The critical success factors needed to successfully implement a stores communication portal in a nationally represented retailer

Abstract

The researcher is an IT business manager for Woolworths Pty Ltd and manages franchise and back-office applications. Contained in the back-office systems environment is a competency area called Store Productivity, which has to implement tools and technology to assist with the creation of a more effective “store environment”. The researcher was tasked with implementing a web-based store portal that would facilitate store communications and automated task management for such stores. The findings from this research study will allow for reflection against the set Head Office business requirements as well as end user expectations and subsequently provide an opportunity to process alternate courses of action or solutions for future releases or upgrades of such applications if required. The researcher pursued a hybrid research approach that was both participatory and evaluative in nature. The reason taken for this approach was that research presents a unique opportunity to assess the criteria against a predetermined “super user group” as well as the eventual intended users being store and divisional managers. The “super user group” was defined as the group of key individuals that understand current and future business processes very well. They will also be involved in the design of the new solution and will provide critical feedback to the overall project. The view around what user requirements were, have been taken into account and a quantitative component was used to assess whether the original view taken had been met. It is believed that the sample and findings is representative of the targeted population of users of the system. This is further examined in chapters three and four of this study. Effective mitigation of risks inherent in implementing a new technology is vital to the success thereof. The implementation considerations validated through the research conducted were to highlight the critical success factors for the Woolworths implementation and provide recommendations for future releases. These recommendations are contrasted with best practice models in communication, project management and systems development. The findings generated from the research process suggest that business communication and broader business engagement commence immediately at the point of business case formulation, thereby creating awareness and should continue throughout the implementation process to encourage buy- in and use of the solution in the operational environment. The adoption and implementation of the recommended strategies will contribute positively towards future implementations of this nature.