Process optimization with Jira
Auchan's journey
ABOUT THIS SUCCESS CASE
Auchan’s main motivation was to find an efficient way of working that would allow them to focus on project delivery and quality, optimize workflows, create new processes, and ensure that guidelines were followed.
SCOPE OF THIS SOLUTION
- Jira
- Atlassian
- Process optimization
- Project management
Challenge: Transitioning from Excel to another tool and optimizing project management
The DSI department – Department of Information Systems – at Auchan Retail Portugal is responsible for managing the management’s project portfolio, defining and implementing project management guidelines and methodologies aligned with the organization’s strategic management and specific business division’s needs. It is also responsible for preparing monthly project reports for different business departments.
DSI already used a project management tool in their daily operations, with basic functionalities. Additionally, they had project management guidelines with various methodologies and templates, which due to their complexity, often went unmet.
Consequently, there were difficulties in delivering projects on schedule, as the guidelines were not followed, and the project management tool did not achieve the expected level of adoption. Moreover, obtaining updated, centralized portfolio information was challenging. This information was crucial for monthly reports presented to the different business divisions, but due to the tool’s inability to meet all of Auchan’s needs for effective project management, Excel was used as a central information tool.
Solution: Optimizing processes with Jira
The ultimate goal was to implement a highly adaptable solution to sustain a new, more agile and effective collaboration methodology across different teams. After a number of analyses, the chosen tool was Jira by Atlassian. Auchan sought the support of Xpand IT to implement a collaborative solution that could meet DSI’s needs. Project management functionalities, full task visibility at different stages, and coordination between different teams were all critical features to be implemented. This approach would optimize workflows and ensure better time and resource management.
The initial step was to analyze existing processes within DSI, identifying inefficiencies and improvement opportunities. Xpand IT collaborated with Auchan to establish essential processes and understand team-specific needs to identify specific pain points and translate these work methodologies into Jira.
By getting to know the organization and the team’s unique needs, Xpand IT designed a process architecture aligned with organizational goals and defined a specific work management template for all teams to work in the same manner.
“With Xpand IT's support implementing Jira and adapting the tool to our needs, we centralized our data in one place and gained the ability to deliver projects easily, agilely and straightforwardly. Jira has become an indispensable daily work tool, vital for continuously adapting our processes and methodologies, reflecting the maturity of our work.”
Patrícia Almeida
Head of PMO, Auchan Retail Portugal
One of the best benefits of implementing this solution was helping teams to find a more cohesive method of organization. Despite being diverse and ranging from ERP, front-office and digital, among others – all with distinctive processes and workflows – the various teams all found in Jira a tool that allowed them to customize functionalities according to their specific needs, while centralizing and interconnecting all their projects.
Another benefit of this solution was more agile and effective communication across different areas, especially for projects that span the organization. With Jira implemented, it became possible to ensure that all teams crucial to project development were integrated into task planning and involved at the right times to avoid delays. And so, the DSI department began to take advantage of the Kanban board that groups projects by area, visually understanding ongoing projects, team dependencies and progress statuses.
After putting the solution in place, ensuring its adoption, evolution and maintenance was essential. The Xpand IT team held training sessions with Auchan to make sure that users could get the best out of the tool.
Additionally, emphasizing the need for the tool to adapt to ongoing departmental needs, additional support and customization were required after implementing the solution. The DSI department discovered Jira to be a solution that fits around how they work and, with a focus on continuous improvement, empowers their teams to deliver projects at the expected quality.
Parallel to the DSI department’s needs, Xpand IT mapped and implemented an internal workflow for the digital team. This workflow aimed to replicate the team’s daily routines, organizing their work processes. It had to map different phases: identifying digital team needs (website or application bug fixes; new developments for digital channels; new features, etc.) to be communicated to the development team, so they could estimate and plan the different initiatives, development, testing and production.
At the end of each work sprint, the team needed to document all the associated data in Confluence. The process, which was complex with various steps, required Auchan’s external partners to be able to access the information via a single tool. As such, the workflow had to be designed so that different teams could only access the information they needed, at different levels of security.
Benefits: Presentation of reports and project visibility
Centralization and project visibility
which allows monitoring, planning and adaptation of each project’s progress, identifying and correcting delays.
Team collaboration
collaborative working enhances workflow dynamics across teams.
Process automation and customization
streamlining each team’s needs.
Detailed analyses and reports
for extracting insights, identifying areas for improvement and supporting informed decision-making.
Tecnology
About Auchan
Headquarters: Croix, Lille
+10,000 employees
Values
- Trust
- Openness
- Excellence
Vision
- Auchan’s products are its core foundation.
- Auchan aims to be the preferred brand for employees, customers, citizens, partners, and shareholders.
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This success story shows what’s possible when collaboration happens. Shall we talk?