The Hong Kong based sourcing operation of our client were implementing a Bamboo Rose PLM solution and were concerned that the programme would not meet all of the business’s requirements.

CMG were engaged to complete a health check review of the programme and provide guidance on how to ensure the programme not only met the key milestones but delivered on the commitment agreed with the vendor. CMG have significant experience of similar programmes and a detailed understanding of the Bamboo Rose application.

Our review highlighted some significant issues with the implementation approach and to the processes being replicated within the solution alongside well founded concerns over the approach to delivery. As a result we recommended a number of changes to their core sourcing processes and to the configuration of the software to address these issues as well as re-structuring the implementation team and programme plan to help them recover the situation.

Challenge

Our client had a well-established sourcing team and operation with core processes that were designed to integrate with their UK parent and also with key supplier processes. The software vendor was keen to implement an industry best practice configuration for the solution but this approach would not support the requirements of the business.

The internal programme team felt they were being led to implement a solution that was not aligned with their objectives and ultimately would not deliver the benefits they were expecting. The client therefore required the support of an objective third party who understood the capability of the software solution and the extent it could be configured outside of a standard industry model structure to deliver their needs.

They also needed an objective and experienced assessment of their internal processes to understand the right balance of customization and best practice alongside an assessment of their internal programme team capability to deliver the solution.

Approach

The review was completed by a CMG Partner and Senior Consultant who both had extensive experience of the software solution and sourcing processes. There were 3 key areas of focus:

• Project structure & approach – reviewing the project structure, governance and planning approach to identify any risks to the project milestones and deliverables and recommend improvements. Assessment of the current capability of the IT team to identify any gaps that need to be filled to deliver the project
• Functional review – provide an understanding of the extent to which the solution would meet the functional requirements of the business and develop options to address any gaps. Identify how Home Retail Group might need to change the way it works to realise the benefits of the solution and ensure that business process imperatives and structures are supported
• High level plan for Phase 2 – Develop a high level plan of key delivery milestones to ensure a realistic schedule was in place for the second phase of the project

We completed a desktop review of available project documentation and interviewed over 20 combined team staff including all senior managers and key users. Once the key issues were identified, we completed in depth interviews with commercial and technical staff to understand the options for addressing issues and gaps through either systems configuration or process changes.

Outcome

The outcome of the review was a set of clearly defined, action-focused recommendations in each of the areas assessed including detailed guidance on functionality configuration and the extent to which industry best practice could be adopted whilst still supporting critical processes. We also provided clear guidance and recommendations on the approach to managing and implementing the solution, identifying where internal capability gaps existed and recommending a new governance structure to guide the delivery.

On completion of the review we also led a joint workshop with Home Retail Group and senior management from Bamboo Rose to facilitate development of a new delivery plan and ensure the configuration reflected the needs of the business. This allowed the client to more effectively manage the programme and realise the benefits they were expecting.