Information System Solutions for Woolworths' Competitive Edge

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of information systems within Woolworths, a major Australian retail company. It explores the role of information systems, particularly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), in supporting various business functions such as supermarkets, online distribution, and clothing. The report highlights the importance of information systems in gaining a competitive advantage, especially in the face of increasing competition. It examines alternative information system solutions like Transaction Processing Systems (TPS), Management Information Systems (MIS), and Executive Support Systems (ESS), assessing their viability and benefits. The report differentiates between in-house development and outsourcing components, discusses acquisition and rollout plans for implementing information systems, and outlines a management plan. The analysis emphasizes the need for and the usage of information systems in Woolworths to improve operations, make informed decisions, and maintain a competitive edge in the retail market. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and reinforcing the significance of information systems for Woolworths' success.

Foundation of
Information System

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Information system within Woolworths................................................................................1
Importance of Information System within Woolworths to gain competitive advantage.....1
Alternative information system solution...............................................................................2
Viability of alternative solutions...........................................................................................3
Differentiate between in house development and outsourcing components.......................3
Acquisition plan.....................................................................................................................3
Rollout plan............................................................................................................................5
Management plan..................................................................................................................5
Need and usage of Information system................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Information system refers to scrutiny of antonymous network of software,
telecommunication and hardware which can be used by organisations as well as people for
collection, filter, creation and distribution of data (Burrough and et. al, 2015). It will assist
organisation to have effective coordination, decision making, control analysis, coordination and
virtualisation within organisation. This assignment is based on Woolworths Group, which is a
retail company and is headquartered in Bella Vista, New South Wales, Australia. They render
services in supermarkets, online distribution, liquor, petrol, finance, hotels and many others. This
assignment contains information system, its importance, their viability, distinction among in
house development and outsourcing components. Furthermore, acquisition, management and
rollout plan is chosen for IS.
Woolworths Group Limited is major Australian organisation who possess retail interest
within New Zealand and Australia. They furnish their services in different sectors and they along
with Coles forms around 80% of Australian supermarket. They are using enterprise resource
planning system for carrying out their operations in lifestyle sector which basically includes
clothing. ERP system is a business management software which integrates various applications
of organisations like collection, storage, management and interpretation of business functions.
But due to increased competition from organisations like LIDL and Carrefour, they need to have
some alternative solution by which they can gain competitive edge within market.
Information system within Woolworths
IS is defined as accumulation of human and technical resources which provide
computation, storage, communication and distribution of information which is needed by an
enterprise. Woolworths works in different sectors like finance, hotels, supermarkets, general
merchandise and many others. IS is needed within organisation to improve their operations,
create new services and formulate decisions accordingly. At present scenario, information
system is widely used in every sector. With respect to Woolworths, they are using enterprise
resource planning. It helps management to make decisions related with sales occurred,
transactions which have been made and makes decision with respect to online clothing. They
have opted for this system as they can have exact and accurate results like number sales done,
what enhancements must occur, their designing and many others; as it provides database
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associated with each activity performed by Woolworths. By making use of this customers or
clients can carry out online purchase as well as offline in an appropriate manner. IS within
Woolworths improvises file management, data reporting and file management (Hall, 2012). As
every day billions of transactions occur, therefore Information systems are must in clothing
section.
Importance of Information System within Woolworths to gain competitive advantage
IS provides competitive edge to Woolworths within supermarket in various way. They
are described below:
 Woolworths make use of ERP systems within clothing for getting results on the basis of
preferences of customers. Suppose database contains information related with number of
sales which have been occurred, by this they can analyse exact requirements of customer
which will lead them to success.
 ERP within clothing assists Woolworths to reduce the risks by enabling better
cooperation and foster collaboration by making use integrated and data sharing
information by improving supply chain management (Laudon and Laudon, 2015). Woolworths can save cost by making use of ERP as it provides them with unified system
by which they can report and plan their operations like designing of clothes, their
manufacturing and many others.
Alternative information system solution
There are wide range of IS depending upon their functionalities. Some of them are
provided below:
 Transaction processing system: TPS is defined as an activity or event which affects
functionality of business. It is used by employees of Woolworths in quantity of clothes
which is sold, profit earned, etc. It also comprises of designing of clothes, their
manufacturing, distribution and many others (Matavire and Brown, 2013). Within
Woolworths TPS can be used to maintain everyday transactions within their organisation.
Like how many policies were sold, what all transactions were carried out and what
products are sold by organisation. It helps in calculation of entire profit which has been
made by organisation in a day. It includes complete transactions which have been carried
out either they are online or offline.
