The Woolworths Thread (4 Viewers)

[ekul444]

Our SCO's go live this Wednesday. But we are just getting them for the first time. So my experiences will probably be a lot more positive than yours, lol.

Our new checkouts... they are stainless steel. I remember some people discussing the 2010 looks earlier ?? I might take a photo tomorrow night haha. Our red lights are now thin blue strip which is really hard to see! We never had bells until now but I guess we are keeping them since I can hardly see the light on until I hear a bell ding, lol.

Are you going to be a self-serve attendant?

Did you get brand new checkouts, or were you old ones simply covered over with the stainless steel finish? If they are brand new it would be super if you could take a pic =]

 

[Craven]

Are you going to be a self-serve attendant?

Did you get brand new checkouts, or were you old ones simply covered over with the stainless steel finish? If they are brand new it would be super if you could take a pic =]

I most likely won't get rostered attendant shifts as I either do cash office or supervise, but I'm doing the training for it.

Yes, brand new ones! I was going to take a photo of the old ones to show you the CRAP we went from lol, but I forgot until it was too late. They were all facing one way, with green and the shuttle pipes ran along the top (where the checkout lights where). The new service desk looks sweet! About double the size, yay.

 

[ekul444]

I most likely won't get rostered attendant shifts as I either do cash office or supervise, but I'm doing the training for it.

Yes, brand new ones! I was going to take a photo of the old ones to show you the CRAP we went from lol, but I forgot until it was too late. They were all facing one way, with green and the shuttle pipes ran along the top (where the checkout lights where). The new service desk looks sweet! About double the size, yay.

Ah ok, lucky you, wasn't sure what you did

Wow, it sounds like you had a REALLY old store, glad you finally got a refurb =]

 

[T 360]

Oh,God! I hope we don`t have that many problems on Tuesday,Our GO Live Day!

Also,aren`t we meant to call the IT helpdesk everytime we want to reboot self-serve? I remember reading that and thinking that would be a major pain!

 

[SpongeHead]

Wow, thanks for that vent SpongeHead, really interesting.
My store goes live on Tuesday 6/10, I am booked in for a training session with the Area Champion on Monday 5/10.

Real shame that this software isn't an improvement because I have always thought that it is a bad idea to leave the NCR software that has generally been so good. We have had the SCOs for almost a year (October 08 infact) so we have had a good chance to get the majority of our customers really comfortable with the machines. Its gonna be a huge shame that all our hard work in gettiing the vast majority of customers to like them is gonna go straight out the window with this ill thought out change.

Ive also always said that Im sure a major company like Woolworths could organise with NCR to customise the software to suit the things Woolworths wants while keeping the solid platform (as you suggested). Im so upset that the new software is so buggy.

Im really disappointed by all the things Ive heard so far, and Im now dreading a weeks time when my store goes live and I'll be in this disaster too....

No probs ekul. At first I thought the new interface would be a good thing, especially after watching the DVD and reading the manuals. But when you actually see a customer trying to navigate their way through the new menu system and get frustrated in the process (eg by having to press Skip when the everyday rewards thingo pops), it really does show how stupid this upgrade has been.

Hopefully your store will have a more positive experience than mine When you meet with your Area Champion, could you ask him if there is any possibility that they would consider rolling back the software? And also why they can't customise the NCR software as we've both suggested? I know with time they'll probably iron out the bugs but as they say: If it ain't broke, why fix it? lol I'm honestly thinking about writing some sort feedback and forwarding it my area manager or headquarters to campaign for a roll-back lol. Whether or not they care is a different story.

I forgot one more thing - we can no longer use our PDAs! Now we can't monitor what customers are doing and check to see if they have scanned everything and not shoplifted. How stupid is that??

Anyway let us know what your experiences are ekul when your store goes live.

 

[SS-champion]

Re: SpongeHead's review of the new WoWPos SCO software...

I totally agree with everything you have said, I could not stop laughing as I read your post. My opinion... fair enough that Woolworths wants to make their own software but couldn't they have made it look nicer and work properly!!! by doing thorough testing and actually have say 10 SCO attendants have their input!

