The Problem
With more than 600 stores in Australia and New Zealand, Super Retail Group (Super) (www.superretailgroup.com.au) is one of the largest leisure retailers Down Under, with sales of more than AU$2.2 billion every year. It consists of seven retail brands that sell automotive products and sporting goods, including cycling products.
Since 2005, Super has expanded in leaps and bounds through a series of acquisitions. While growth is normally a boon to retailers, it has made the company’s supply chain extremely complex. Historically, the company has run each brand as a separate division, each with its own supply chain. As a result, by 2011 it had seven distinct supply chains, reaching from suppliers in Asia to distribution in Australia and New Zealand. Similar to distribution problems faced by Canadian retailers, Super had to contend with the vast yet sparsely populated geography of Australia.
Accordingly, Super launched a AU$50-million, four-year initiative to improve supply chain and inventory management. Among other things, the initiative aimed to consolidate distribution centres, centralize procurement in Asia, organize online ordering for home delivery, and forge closer ties with key suppliers.
The company’s top priority was to bring together the sales forecasts and inventory replenishment for all of its brands. Being able to accurately forecast demand was crucial as Super acquired competitors and added to the number of its private-label products. Not only did the retailer have to build in longer lead times for its Asian suppliers, but it had to consider the wild fluctuations in demands based on the season and promotions.
Super also began selling more digital goods, which had different customer demand levels than physical goods. This all meant that Super needed a system that could accurately forecast demand and help restock products based on a complex geography, number of stock-keeping units (SKUs), and varying demand among its different brands.
The IT Solution
Super’s Leisure Retailing division implemented software from JDA (www.jda.com) to help focus demand planning. Within a year, the system was operational, being deployed in JDA’s cloud. Super could see many benefits to using cloud computing, including a faster deployment and reduced expenses.
In terms of saving money by using cloud computing, the company was spared the expenses of purchasing hardware (servers and storage), software (the applications), and networking

capabilities. The retailer understood that some IT infrastructure costs are hidden. For example, Super calculated that hosting its own software solution would cost the firm AU$20,000 per month in electricity. There were other costs involved, including the fact that Super did not have in-house staff to launch the software or even to expand its IT staff to be able to support the software.
The pilot test in the Leisure Retailing division included 400,000 SKUs, but it quickly grew to 1.4 million SKUs. Because there was so much product diversity in Leisure Retailing, the division served as an effective pilot test for the new system. Consider one example. Sport fishermen in Australia go after more than 65 species—more than any other country on the planet—so Super has to stock dozens of types of fishing lures, and tailor inventory to the particular kinds needed in each location.
The Results
Super found that using a cloud-based system not only meant that it could scale the system based on needs, but that it could be the reliable system it was looking for. The system has had near- perfect availability—an important aspect given the enormous quantity of data the retailer needs to manage. Just six months after launching, the pilot test managed to reduce inventory by 20 percent. The company continues to invest in new supply chain facilities and systems, in order to increase their distribution centre productivity and reduce freight costs. Additional investments in demand planning, replenishment, and inventory systems are helping the company to reduce inventory levels.
Super’s new system is strategically helping to put the focus squarely on consumers, something that the company needs in order to compete successfully in the marketplace. In fact, Super executives contend that the new software has made the firm’s entire mindset more customer-centric.
Super completed its pilot test in the Leisure Retailing division, and it began piloting the new system in its Auto Business division. The company’s ultimate goal is to house all future JDA applications in the cloud.
Super has also recently hired a new CIO to help the company increase its online presence and explore other business markets. As a consequence, the company has invested in two new start-up digital businesses called Fixed Price Car Service and Youcamp, which will diversify the company’s offerings and broaden its digital capability. (Rainer, 2016-11-21, p. 327)

Note that answers to each part of this question must be different.
Tips: How to write the answer:
definition + example + combined explanation
Tips about good examples:
Good examples have three characteristics. Each example needs to:
(i) link to the specified case using terms specific to the business and functional area under discussion,
(ii) clearly illustrate the concept or theory being addressed or examined using an example and
(iii) differentiate from other examples, by being specific enough that this could not readily apply to other concepts or theories, i.e. provide enough information to illustrate WHY the example is relevant to the concept or theory being examined.

I acknowledge that this is my original work and that the answers contained in this assignment are fruit of my own work and in my own words.

Required: (40 marks)
A. Provide a detailed example of how each of the following capabilities of decision support systems could be used by Super’s supply chain management team. (4 marks)
Goal-seeking analysis

Sensitivity analysis

B. Explain the differences between prototyping and object-oriented programming. Which approach do you recommend to Super for developing a new system that calculates salespeople’s monthly commissions and why? (3 marks)
Explanation of the differences between prototyping and object-oriented programming

Which one would you recommend to Super for developing a new system that calculates salespeople’s monthly commission and why?

C. Provide a detailed example of each of the following in the context of inventory management at Super. Then explain how they can help Super improve its inventory management. (9 marks)
Detailed example in the context of inventory management at Super How could it improve Super’s inventory management
Key indicator report

End user development

Virtual private network

D. Provide a detailed example of how Super could use the following technologies to manage its supply chain? Would you recommend that Super uses these technologies? Why or why not. Be detailed and specific in your examples and explanation. (12 marks)
Detailed example of how Super could use each of the following technologies to manage its supply chain. Would you recommend that Super uses this technology? Why or why not?
Sell-side marketplace