Oracle Xstore Managed Services ‘Golden Quarter’ Checklist
We are two weeks into the retail ‘Golden Quarter,’ just as the shopping engagement is starting to ramp up.
The level of sales spike, however, is not guaranteed and depends on how well the stores have prepared for this busy period. Whilst buyers and merchandisers have been allocating the stock, HR hiring extra staff and marketers building up the hype; OLR’s Application Managed Services team have been optimising our customers’ Oracle Xstore POS to guarantee ultimate performance during this critical period.
Our methodology has proven to be highly effective. Since we are also consumers and want to experience shopping without disruptions this upcoming Black Friday, we have decided to share OLR’s Xstore Peak Trading Checklist, so everyone can enjoy a smooth checkout during this festive season.
The Checklist
1. Ensure a stable build is rolled with all the critical change requests, and bug fixes are deployed ahead of the holiday season.
2. Closely monitor the stores integrations and monitor Xenvironment end of the day, Xcenter replication & broadcasting, Xadmin deployments and store level pre-fight errors that prevent Xstore from starting is addressed before the issue gets reported.
3. Perform health checks of the applications such as Xcenter application server & the other on-premise applications to ensure the performance level is optimal to handle the heavy sale/markdown season.
4. Health check on Databases to make sure it is not crammed with redundant data and recommend purge strategies and performance improvements to prevent outages.
5. Check that the stores are closed properly during the peak season sales to ensure they are ready for the start of the business the next day, without any issues.
Note: We have an automated monitoring tool HAWK , to alert on this.
6. Staffing additional support engineers to ensure we have more consultants to assist customers on call to resolve issues swiftly during the holidays.
7. Closely monitor sales processing, identify any potential issues with integration touch points early on and action upon it.
8. Service Delivery Managers to review escalation plans with retailers, to ensure they are updated with current contact information and remind them about the importance of communicating the updates for Priority 1 issues & engage teams for immediate attention.
9. Service Delivery Managers to align with retailers about the timing of major sales/markdowns so that AMS (Application Managed Services) team can monitor and address issues with updates such as high volume of price changes, large promotions, etc.
10. Service Delivery Managers to discuss Disaster Recovery steps with retailers.
11. Ensure the omnichannel systems such as ORCE, OMS & OROB availability and performance is up to the mark to handle the extra load.
12. For retailers using Oracle Omnichannel applications - monitor the inventory is in sync across OMS, OROB & RMS to ensure available stock on hand is accurate for fulfilment.
13. Having the level 3 support on standby for any emergency patches or bug fixes that may be necessary to tackle an unforeseen blocker.
In this busy period where consumers call the shots and shopper behaviours and demands move extra quickly, it is nothing less than imperative for retailers to get their data, systems and processes joined up reliably and working across all channels. Xstore optimal performance is a must, to capitalise on any incremental gains for retailers and make the most of this period.
Do you have any extra checkpoints? Do share with us in the comments below, we would love to know!