Woolworths' Strategic Information System: Essay Review.

1.Identification and discussion of the chosen company’s Structure, products and services under consideration

2.Operations and functionality: Identify and discuss

A.The current processes

B.Any gaps and what is not working properly

C.Which specific issues that the new system will fix

D.Criteria that will be used to prove the proposed system meets requirements

3.Discuss what constitutes an Information Systems (IS) Strategy and explain why such strategy is needed as part of the overall organisational strategy.

4.Discuss why the organisation may experience difficulties in developing an Information Systems Strategy. As part of your answer you should suggest solutions to the difficulties you discuss.

5.With reference to your studies on Information Systems failures:

A.Analyse the typical problems that might be expected to arise within Information Systems projects.

B.Illustrate your answer with reference to literature and any relevant examples.

C.Suggest remedies to the problems you have identified.

Overview of Woolworths Supermarket of Australia

The strategic information system mostly gives competitive advantages to each and every organization and delivers all kinds of products and services in extremely low cost. It even spotlights on any distinct part of a particular market (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2016). It is the most vital feature in case of information technology. This SIM also helps those particular organizations and the businesses for the categorization, storing, processing and transfer of the confidential information (Wise and Debons 2012).

The following literature review outlines a brief description on the strategic information system of the recognized and most popular supermarket of Australia and New Zealand, the Woolworths Supermarket of Australia (Boonstra 2013). The review provides a brief discussion on the Woolworths Supermarket of Australia. The literature review also provides the organizational structure, organizational products and services of the Woolworths Supermarket of Australia (Petter, DeLone and McLean 2013). The operations and the functionality of this particular organization are also given in this literature review. The review even comprises of the information systems strategy and the probable problems and solutions with this strategy (Rainer et al. 2013). The reasons for the failure of the information systems strategy of this organization are also given here.

Woolworths Supermarket is a popular grocery market chain in Australia, which was founded in the year 1924 and is owned by the popular Woolworths Limited. The popular supermarket nearly covers more than 80% of the all over Australian markets (Woolworths.com.au, 2017). Woolworths has an entire turnover of about 27.9 billion dollars, in which the food and liquor has the entire inclusion of about 22 billion dollars.

Organizational Structure: The structure of the organization of the Woolworths Supermarket of Australia comprises of the entire corporate structure and management structure of the grocery market.

Figure 1: Corporate Structure of Woolworths

(Source: Woolworths.com.au, 2017)

The above illustration shows the entire integrated corporate structure of the Woolworths Supermarket of Australia.

Figure 2: Management Structure of Woolworths

(Source: Woolworths.com.au, 2017)

The above illustration defines the basic management structure of Woolworths Supermarket of Australia.

Products and Services: The main products sold by Woolworths are groceries. It specializes in selling 100 percent fresh meat and 96 percent fresh fruits as well as vegetables from the Australian growers and farmers. It offers variety of fruits and vegetables of best quality to the customers. It is also known for selling dairy products and drinks. It has a section that sells products for infants and children. Woolworths offer beauty and health products such as cosmetics. Pet supplies, magazines and stationery items are the other products that are offered by this supermarket chain.

1. Current processes in Woolworths: There are several processes such as purchase process, inventory process, accounting process and customer service process. Woolworths purchasing process is centralized where its front-line managers report about inventory levels. The managers are responsible for placing order to the suppliers. Inventory process handles the inventory on the basis of first in and first out technique. Keeping track of the inventory in an effective manner prevents the chance of inventory shortage. Customer service is considered to be the core process of Woolworths (com.au 2017). This process includes three main functions such as transaction processing, handling complaints and in-store assistance. Accounting process of this organization handles valuable data such as sales data, payroll and other financial information.  The sales, marketing and customer service process is considered to be the primary process of Woolworths. The purchasing and inventory process are under support process. The management process of Woolworths deals with measuring, monitoring and controlling business procedures.
2. Identification of Gaps: The market growth of Woolworths has slowed down due to the entry of several competitors in the market. The share price of this organization has fallen due to its ineffective business processes and strategies (com.au 2017). The weak morale of the staffs has also affected the performance of the organization. The marketing process of Woolworths does not use much innovative strategies and this has affected the productivity of the supermarket. Product price offered by Woolworths is higher than its competition. Traditional management style and poor perception of price has affected its business. The information systems of Woolworths are not accurately aligned with its business strategies that have affected the working procedure and performance.

