Strategic Information System

Part 1
1)
The organization structure consists of a hierarchical structure in which has many layers of management (Mehta et al., 2012). Likewise, the hierarchy structure allows to performing the regular action in control, and it avoids misunderstanding among the staff as it clears each member about their roles and responsibility. Therefore, this indicates that the benefits which achieve from the hierarchy. Similarly, Woolworth also follows the hierarchical structure in their management for correctly performing the task.

As per the Woolworth structure, each is accountable to inform other people (Keith, 2012). However, these above mention individual are performing their roles in the different functions of Woolworth. Due to Woolworth’s including various segments including supermarkets, petrol, home improvements, liquor, General Merch, etc. so, to operate such sections, different hierarchy structure is designed by Woolworth. Such practices of the company make the employees clear that they have to report to whom and who is responsible perform the particular action under the segment. The different segments hierarchy of Woolworth are mention below:-

In each mention function like supermarkets, petrol, home improvements, liquor and general Merch, etc., it includes different structures as per the size and nature of the function. Hence, through this manner, Woolworth is able to manage its various function effectively.

2)
There are various operational issues that are present in Woolworth. However, Woolworth has poor supply chain management as it did not install any advanced system such as CRM, ERP, TQM which challenge the company potential to deliver quality products promptly. Due to the non-existence of the system, it also is reflecting in their product quality. Thus, this is the primary cause of the decline in the customer base of Woolworth and shifting towards the different brands. At the same time, because of less offering of any monetary facilities to the employees which makes them dissatisfied. Low morale employees put less effort into the productivity of the company, which influences the company capacity to earn a profit (Dos Santos et al., 2013). For instance, The Woolworths branch at Sydney CBD is also facing operational issues with the forecasting because of a lack of conducting market research. This makes them incompetent to forecast the changing preferences of the customers. Due to being less inefficient in predicting the demands, Woolworth fails to operate the business cycle. However, they faced the challenge in regards to business production, capacity, and scheduling system and it directly influences the operation in finances, marketing, and personnel department. Hence, these are the operational problems faced by Woolworth which makes them fail to regain their position in the Australian market.

3)
The most suitable acquisition method for reducing the operational issue of Woolworth could be the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. It is because the ERP system integrates the various functions into one centralized system which helps the company to perform multiple work and tasks at a time. Thus, it would also help Woolworth to bring improvements in their operational issues as they have a poor operating system and inefficient supply chain network which makes them incompetent to satisfy and attract a large customer base. In regards to this, Woolworth by installing the ERP system could be able to manage their product lifecycle, improve their supply chain management in which they could convert the raw material into the final product and deliver timely to the target customers (Christopher, 2016). At the same time, the ERP system also helps the departments to develop teamwork spirit and allows the coordination of each function. This can be done through integrates the different department’s information into the central system. The central database of ERP is considered as an information-sharing process that provides support to multiple functions of the business units. Thus, the ERP system could allow Woolworth to receive the orders of customers timely as per that they produce the product and timely supply to the right individual. Thus, Woolworth needs to install the ERP system into their business process to overcome the operational issues.

4)
System flowchart of the sales procedures for Woolworth is as follows:-

As per the Woolworth sales procedure, it can be stated that the first quotation is sent to the customer and if the customer agrees to it then inform the production house for the manufacturing of the product and then deliver to the final customer with the receipt of goods (Maditinos et al., 2011). Besides that, after-sales services are also provided under their sales procedure.

5)
The control problems that could arise under the ERP system are the hacking system issue, virus issues. In case of system hacking, the hacker can access the internal organization information for unauthorized use which may influence Woolworth. Moreover, another control problem that could arise with the WRP system is the risk of virus generation that corrupt the window of the PC. So, these are the main control problems that are always attached to the systems (Madapusi & D’Souza, 2012). There are various types of frauds that are present under the system which is the unauthorized access of the individual personal information. However, in today’s scenario, it is quite common to sell the clients/ customer information to another company in return for the money. Other than that, the chances of misuse of internal company information by the employees are also considered high in the installation of ERP systems. It is because ERP integrates all the functions into the centralized system, so that enhances the probability of fraud and misuse of the organization internal information (Winkelmann & Leyh, 2010). Likewise, the employee sells the company data to the competitors with the aim to earn money. Therefore, these all are activities that could be occurring with the installation of the ERP system into Woolworth.

Part 2
1)
There were several limitations in the traditional system of accounting, so Woolworth was trying to adopt accounting software to provide the new technique of accounting and to use the accounting data electronically. There is enough software for accounting in the country that provides the accounting software packages for business development. At the time, the accounting software package is adopted by the Woolworth organization for the solution and simplification in the accounting system (Kanellou and Spathis, 2013). This software is much easy to handle the accounting data in use for the company, and the employee was able to understand the software. The accounting software package provides high security to the accounting data, and there is no chance of the leakage of the information. Additionally, the accounting software has less cost of installation, and it is effective in its use.

