POS Software: Improve Store Audit Efficiency

This 700-store retailer conducts 30% more store audits with the same staff after deploying a mobile audit tracking solution.

Monitoring store compliance is time-consuming, especially if done manually. Many retailers' internal audit departments inspect the execution of store procedures and adherence to standards in areas such as POS transactions, security, HR, payroll, and regulatory compliance. Three internal auditors at Tractor Supply Company (TSC) regularly perform these tasks at its 700 retail locations. While the discipline varies, the approach is the same for its LP department, which audits stores' adherence to LP standards. Additionally, the retailer's district managers perform standard reviews/assessments of its stores. Each department uses checklists to track the completion of specific tasks, and each department manages its audit information differently. Kurt Barton, director of the internal audit department, wanted to automate standard checklists used by all the aforementioned departments.

In an attempt to improve the internal auditing process, Barton's team populated Excel spreadsheets containing auditing information. "Using spreadsheets was better than using paper, but it still wasn't very efficient," says Barton. "We also saw the need to accumulate data, provide historical data, and calculate the percentage of compliance for store locations over time." As a result, the audit team members input data from a Word document into an Access database that supplied historical data and company-wide averages. Barton deemed the process ‘clunky' and felt it required too much administrative time, specifically 10 to 12 hours per week. His auditors periodically extracted data from Access, created reports, and sent them to stores, district managers, and regional VPs. But, administrative tasks hindered auditors' time to perform core auditing tasks. That's when Barton searched for a solution.