrary, if the offering is not available in the inventory then the processing of the product will be intimidated and after it is made available, the payment process will be initiated. Post-payment process the delivery process will be started after which the delivery will be made and hence completing the sales procedure of the Woolworths. The sales procedure flowchart of the organisation has offered an insight into the sales pattern of the organisation.
ERP is one of the most significant achievements of current era, that is offering prominent assists to the organisations in their operations. However, it is not free of flaws and can also cause some concerning situations for the organisation. The reason for the above stated statement lays on the fact that the manipulation with the core system can affect the performance of the ERP and have negative impact on the organisational operations. Slowing down of the discussed system along with certain situations where the reports of the system breakdown have been witnessed when ERP is taken into context. Additionally, as stated above, it is a complex system and requires special skills to operate and if an organisation lacks, the necessary skill than the system would prove to be worthless. The organisational employee who have ample knowledge about the ERP, if leaves the organisation can cause substantial problem for the organisation. Inputting, incorrect data into the system by the staff members can form base for potential threats in the organisation because it will affect the accounts of the organisation which may take time to resolve that in the process may affect the organisational operations and hence, the sustainability. Hence, in conclusion, the discussed system is not flawless and can offer some prominent challenge to its users.
Accounts is one of the most crucial and sophisticated part of an organisation and are cited special attention by the latter. The market is also offering different options such as the blockchain, bookkeeping and others for assistance in the deemed service. Bookkeeping has emerged as one of the favourite choice for the users because of its feature. The proposed accounting software will be based on the same. The proposed accounting software will take consideration of the general accounting task by gathering information automatically from the central system because the PoS (Point of sales), barcodes and other modes of sales are directly connected to the system. Apart from the sales figure, the expenditure that includes the donation activity, organisational expenditure and other miscellaneous expenses will also be considered within it. The accounting software will also measure the ROI (return on investment), risks and other mandatory methodologies to maintain the accounts. Pre-development of the system, a sketch for the needs of the organisation should be listed (discussed above in the deemed section), followed by the investment and longevity. After the sketch is complete an IT team should be hired to do the coding and develop the tool. It is necessary for the IT team to develop the tool in such a manner that it does not affect other necessary organisational tools performance and can be easily upgraded in future. Post-development, testing of the tool should be done to measure its suitability and after it suitability should be adopted. The adoption process would include the installation of the software in a prototype system to measure its affects and on confirmation should be installed with the existing IT infrastructure.
Currently, e-commerce and other online modes are taking over the accounting sales and other modes in the market. Green means are also making their way into the global IT. The transportation of the food and its impact on the environment has also been taken in context which has led to increase in the market size however, then also it comparatively very low at only 2-5% of online delivery.
Other supermarket’s such as Coles and Walmart are offering significant competition to Woolworths and to sustain itself the organisation must gain technological advancements. Additionally, since, the introduction of IT & IS for the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) the competition have even become stiffer. Walmart, the world’s largest retail chain is gaining competitive advantage by its cost leadership while Coles has stabled itself with the unique offering. Hence, Woolworths need to measure the market gap and gain competitive advantage from its competitors. The discussed organisation is the second largest in terms of employing staff in Australia and largest in New Zealand and hence, should devise plans to gain competitive advantage based on it.
The discussed organisation is in foods market where freshness is of great vitality and makes or destroys the perception of the consumer based on the same. The end-users of the offering by the organisation are suffering from the availability of fresh offering. Additionally, they have also been challenged by the quality and customer support of the organisation. Flaws in the online delivery have also been identified by the customers which is making them unhappy and dissatisfied. Hence, the organisation should devise plans to tackle the situation and fulfil the desires of the end-users.
The discussed paper has offered an insight into one of the biggest retailing giant of Australia, Woolworths. The IS of the organisation is in dire need of upgradation to maintain competitive advantage from international, local and other competitions. The organisation can adopt technology to assist in this service. One of the ways in which the organisation can use technology is by adopting drones for online orders. The drones can be equipped to deliver fresh and quality food to the customers within a very short frame of time which will impress the customer greatly. It is also practical because the organisations such as Amazon are already using it for delivering goods. Additionally, the organisation can develop an online supply chain tool with which it can maintain an appropriate supply chain relation and can also call for urgent need in dire situations. It will also reduce the cost and effort invested to a significant level. Another significant step that the organisation can take to enhance, consumer base it to build a stronger online consumer base by offering loyalty felicitations and other discounts. The organisation tools will maintain the record of the customer and their purchasing history based on which they should be offered a free shopping limit or a gift to felicitate them. The organisation can also open mobile pick-up locations from where the customers can directly collect their needs without waiting for long hours and standing in ques. There are multiple other methods by which the organisation can build a stronger online consumer base however, it depends on the organisation’s approach and the needs of the customers on how they want to enhance their consumer base.
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