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By Erin Harris, Editor, Retail Solutions Online/Integrated Solutions For Retailers magazine

WFM has always challenged retailers, which is why more retailers are turning to technology to play a pivotal role in shaping performance management in stores. Empowerment through automated and integrated WFM applications is necessary for store managers to accurately balance tasks and customer-centricity for optimized store operations. So when Roots, a leather goods, active athletic wear, and home furnishings retailer, had trouble with store-level task follow-up, action needed to be taken. Robin Nelson, director of IT at Roots, sought to find an automated solution that tracked and monitored store issues, assigned store or personnel tasks, distributed documentation, and provided exception-based follow-up data.

Don't Rely On Email For Task-Completion Status
Following up on tasks is painstaking, especially if you rely on email to communicate with store-level employees. "Follow up was a big problem for us," says Nelson. "Ensuring 100% follow up is very time consuming, so it simply wasn't being done. Head office communicated with store-level associates via email, but we didn't know who had read our emails or if tasks had been completed." The retailer also experienced issues with the timing of store-level feedback. For instance, Roots had to wait to receive weekly mailings of forms, checklists, and audit reports in hardcopy format to review store-level data. This caused filing issues, and sometimes checklists were returned incomplete. Roots also needed a way to monitor its training test results. "Traditionally we have done a great deal of documentation, and there is a blind trust that stores read and digest the training information," says Nelson. "We were looking for an application that scored and tracked all training test data."

Transfer Written Documentation To A WFM Document Library
Given the clear need for an automated WFM application, Nelson considered creating an in-house solution. However, Nelson explains the retailer did not have the skill set in-house to develop such an application. Therefore, the retailer chose Store Ops Center, a hosted solution, from Opterus — an on-demand Web-based retail portal designed to communicate corporate policy and day-to-day objectives between head office office and store locations. The retailer uses all available modules in Store Ops Center, and the message, task, and issues modules have replaced email communication between stores and head office. All written documentation is relocated from the retailer's existing intranet portal to the document library within the application. "We provide a shared log on for all associates within each store," says Nelson. "We've created a log-on for store managers, assistant store managers, a shared log-on for key holders, and a shared log-on for sales associates. The goal is for all store managers to reach a comfort level with the system in the hopes of creating unique log-ons for all employees, which will be managed by each store manager."

Nelson worked with Opterus to ensure Store Ops' compatibility with the retailer's POS system — a process that took five business days. Once compatibility with the POS system was confirmed, Roots' retail operations department worked with all relevant departments to introduce them to the system and to demonstrate the modules that would apply to them. For each department, the retailer's operations department would determine the individuals that needed access to our Ops Center and set them up on the system. At this time, there was discussion about data that was essential for the document library and outlined the forms that would be useful to have on the system. To train Roots on Store Ops, Opterus devised a training guide for store managers to review prior to a 45-minute conference call held on the day of launch for each group of stores. The guide dealt with the "how-tos" for each module, and the purpose of the conference call was to highlight the ways each module fit into the Roots' culture.

Nelson states the vendor's application has eliminated the retailer's WFM problems, as Roots has changed the way it uses email. Because the retailer must differentiate between announcements and tasks, anything that requires actions or follow up is now created as a task. Opterus replaces typical email with a communication vehicle that is more efficient, centralized, and exception based. Indeed, the retailer no longer worries about attaining 100% follow-up compliance, as all follow up is now exception based. "We can see what store personnel or managers have not read emails and deal with them as needed," says Nelson. "By creating task-based requests, we can determine if a particular store is not responding to a requirement or is late completing it. With the use of alerts, we don't have to monitor all communication, but we are alerted to the few who need attention." Also, Roots no longer awaits the arrival of checklists and audit reports in hardcopy form, because data can be submitted electronically and stored in a database and is available instantaneously. Store managers are assured that all checklist data is provided, because Store Ops requires users to fill in specific fields in order to complete the form. Opterus is currently developing the training module that will automatically score the training tests, put the test results in a database, and alert management if an overall score is below threshold or if a particular question is answered incorrectly. "We can use the scheduled tasks to issue the test, and if an employee does not complete the test, we are alerted only on those that require follow-up," says Nelson. "The same test may be set up to be completed on a schedule with automatic reminders to the managers."

SOURCE: Integrated Solutions For Retailers Magazine