Rebuilding the Order Management System for George @ Asda
As Asda pivoted away from Walmart owned technology platforms, one key element was the Order Management System (OMS) for George.com
Client Background
Asda, a leading UK supermarket chain based in Leeds, operates over 600 stores and employs around 140,000 people. Known for low prices and quality, Asda needed a modern OMS to integrate online and offline channels, provide real-time inventory updates, handle 15 million annual click-and-collect orders, and support its growing e-commerce platform while maintaining its value-driven approach.
Challenges and Solutions
Challenge 1: Navigating the Complexity of a Vast Product
The initial hurdle was comprehending the immense scope of Walmart’s order management system (OMS), a product refined over 20 years. With a tight project timeline, there was minimal room for a traditional learning phase, making it daunting to grasp the system’s intricacies quickly.
My Approach: I adopted a structured, incremental learning strategy by dividing the OMS into manageable components. A 52-week plan was developed, aligning specific goals with sprint cycles. For instance, if the next six sprints focused on integrating front-end systems, payments, and fraud detection, we prioritized understanding those elements during that period. This approach allowed me to learn on the go while building, ensuring steady progress despite the system’s complexity.
Challenge 2: Coordinating Across Multiple Teams
The OMS served as the central hub of a complex program with numerous interdependent teams, leading to an overwhelming influx of requests. This constant demand risked derailing sprint planning and delivery timelines, as dependencies were often unclear or misaligned.
My Approach: During Program Increment (PI) planning, I emphasized proactive dependency mapping. I ensured all teams documented and shared their dependencies with us, enabling the OMS team to incorporate these into our sprint planning. By assigning story points and prioritizing tasks based on the 52-week roadmap, we maintained alignment and minimized disruptions, ensuring smoother cross-team collaboration.
Challenge 3: Ambiguity in Legacy System Requirements
Rebuilding Walmart’s 25-year-old legacy OMS was complicated by the absence of clear requirements. The original developers had left, and no single source of truth existed for system specifications. This led to uncertainty, particularly with integrations.
My Approach: I addressed this on a case-by-case basis by reverse-engineering requirements from available integration artifacts. I collected sample files, request/response formats, endpoints, and data mapping/transformation documents to derive specifications. For orphaned attributes, I conducted thorough investigations to identify their users and relevance, determining whether to include them in our Interface Design Definition Document (IFDD). Despite reluctance to provide detailed support, persistent follow-ups and meticulous documentation enabled me to build accurate requirements tailored to Asda’s needs.
My Key Takeaways
· Break It Down: Dividing complex systems into smaller parts speeds up learning and progress.
· Plan Dependencies: Clear dependency mapping during planning prevents delays and improves teamwork.
· Work Around Gaps: Use integration files and follow-ups to fill in missing requirement details.
· Stay Flexible: Handle unclear requirements case by case for a tailored system design.
· Engage Stakeholders: Persistent communication ensures critical information is obtained, even from reluctant partners.
Results
Rebuilding Asda’s George OMS was a tough but rewarding journey. Despite challenges like a massive legacy system, team coordination issues, and vague requirements, our teamwork, clear planning, and problem-solving paid off. By breaking the system into manageable pieces, aligning teams, and carefully building requirements, we launched a powerful OMS. This system boosts Asda’s efficiency, supports its 600+ stores and e-commerce growth, and enhances customer satisfaction, proving that persistence and collaboration can turn challenges into success.