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 Management information system: MIS provides management routine summary related
with organisations operations. The major services are maintained by TPS and MIS
consolidates data related with production, sales, marketing, etc. Management of
Woolworths extract information related with transactions made via TPS and formulates
reports. This assists them to make reports and accordingly they can take decisions. They
include sorting, merging and summarizing. This includes complete details of transactions
which have been carried out in clothing and they are in report format which will assist
Woolworths to take steps and formulate solutions according to that.
 Executive support system: It is a computer based IS which assist top management to
make decisions at top level. They are non-routine decisions which create strong impact
on entire organisation. Therefore, it is essential for management of Woolworths to have
effective sight as well as judgement. They are in the form of chart by which they can
easily analyse fluctuation within their system. By this management can gain insight into
problems and formulate solutions for the same. It will assist them in designing of their
clothes like what patterns they should be, what kind of fabric must be used and various
other perspectives. (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta, 2016).
Viability of alternative solutions
Information system provides enhanced way to carry out organisational operations. The
solutions which are mentioned above are feasible as TPS will assist Woolworths to make their
transactions they can be either monetary or sales (Rainer and et.al, 2013). It is a cost effective
method as it will provide them the best option through which they can carry out their processing
without any mistake. MIS is used to formulate reports on the basis of TPS and analyse what is
current status of organisation, in case of inventory what all raw material is required. ESS can be
used by Woolworths to analyse what all problems they are going through and how they can be
resolved. They all have almost same cost as they are the software. The actual cost will be of
database they are using. Like TPS contains details of every transactions which have been carried
out, it will also contain detail of customers. So, its cost will be high. MIS comprises of reports
but these reports are based on TPS, therefore only essential details will be contained in this. It is
less cheaper as compared to TPS. ESS is used to formulate decisions. Consider an example to
understand this, suppose blood has been conducted and results were low haemoglobin, here
doctor will give prescription by which it can get normal. Similarly ESS gives result related with
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clothing like what is current preference of people and on that basis executives make decision. It
is cheaper.
Differentiate between in house development and outsourcing components
In house development is the best method when Woolworths have resources and time for
development of their own applications. This approach is time consuming and they may need to
invest lots of cost to meet needs of organisation. The major advantage of this is freedom for
creation of a system which closely knows requirements of organisation. For this Woolworths
need to have a developer who will design TPS, MIS or ESS for them. This will be costly for
them as they need to pay for their developer, designer and trainer as well as they might have to
pay for software which are used in this process.
Outsourcing is a strategic process of making use of outside resources for conducting their
functions, and these resources are handled internally. This method is less costly and will take less
time as they possess wide knowledge related with this aspect. It will also focus on enhancing
core competencies which will be reason for their critical success (Sølvberg and Kung, 2012). In
this case, its will be cost effective with respect to implementation as well as execution of MIS,
TPS and ESS. As organisation need to spend more amount on acquisition of platform where they
can develop and implement any information system. The cost will be only of charges required
for development and training.
Acquisition plan
Acquisition process is comprehensive as there is rapid alteration in technology and it is
associated with every aspect within organisation. Woolworths deal in retail sector and in every
sector IS is used, reason behind this is that it makes work easier and simpler. Like while talking
about clothes software can be used for their designing, analysing how they will look, for
comparison of raw material, online transactions and many other.
Transaction processing system (TPS) is taken into account as it is one of the most
important parts within organisation where information system is widely used. Clothing is
essential part and in this section lots of transaction occur everyday. Therefore it is necessary for,
Woolworths to have TPS by which they can keep record of every transaction which have been
occurred. Transaction not only occurs in the form of money but also in form of goods.
Furthermore, there is need of reviews from stakeholders or higher authority before adopting TPS
as they can suggest something better than this or may agree on the same. After this management
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will communicate with vendor and carry out negotiation. After reaching to a certain conclusion
vendor will develop and install transaction information system within, working structure of
Woolworths. It will assist them to carry out their functions and analyse profit made in clothing
sector in appropriate manner (Laudon and Laudon, 2015). This will also assist them to evaluate
cost associated with different sectors. This process must go on continuation as ongoing basis to
enhance overall performance of organisation. It is mandatory for an organisation to update their
system as enhancement in technology within the market.
Acquisition Plan Objective
Financial returns Minimum return on assets must be around 90% with respect to
present assets.
Size Margin of production must be increased by around 50% with
respect to demands of clothes.
Growth Annual revenue, operating cash-flow and earnings of minimum
70%.
Diversification There needs to be appropriate methods by which profits attained can
be managed and TPS will provide them with exact details.
Flexibility TPS should not be only related with transactions associated with
customer but it should also include transactions among suppliers
both in terms of money as well as raw material.