We get the upgrade to WoWPos SCO on Tuesday... not looking forward to it.

Also... Coles Chadstone (Vic) was the 1st Coles store to trial self-serve using Fujitsu U-Scan SCO's they obviosuly weren't very good because very recently they have completely replaced them with new NCR SCO's using very similar software to the software that we are now getting rid of!?

 

[Craven]

lol, aren't we meant to call IT whenever we want to reboot anything? Hm, speaking of IT, one of our workstations shit itself during the upgrade last week and IT still hasn't fixed it. Hope they will get a new machine... we need more, there is always a fight for one. That, and another printer would be good! lol.

And yes, our store is really old. We're still a bit annoyed because we were meant to get a whole new store (built elsewhere in the centre and then we'd move over) but GFC = just a refurb where they are cutting corners.. haha. It is looking a lot better now though... relay of the aisles is getting very annoying though (customers asking where everything is). I used to know where everything was (which section of which aisle) but now I have no idea.. and the new planograms don't seem to make much sense. We used to have say all the "party needs" in one aisle but its all spread out now. :S

 

[SpongeHead]

Re: SpongeHead's review of the new WoWPos SCO software...

I totally agree with everything you have said, I could not stop laughing as I read your post. My opinion... fair enough that Woolworths wants to make their own software but couldn't they have made it look nicer and work properly!!! by doing thorough testing and actually have say 10 SCO attendants have their input!

We get the upgrade to WoWPos SCO on Tuesday... not looking forward to it.

Also... Coles Chadstone (Vic) was the 1st Coles store to trial self-serve using Fujitsu U-Scan SCO's they obviosuly weren't very good because very recently they have completely replaced them with new NCR SCO's using very similar software to the software that we are now getting rid of!?

Exactly my thoughts SS-champ. We should all petition to our area managers and tell them how crap the new system is. I also heard Coles was jumping on the bandwagon and installing self-serves - at least now those people who complain that woolworths is rotten because they are replacing people with machines, can give us a break and complain about that elsewhere lol

Let us know how your store goes as well!

lol, aren't we meant to call IT whenever we want to reboot anything? Hm, speaking of IT, one of our workstations shit itself during the upgrade last week and IT still hasn't fixed it. Hope they will get a new machine... we need more, there is always a fight for one. That, and another printer would be good! lol.

And yes, our store is really old. We're still a bit annoyed because we were meant to get a whole new store (built elsewhere in the centre and then we'd move over) but GFC = just a refurb where they are cutting corners.. haha. It is looking a lot better now though... relay of the aisles is getting very annoying though (customers asking where everything is). I used to know where everything was (which section of which aisle) but now I have no idea.. and the new planograms don't seem to make much sense. We used to have say all the "party needs" in one aisle but its all spread out now. :S

I think you're right but everybody at my store got fed up with ringing IT with all the probs we were having so we just rebooted the machines whenever they had probs....

 

[mlee72]

Um....I think so, yeah. You have to get a form of ID i think??
I can't remember it that much but yeah, you have to manual export it at the end.

I don't think I'd be able to do it myself, which is testament to the ad hoc supervisor training woolworths does.

Would it really be that hard for new supervisors to go through just a simple training day at the local training store or something? Even a training module that CSM's could follow in their own store.

You need to ring gfs for authorisation on manual efts and fill out the voucher that corresponds to their bank, the vouchers go to the cash office and u should export the manual vouchers as soon as the lines are back up but if u don't don't stress it will automatically export during overnight process. Also has any one heard of an issue with cancelled ETFs still going through?? ( ie operator cancel dosnt acctually cancel the eft)

 

[ekul444]

Also,aren`t we meant to call the IT helpdesk everytime we want to reboot self-serve? I remember reading that and thinking that would be a major pain!

Yes, thats what the manual for WoWPoS says - it certainly aint gonna happen! If we called IT everytime we had a problem we'd spend the whole day on the phone to them! With NCR I usually do 'Stop/Start FastLane' as my first attempt - this seems to fix most problems. I have been told that there is no equivalent to this option on WoWPoS so Im already imagining plenty of unplugging at the powerpoint!

