Business Collaborator
Case studies
Primark
With ambitious plans for expansion throughout the UK, Primark Stores Ltd recognised the need to review the internal administrative systems within their Store Development and Facilities Management department, in order to move towards a paperless office, and improve overall efficiency. A web-based system, known internally as Digital Administration Data Management System (DAD), was developed and implemented using Business Collaborator's (BC) online programme management solution. With around 30 development projects being delivered at any one time, the new system has improved storage and retrieval of all information and allowed for more effective collaboration with suppliers. As a result, it has facilitated a significant increase in new store openings and enabled the company to save significant amounts of time and money on administration.
“We have as many as 30 store development projects in progress at any one time and to keep up with this level of expansion, we needed to streamline our approach to project administration, specifically to improve document retrieval and increase productivity on projects. To achieve this we recognised the need to standardise our processes, procedures, and streamline the workflow by implementing an ‘electronic office’.
Furthermore, with so many suppliers and external contractors involved in Store Development projects, effective internal and external communication mechanisms were needed to ensure success.”Ian Brown - Primark
Key Benefits
- Supported the new store development team and helped to facilitate a significant increase in store openings and refurbishment projects
- Reduced project administration costs by 50%, and overall programme costs
- Enables a standard approach to be used across all projects and allows everybody secure access to project information
- Dramatic reduction of paper processing, improved version control, and reduced email overload
- Improved efficiency in the project office with a reduction in the file back log and better control of the information and communication flow
WideXchange
The Property Services Department at Nationwide Building Society is responsible for all of the company’s refurbishment projects. With over 650 branches in the network this is a challenging and substantial task. In mid 2002 Property Services took a decision to review its activities and processes to look at ways of creating a more efficient operation and to build capacity for dealing with peaks of activity.
The problem
"Property Services is dependent on its extensive supply chain and we believed there was room for improvement in the way that we managed our supplier relationships” explained Steve Head, Electronic Services Manager at Nationwide.
Having reviewed most of the well-known collaboration software products on the market, Nationwide found that while most were strong on document management they were usually weak on process management. Having had internal experience of working with the Business Collaborator (BC) system, and having been impressed with the flexibility of the system and the company behind it, Nationwide approached BC to discuss a solution.
The solution
“The system, now known as WideXchange, very much proved the possibility – and the benefits – of having all project associated information in one place, having a consistency of process and information, and a system that pushes the process along. It allows us to involve the right people at the right time, gives an easy overview for management, collaboration requests, virtual meetings etc. Our supply chain can add and change information on the system, while we can control their levels of access”, commented Stephen Head.
“We now have an internal and external team who could previously only have coped with relatively low numbers of projects – now we estimate that with BC in place we could ramp up our activity by 600-700% with no reduction of quality or loss of control”.
“Refurbishment is a big team effort which extends as far as branch staff who need to know what’s happening, when and what it will look like, technical staff who will be installing the IT systems etc, etc. Having one central source of project information has been invaluable in keeping everyone informed of progress”.
The benefits
The new Design Management function contains the design manual, and provides precise guidance on all the potential levels and styles of refurbishment. This is a huge time and cost saving as every change to the manual entails it being recopied and sent out to potentially dozens of suppliers. Now Nationwide have much improved version control and a master copy that is centrally available, reducing errors and ensuring consistency.
The Performance module allow Nationwide to mine their project data to see whether they are hitting key performance indicators (KPIs) at project and programme levels. It also allows the team to see which suppliers are performing best. The Risk Management aspects focus on physical and environmental risks such as asbestos, listed building status and health and safety risks.
Nationwide are keen to extend their programme management capabilities. So the existing system is to be extended and enhanced to look at all the activities involved in a project from physical delivery to implementation management to a continuous improvement loop with knowledge capture. The whole programme management regime is being re-engineered and Business Collaborator will be a key tool in the implementation of these changes to create ‘a more programme centric approach’ and the strategic drive to work more closely with the supply chain.
"The Business Collaborator system is substantially supplementing our delivery capability and one of the other major benefits has been improved communication, internally and across the supply chain. Features such as the Brava viewer, whereby a user can download a drawing, ‘red line’ it then feed it back into the system are a great time saver. Also, we have been feeding the learning gleaned from each project back in to our knowledge store – for example how difficult shaped branches were handled, imaginative use of materials, effective building techniques etc. We have even had competitive suppliers learning useful tips from each other and sharing expertise!”
concluded Steve Head.