After this adoption of the software by the company, there is a need of developing the software due to the change in taxation. At the same time, Woolworth is chosen as one of the best-developed accounting packages for the startup of the business at a fast speed (Granlund, 2011). There are some most important features of the accounting software package such as provide easy invoices, bank reconciliation is fast speed, accessibility, fast inventory management, smart reports, integrated payroll, and online bill payment, and the organization can save the data for the future safety on online or internet. Additionally, the accounting software also allows multiple accesses via cloud-based software that provide the help to the employee of the company for use the data everywhere in the organization. This accounting software provides help to the organization to handle the number of the account, the large size of the data and manages the accounting without bookkeeping in the store.

2)
The current market size of Woolworth is reducing due to continued reduction in grocery sales of the company and also reduction in the retail marketing of Woolworth. According to the study of the Roy Morgan Research, the Austrians are spending very little on the Woolworth market share due to the decrease in the sales of the company. It is estimated that the Austrians are spent only $32.6 billion Austrian dollars during the last year on the share of the company. While, before the one year the total public of Australia was spending on an average four per cent of overall supermarkets of the country (Margetts, 2011). The organization is reducing the price of the product to increase the sales for the growth of the company and maintain the market share of the organization.

The supermarket and grocery industry of Australia are highly dependent on Woolworths products, but the quality of the product is the big issue to increase the market size and the company should find out the solution to increase the overall sales. On the other hand, the company is facing high competition in the supermarket business, and it is the main impact that the organization is not focusing on the enhancement of the market size (Dixon, 2013). In the competitive strategy, Woolworth and the competitive company are reducing the price of the product and differentiation in the product that is reducing the profit margin of both organizations. It is found that the market size of the company is good in Australia but in the recent years the sales are reducing and company should focus on maintaining the sales for the increase the price of the market share.

3)
The Australian market in accounting software packages identifies Xero and Myob as the two market leaders owing to the rising demand and use of cloud-based accounting software in business operations to get reliable and quick accounting information by both small and large-sized organizations (Lim and Perrin, 2014). The competitive advantage is due to accessibility feature to be used from different devices like desktops, mobiles, tablets etc., innovative services and integration of the software with other products and software customization according to the business requirements is keeping the market leaders ahead of the competition from software packages providers and other cloud services accounting providers in the Australian market.

4)
Some major challenges faced by the users and customers of the accounting packages are related to user-friendly issues, security issues, efficiency problems and difficulty in customization. The accounting software users have issues related to data security that is accessible from online mode and question the reliability and capability of the firewalls systems to maintain the security of the data from unauthorized access and from hackers (Seethamraju, 2015). Sometimes the user of the accounting package feels difficulty in operation to obtain quick data and information. Some accounting packages limit the use of full keyboard functions that make the overall use of the software package a time-consuming process and thus, the efficiency of the software to provide quick data and accounting information decreases due to user capability and non-friendliness and compatibility of the software with the system features. The non-friendly natures of different accounting software also possess difficulty for the user to customize according to the business preferences. This makes the overall software package difficult to use in business operations due to its less compatibility and lack of innovative features for the business advantages. Thus, it is suggested that companies should look for innovative features and customization of software in accordance with the business needs while investing in accounting software packages. The companies can take the help of professional expertise to arrange for accounting software use training for its accountants. It is also suggested that the software manufacturing companies need to make the packages user-friendly in terms of technical aspects through proper training and guidance to its customers and should invest in developing user controls and authentication control to provide its customers with a more secured software design to increase its usage by the firms.

References
Christopher, M. (2016) Logistics & supply chain management. UK: Pearson.

Dixon, S.E., (2013) Failure, Survival or Success in a Turbulent Environment: the dynamic capabilities lifecycle. Management articles of the year, 13.

Dos Santos, M. A., Svensson, G., & Padin, C. (2013) Indicators of sustainable business practices: Woolworths in South Africa. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 18(1), pp. 104-108.

Granlund, M., (2011) Extending AIS research to management accounting and control issues: A research note. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 12(1), pp.3-19.

Kanellou, A. and Spathis, C., (2013) Accounting benefits and satisfaction in an ERP environment. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(3), pp.209-234.

Keith, S. (2012) Coles, Woolworths and the local. Locale: The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies, 2, pp. 47-81.

Madapusi, A., & D’Souza, D. (2012) The influence of ERP system implementation on the operational performance of an organization. International Journal of Information Management, 32(1), pp. 24-34.

Maditinos, D., Chatzoudes, D., & Tsairidis, C. (2011) Factors affecting ERP system implementation effectiveness. Journal of Enterprise information management, 25(1), pp. 60-78.

Margetts, D., (2011) National competition policy and the retail sector. The Journal of Australian Political Economy, (67), pp.68.

Mehta, K., Phillips, C., Ward, P., Coveney, J., Handsley, E., & Carter, P. (2012) Marketing foods to children through product packaging: prolific, unhealthy and misleading. Public Health Nutrition, 15(9), pp. 1763-1770.

Winkelmann, A., & Leyh, C. (2010) Teaching ERP systems: A multi-perspective view on the ERP system market. Journal of Information Systems Education, 21(2), pp. 233.

Seethamraju, R. (2015) Adoption of software as a service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Information systems frontiers, 17(3), pp. 475-492.

Lim, N., & Perrin, B. (2014). Standard Business Reporting in Australia: Past, Present, and Future. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 18(3).