Technology For this they need have copyright and intellectual property rights for
their TPS.
Quality TPS must resolve the issues associated with present information
system and must provide accurate results so that effectual decisions
can be made.
Warranty Record System must be updated with enhancement in technology so that
Woolworths can meet organisation needs.
R&D Capabilities Management need to keep track of latest updates related with their
product by which they can acquire them.
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Rollout plan
This plan comprises of identification of solution, solution has been identified with respect
to errors in transaction, for this they have opted for TPS. A success criterion is set with respect to
accomplishment of requirements. Here the requirements were to reach the set target related with
sales of clothes. Stakeholders are identified who will invest within development of solution and
timeline is analysed which is must for completing this specific project (Matavire and Brown,
2013). Vision is communicated with key persons like why change is required, what changes will
be done and many more.
Roll out plan
Implementation TPS can be implemented within Woolworths by system analyst who
will be responsible for analysing input from customer, then database
designer will formulate specific structure which will be stored within
database. Application programmer will implement application
program which access data and will support rules of enterprise.
Furthermore, training will be given to employees so that they can
effectively work on new systems.
Management plan
This helps an organisation to find an opportunity to effectively and appropriately explain
the plan procedure objectives and goals of the company projects in a detailed manner. There are
some basic elements included in a well defined project plan which is descriptively mentioned
below:
Outline of the project objectives and goals:
This is a first phase of a management plan in which it is essential to outline the actual
project objectives and goals of TPS are given below. As this acts as a base which creates an
outline map for all factors that comes after in the management plan (Pearlson, Saunders and
Galletta, 2016).
List of actions to achieve the objectives and goal:
After conducting effective outline of the project goals and objectives then there is a
second step in which those actions are to be listed. With the help of these actions actual
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objectives can be achieved. TPS provides every detail associated with clothes, from raw material
to their distribution.
Descriptions of the role and time commitments along with participants involved in the
project:
In this step proper roles and time commitments are required to be defining for those who
are involved in a management plan. It is a crucial factor in which Woolworths is required to you
take help of organisational chart (Rainer and et.al, 2013). As this acts an effective tool to display
the information of actual plan and actions that are included in a management plan as to describe
to those who are the member of management plan. For an example, a management plan includes
members such as internal and external Management Committee and advisory boards. They will
focus on what all products have been manufactured and sold out by organisation. This detail will
be attained from TPS.
Procedure to acquire and maintain equipments:
Within this procedure, it is necessary to allocate and gather necessary equipments and
Essentials. This information is acquired from TPS, as by this Woolworths can identify solution
through which they can carry out their operations. Along with us is required from them to
oversee acquisitions and maintenance. So that existing systems can be maintained and
improvised with passage of time. TPS will assist organisation to analyse their overall
performance and formulate solution accordingly (Sølvberg and Kung, 2012).
SWOT Analysis of TPS
Strengths Weaknesses
 Provides real time processing, along
with reduction in time which will lead
to order cycle time.
 Productivity will be enhanced which
will lead to satisfaction of customers.
 Setup cost is more and it do not
provides any standard format.
 System must be compatible with the
software requirements.
Opportunity Threats
 With enhancement in technology,
Woolworths can make use of new
technology to gain competitive edge.
 Employees will become habitual of the
software and when something new will
be introduced then it will be difficult
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for them to cope up with required
needs.
Need and usage of Information system
To cope with changing needs of people, it is necessary for Woolworths to acknowledge
needs of their customers and provide them effective as well as quick services. They are providing
their services but still they need to make enhancements in their existing processes. They need to
TPS by which they can carry out their transactions in appropriate way. The results which will be
obtained by this will assist them to formulate their decisions on the basis of what customers are
demanding more and what they need to have in store so that they can accomplish their needs in
required (Stair, and Reynolds, 2013). By this, needs of both organisation as well as individual
will be accomplished.
CONCLUSION
From above it has been concluded that Information system plays vital role within every
organisation. It helps them to carry out their operations in appropriate manner and if they are not
able to attain them, then it will provide them with solutions which can be implemented by
organisation. For this acquisition plan can be made which will deal with what is required and
how it can be achieved either by in-house or outsourcing development. Furthermore, cost
analysis is also done to identify the cost effective and best possible solution.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Burrough, P. A. and et. al, 2015. Principles of geographical information systems. Oxford
university press.
Hall, J. A., 2012. Accounting information systems. Cengage Learning.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Matavire, R. and Brown, I., 2013. Profiling grounded theory approaches in information systems
research. European Journal of Information Systems,\. 22(1). pp.119-129.
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.
Rainer, R. K. and et.al, 2013. Introduction to information systems. John Wiley & Sons.
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