No probs ekul. At first I thought the new interface would be a good thing, especially after watching the DVD and reading the manuals. But when you actually see a customer trying to navigate their way through the new menu system and get frustrated in the process (eg by having to press Skip when the everyday rewards thingo pops), it really does show how stupid this upgrade has been.

Hopefully your store will have a more positive experience than mine When you meet with your Area Champion, could you ask him if there is any possibility that they would consider rolling back the software? And also why they can't customise the NCR software as we've both suggested? I know with time they'll probably iron out the bugs but as they say: If it ain't broke, why fix it? lol I'm honestly thinking about writing some sort feedback and forwarding it my area manager or headquarters to campaign for a roll-back lol. Whether or not they care is a different story.

I forgot one more thing - we can no longer use our PDAs! Now we can't monitor what customers are doing and check to see if they have scanned everything and not shoplifted. How stupid is that??

Anyway let us know what your experiences are ekul when your store goes live.

I too thought, from looking at the manual, that the interface was actually more straightforward - menus for Fruit and Veg etc. all seperate and labelled what they actually are for (as opposed to Look Up Item), so it surpises me that the customers are having trouble, I guess this will ease after their intial shock.
I agree about the EDR screen, it will be an absolute pain for those who dont have an EDR, but good for those who do and are frequently complaining about forgetting.

Yep, I will mention those things to the Area Champion at the training (I think its just me doing it then ) I read in the little info brochure that we got a couple of weeks ago (just saying it was coming etc.) that you should constantly provide feedback to your CSM, SM, and IT Help Desk, cause if IT dont know about the problem they wont know they need to fix it for future releases.

I asked my CSM if we were getting PDAs back cause I saw on the timetable for Launch Day there is 30min set aside for 'PDA Conversion' but she said no, they are gone for good. Dunno what the 30min is for then??

My opinion... fair enough that Woolworths wants to make their own software but couldn't they have made it look nicer and work properly!!! by doing thorough testing and actually have say 10 SCO attendants have their input!

Also... Coles Chadstone (Vic) was the 1st Coles store to trial self-serve using Fujitsu U-Scan SCO's they obviosuly weren't very good because very recently they have completely replaced them with new NCR SCO's using very similar software to the software that we are now getting rid of!?

Well, I used the software at another store almost 4 months ago. Im guessing it was a trial store, so they have been testing it for quite a while!

Yeah, Coles has changed and are now installing NCR ones in their new/refurbed stores. Its exactly the same software, cause that is the standard software used worldwide in stores like Tesco, WalMart, Ikea, etc... Coles refurb program is quite slow atm, so we wont be seeing a widespread rollout for a while.


Wow, a really long post, Sorry!

 

[Craven]

I asked my CSM if we were getting PDAs back cause I saw on the timetable for Launch Day there is 30min set aside for 'PDA Conversion' but she said no, they are gone for good. Dunno what the 30min is for then??

I'm not sure but I have noticed recently that a new icon has appeared on the workstation ... Remote Attendant Station... not sure what it does but maybe it's similar to the PDAs but doesn't seem very useful if its on the workstation, haha.

 

[SpongeHead]

Yep, I will mention those things to the Area Champion at the training (I think its just me doing it then ) I read in the little info brochure that we got a couple of weeks ago (just saying it was coming etc.) that you should constantly provide feedback to your CSM, SM, and IT Help Desk, cause if IT dont know about the problem they wont know they need to fix it for future releases.

Hehe thanks.... I was going to tell my CSM what a load of crap I thought it was but she was just as pissed off as me when we had all those problems so I didn't want to make her more angry lol. I will definately bring it up with IT and give them an ear full haha

 

[SS-champion]

Yes, thats what the manual for WoWPoS says - it certainly aint gonna happen! If we called IT everytime we had a problem we'd spend the whole day on the phone to them! With NCR I usually do 'Stop/Start FastLane' as my first attempt - this seems to fix most problems. I have been told that there is no equivalent to this option on WoWPoS so Im already imagining plenty of unplugging at the powerpoint!

Love it, that's the best option... straight to the powerpoint! haha

 

[ekul444]

Love it, that's the best option... straight to the powerpoint! haha

Hahaha, well I really dont like to.. but if there is no 'Stop/Start FastLane' and the other option is to call IT, i know what Im doing!