Information System Strategy for Woolworths

Figure 2: Falling share price of Woolworths

(Source: Woolworthsgroup.com.au 2017)

1. Specific problems that will be solved by the new system: Strategic information systems or the new system will be able to fix specific issues such as decrease in share price and weak employee morale. The new system will be able to give competitive advantage to Woolworths by contributing to its strategic goals and improving its performance in the market (Kirchmer 2012). SIS or the new system will enable Woolworths to provide new products to customers at a reasonable cost and solve its issue regarding high product price. The new system will be able to increase employee morale and productivity and streamline business processes to reduce the current gaps of the organization (Nambisan 2013).  The market growth of Woolworths will increase after implementing the new system and it will be able to enhance its market position.
2. Criteria for proving that new system that is proposed is able to meet its requirements: Verification as well as validation procedures can be used as the criteria for proving whether the new system meets requirement or not. The new system must be able to satisfy the operational needs of the user (Lloyd 2017). This is considered to be one of the most important criteria. The new system must be able to meet performance requirement and this can be done through testing and evaluation of the system. System throughput, quality of documentation, system scalability, system reliability and vendor support are other main criteria for proving that the new system is able to meet the given requirements.

IS strategy is considered to be a strategy that is required to support development of IS and business strategies. Information system strategy can also be referred to the alignment of business needs and strategies with the development of IS (Whittington 2014). This strategy should focus on what the business demands. Information system strategy is required for supporting the IS structure in Woolworths so that it remains relevant for achieving organizational objectives. Information systems strategy will enable Woolworths to deliver information that have high strategic value. Effective synchronization of various technology platforms and systems of an organization is possible by conforming to an IS strategy (Venkatesh, Brown and Bala 2013).  Information system cannot play a significant role in affecting business directions and goals unless it is aligned with the strategies of the organization (Laudon and Laudon 2016).

Following are the difficulties that Woolworths might face while developing an IS strategy:

1. Management challenges: Successful implementation of IS strategy will be possible only when the top management supports this decision. In most of the cases, it has been seen that top management are unable to understand the need of IS strategy (Wise and Debons 2012). The main challenge lies in aligning business strategies with the IS strategy. Internal communication gap is one of the obstacles that weaken the support from the senior management.
2. Human challenges: Employees are considered to be the most valuable asset of an organization. Lack of technical and well trained human resources will affect the implementation process and cause difficulty in the development of IS strategy (Galliers and Leidner 2014). If the employees of the organization are not proficient in computer skills then the organization will face issue in the development stage. Some of the employees of Woolworths might not be flexible and might not support the idea of IS strategy.  Factors such as organizational culture, poor coordination and unaligned organizational resources will harm the implementation of information systems strategy.
3. Technical and time challenges: Hardware and software related issues might affect the development of IS strategy in Woolworths. Migration of legacy system to the advanced system is one of the major challenges in developing IS strategy. There can be lack of proper time analysis. Extension of any intermediate processes might cancel the development of information systems strategy.

1. Solution for the management challenges: Proper gap analysis needs to be conducted for understanding its current position and to reach its future position. The top management team must be given proper explanation about the need of IS strategy (Boonstra 2013). The technical team can prepare a proper presentation to depict the need of developing IS strategy. The senior management can improve its communication with the tactical and operational levels in the organization for facilitating the development of IS strategy.   
2. Solution for the human challenges: The existing employees of the organization must be given technical training for improving their computer skills and knowledge. Recruitment department can focus on hiring staffs who have technical expertise and know the importance of IS strategy.  The current staffs need to be told about their individual benefits that they will get after developing IS strategy.  Woolworths can dismantle its hierarchy and encourage employee participation to resolve the issue of poor coordination and communication.  
3. Solution for the technical and time challenges: Proper planning can resolve the issue of technical challenges. Regular maintenance of information systems can be carried out by a system specialist. An effective plan can be designed to carry out all the stages of IS strategy development without any extension.

