The new POS has been launched - on time and on budget and will provide a boost to sales and efficiencies to stores for fall rush. Another success story for the new leadership. Two major system launches in a single year.
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Ummm...I highly doubt the project is on budget. That's the story they're spinning, but reality is most likely different.
Yes. On time and on budget are on the score card. Too bad that the score card doesn't have a bullet point for usability or defects
Older folks will remember General Westmoreland. At first he was about the body count. Finally he was about declaring victory and heading home. The result was a failure that scared our national psyche for generations. ML is is clearly a Westmoreland. Enjoy the scars
That pretty well sums up the state of affairs. Senior management sets an impossible goal. Something is slapped together and management declares it a wonderful success.
Even though the project is in serious trouble it was easy to launch it to satisfy Sanjeevs ego. The pilot stores can simply stop using it for the limited functions it supports and use WinDSS to keep the lines moving. Thats why we supported the rollout as a project team. And yes, it will not boost sales or have any positive impact.
@25124. Haha. Let's be clear: How many people really have the courage to tell Senior Leadership their real feelings? Especially when many of these people know that either they or their superiors have a bonus or promotion tied to a "Yes - it's a go", let alone worrying about their jobs. I've been around long enough here and elsewhere and heard "We ARE making the date" - in other words, don't even think about saying "No-go".
Let's be clear. All projects have a GO/NO GO meeting that all members of the project team publicly state yes or no that each function is ready to go live. The go live was a project team decision.
Exactly. VP and CIO had bonus tied to this go live date. Sacrifice their team just to make a date and do the wrong thing for everyone else.
@24963 - That's assuming ML has been told the truth, I highly doubt she has. That said, the system may "work", but how well? I also find it interesting that the promotions were announced the same day as go live of POS. Only proves the point that everyone just wants to cram it in no matter the quality because there's some personal payoff in the end (bonus, promotion).
“Follett = Titanic....it's just sinking and sinking, do NOT get dragged down with it”
Assistant Store Manager I (Former Employee).............
Pros – Good work life balance at the bookstores aren't usually open as much or often as a regular retail store...............
You could possibly move up through out the company if you are willing to move where ever a position is open, whether it be 20 minutes away or completely across the country....................
Cons – The company has gone down hill, they laid off full time employees and then turn the positions into part time with no benefits......I'm talking MASSIVE lay off of several hundred...................
Home office support is HORRENDOUS! People in Audits, A/R and A/P are of absolutely NO VALUE to the individual who is running their department or store. Things are always going wrong when trying to reconcile, and when you call the home office for support, they can NEVER figure it out, meanwhile your store takes the hit and it effects your overall employee review and bonus.......................
Home office is increasingly controlling more aspects of what happens in the store, and there is nothing the store can do it about.....they want to cut your book orders, even though you KNOW the professor will get angry and specifically asked you to bring in that amount, oh well too bad!................
A giant 10% discount on college books! BIG DEAL! get them cheaper online or off another student....seriously,
Insurance plans for full-time employees sucks! Huge out of pocket expenses and deductables..............................
They will purposely I MEAN PURPOSELY, set you up-coming years budgets significantly higher so you cannot make it and therefore will not get a bonus. This has become increasingly apparent in the last 3+ years. I know a store manager who had their JULY book sales budget increased by 75% for that month....IN JUNE.....if you know college, you know July sales in bookstores are DEAD! You are not allowed to even bring in stock for Fall until 4 weeks before classes start which is early August, and you need to have all your overstock from Summer gone 2 weeks after classes started. June and July sales are dead for most campuses, so why would they increase by 75%?...............................
To top it off they cut this same store's available payroll hours to only 20 hours each week for the month....that is not even enough hours to pay the Salaried Manager, let alone support an expected sales increase of 75%!! When the manager called the home office to see if it was a mistake they were told " no everything is correct, you're going to have to figure it out and work with your regional manager if needed"....................
Honestly there are too many "cons" to list.....this company is NOT a place to advance your career.....................
Advice to Senior Management – This company is going down hill. Sales are down and they are losing contracts left and right. Eventually College bookstores will be mostly online, and the on-campus presence will be minimal. If you are a college student and just need a part - time job that is local on campus then go for it. But do not look at this as anything more than a passing job at minimum wage to fill the time.................
I was an assistant manager for about 6 years, did many things within the store and on campus to improve the overall shoppers experience, but I was smart enough to jump ship right before it started sinking under it's new CEO.................
Follet is the Titantic, you are thinking of working here, JUST SKIP IT, if you currently work here and are reading this, don't be afraid of change and GET OUT while you can!.....................
There is no future in college bookstores, they will be obsolete soon enough.......................
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
Add Employer Response......................
This sounds like the George Bush statement about Irag "Mission Accomplished" in 2003 (and we are still there). I would be surprised if ML would launch something before it was ready since she made many public comments about IT failures.
First we pulled the plug on a mobile POS project. Then we took a detour with Toshiba. That was followed by picking Oracle as the platform without even any comparison of our requirements to it. So now we're rolling out a half-functional new POS to a handful of stores that also need WinDSS to get through rush. And we still don't have the mobile POS we'vd been waiting for. Of course the CIO did hire his guy to lead the effort. Too bad he's never done POS before. Any wonder why the stores on the open mic call are so worried?
But does the board know? Or do they believe what they are told?
This is a joke and the author knows it. Anyone involved with the project knows the real story. This yahoo is just trying to yank chains.
I'll be interested to hear from the stores how it actually works. Easy to simply announce how wonderful it is, but it is up to the users to say whether it meets their needs.