Speaking of unplugging, I got this error message on one the other day (running NCR obviously) A customer had just finished her transaction, waiting for the receipt to print and an error screen came up. It said that the bagging area scale was not working. The on-screen instructions told me to 'Shutdown Entire system' and when the screen goes black unplug it from the powerpoint, then plug back in. Never seen something like that!

 

[ManicAggression]

i have a question...

where is the interview usually?

 

[oneway24]

what do you guys think about asking csm's for a contract?
how do you think they might take it?

 

[townie]

Manual EFT really should be re-trained to supervisors i think, like i had to self teach myself manual EFT's, which is good, because one day the lines are just going to crash and it will be a nightmare because hardly anybody knows how to do them

 

[SS-champion]

Hahaha, well I really dont like to.. but if there is no 'Stop/Start FastLane' and the other option is to call IT, i know what Im doing!

Speaking of unplugging, I got this error message on one the other day (running NCR obviously) A customer had just finished her transaction, waiting for the receipt to print and an error screen came up. It said that the bagging area scale was not working. The on-screen instructions told me to 'Shutdown Entire system' and when the screen goes black unplug it from the powerpoint, then plug back in. Never seen something like that!

Yeah I have had that a few times... also happens with the signature pad, just means that they are not responding/ gone offline.

Has anyone else had this situation:
Amount due: $5.01 > customer presses Debit > Other amount > $5.00 > Processing > Amount due: $0.01 > NCR SCO frozen and doesn't know what to do! LOL

Also I always reboot if the lady stops talking / welcome screen animation is black because you are bound to have future problems.

Idea: on WowPos SCO can we go into POS > Sign Off > Menu > Reboot ? that could be an alternative to the powerpoint.

or even Ctrl, Alt, Delete!! > Log Off

 

[ekul444]

Yeah I have had that a few times... also happens with the signature pad, just means that they are not responding/ gone offline.
Has anyone else had this situation:
Amount due: $5.01 > customer presses Debit > Other amount > $5.00 > Processing > Amount due: $0.01 > NCR SCO frozen and doesn't know what to do! LOL
Also I always reboot if the lady stops talking / welcome screen animation is black because you are bound to have future problems.
Idea: on WowPos SCO can we go into POS > Sign Off > Menu > Reboot ? that could be an alternative to the powerpoint.

or even Ctrl, Alt, Delete!! > Log Off

HAHAHA thats hilarious! what a stingy customer, no never had that happen, wish i had though lol.
yeah same, cause when u go into the attendant menu it goes all buggy and the screen goes ghosty.
YEah, but what if the screen is frozen, cause apparently the supervisor button (the one under the screen) doesn't work anymore.
actually, now that you mention it, one of the ladies that is another attendant has written some notes in our notebook for WoWPoS SCO and there was something about Ctrl, Alt, Delete... you may be right.

one question that i keep forgetting to ask you guys, do you have problems with Woolworths branded sausages causing mismatched weights (.. checking item weight) EVERY single time? I wanted to know if its a general problem, or its just our store and our stupid butchers...

 

[SpongeHead]

HAHAHA thats hilarious! what a stingy customer, no never had that happen, wish i had though lol.
yeah same, cause when u go into the attendant menu it goes all buggy and the screen goes ghosty.
YEah, but what if the screen is frozen, cause apparently the supervisor button (the one under the screen) doesn't work anymore.
actually, now that you mention it, one of the ladies that is another attendant has written some notes in our notebook for WoWPoS SCO and there was something about Ctrl, Alt, Delete... you may be right.

one question that i keep forgetting to ask you guys, do you have problems with Woolworths branded sausages causing mismatched weights (.. checking item weight) EVERY single time? I wanted to know if its a general problem, or its just our store and our stupid butchers...

Yes... that happens for us all the time as well!! I thought it was only our store as well until you jsut brought it up.

Yep the supervisor button doesn't work.... I'm going to try rebooting through the WoWPOS screen on my next shift and see what happens. Btw this may sound like a really stupid question but what does SCO refer to??