Typical problems that are expected to arise in an Information system project are discussed below:

1. Problems related to system failure: Most of the information system projects are undertaken without defining project goals (Cecez-Kecmanovic, Kautz and Abrahall 2014). Unclear information needs of the organization can affect the development of information system projects and strategies. Senior management, IS staffs and end users play a significant role in the success of IS projects (Petter, DeLone and McLean 2013). Unclear communication lines and unclear responsibilities can lead to the failure of IS projects. Inadequate technological base and faults in the hardware can lead to the failure of information system projects.
2. Problems related to software crisis: Development of information systems can affect the productivity due to maintenance issues. The demand for IS development has increased at a faster rate as compared to the ability of the organizations to develop them. Low software cost, limited funding and personnel, and little improvements in productivity are some of the reasons behind this issue.  
3. Improper alignment of business needs and IS: Most managers of the organizations are unclear about the need of IS. Development of improper project charter and budget estimation can information system projects (Mir and Pinnington 2014). Any mistake in the project management plan will harm the entire information system. Dynamic business along with the organization of business activities and IS constantly challenges the IS projects.

Recommendations for overcoming the issues within Information System Projects

1. The project management team members need to know the detailed specifications of the IS that is to be developed. All the stakeholders of the organization need to be actively involved in the project for understanding the need and importance of implementing information systems. The issue of miscommunication can be resolved through collaborative activities and participation in decision making process. The need of information systems must be communicated throughout the whole organization so that everyone is aware of the project.
2. Organizations can identify its capability before developing information systems so that it does not affect the productivity. Regular maintenance can be carried out by a technical specialist for overcoming the issue of software crisis. Organizations such as Commonwealth Bank can hire sufficient number of technical staffs for overcoming the problems within information system projects.
3. The issue related to improper alignment of business needs and IS can be solved by enhancing the technical competencies of the staffs. Everyone must be aware of the need of IS. The project team must be experienced in developing project charters so that the project plan is properly developed. Qualified and competent staffs must be hired for implementing IS projects. The initial step must be to identify the gap in the present process and align the information needs with the requirement of the project.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that Strategic information systems or SIS is the information systems that are developed for the business initiative of an organization. This strategic information system mainly provides competitive advantages to all the organizations and delivers all types of services and products in lower cost. It even focuses on any particular segment of a market. The strategic information management or SIM is the most important characteristic in information technology. The review provides a brief discussion on the Woolworths Supermarket of Australia. The literature review also gives the organizational structure, organizational products and services of the Woolworths Supermarket of Australia. The operations and the functionality of this particular organization are also given in this literature review. The review also comprises of information systems strategy and the probable problems and solutions with this strategy. The causes or the reasons for the failure of the information systems strategy of this organization are also given here.

References

Arvidsson, V., Holmström, J. and Lyytinen, K., 2014. Information systems use as strategy practice: A multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and use. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.

Boonstra, A., 2013. How do top managers support strategic information system projects and why do they sometimes withhold this support?. International Journal of Project Management, 31(4), pp.498-512.

Cecez-Kecmanovic, D., Kautz, K. and Abrahall, R., 2014. Reframing Success and Failure of Information Systems: A Performative Perspective. Mis Quarterly, 38(2).

Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E. eds., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.

Kirchmer, M., 2012. Business process oriented implementation of standard software: how to achieve competitive advantage efficiently and effectively. Springer Science & Business Media.

Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education India.

Lloyd, I., 2017. Information technology law. Oxford University Press.

Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.202-217.

Nambisan, S., 2013. Information technology and product/service innovation: A brief assessment and some suggestions for future research. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 14(4), p.215.

Pearlson, K.E., Saunders, C.S. and Galletta, D.F., 2016. Managing and Using Information Systems, Binder Ready Version: A Strategic Approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.

Petter, S., DeLone, W. and McLean, E.R., 2013. Information systems success: The quest for the independent variables. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29(4), pp.7-62.

Rainer, R.K., Cegielski, C.G., Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, I. and Sanchez-Rodriguez, C., 2013. Introduction to information systems. John Wiley & Sons.

Sakas, D., Vlachos, D. and Nasiopoulos, D., 2014. Modelling strategic management for the development of competitive advantage, based on technology. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 16(3), pp.187-209.

Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Stair, R. and Reynolds, G., 2013. Principles of information systems. Cengage Learning.

Venkatesh, V., Brown, S.A. and Bala, H., 2013. Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide: Guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS quarterly, 37(1).

Whittington, R., 2014. Information systems strategy and strategy-as-practice: a joint agenda. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.87-91.

Wise, J.A. and Debons, A. eds., 2012. Information systems: failure analysis (Vol. 32). Springer Science & Business Media.

Woolworthsgroup.com.au., 2017. Woolworths Supermarkets - Woolworths Group. [online] Available at: https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us/our-brands/supermarkets/Woolworths [Accessed 15 Dec. 2017].