The Category Development Schedule (CDS) at Woolworths had grown into a monster process; with up to 10+ teams involving 50+ handovers and checkpoints between different teams and stakeholders, all managed manually through a single Excel spreadsheet.

There were increasing delays, quality shortfalls, miscommunications, and a lack of visibility across the process. Exacerbated by changing staff, the management of CDS was struggling and knew they needed to improve their system.

Woolworths looked for external help to identify their pain points and build a short-term system quickly, efficiently and carefully.

The Category Development Schedule (CDS) at Woolworths had grown into a monster process; with up to 10+ teams involving 50+ handovers and checkpoints between different teams and stakeholders, all managed manually through a single Excel spreadsheet.

Woolworths looked for external help to identify their pain points and build a short-term system quickly, efficiently and carefully.

Solution

Woolworths looked to Experts in the Expert360 network to build the management solution. Expert360 found a team to work with Woolworths and during a three month build (March - May 2019), designed an appropriate tool.

While the tool was initially developed as a short-term uplift (with an enterprise-grade system planned for implementation in June 2020), the solution continues to be used today. The tool was so specific and nuanced to the exact requirements of the CDS team the enterprise-grade system didn’t compare.

The entire customised management solution was built within Google's product suite (already used in the business), with tailored views and functionalities for different users, including:

Automated weekly emails reminding each person/team what's awaiting them this week
Live dashboard summary of project statuses, and why they are blocked / delayed
Separated trackers for each team to avoid overlapping clashes when trying to update their progress
Dynamic scheduling behind the scenes that would take into consideration delays / approved timeline shifts and shift all checkpoints accordingly

Impact

The new management system provided visibility and improved accountability across all teams. The system resulted in an 80% reduction in the amount of manual maintenance and work required (equivalent of two FTEs).

As a single source of truth on project progression and status the Woolworth team saw a 50% reduction in the estimated volume of project timeline changes.

The new solution provided easy access and visibility for all stakeholders, from analysts to senior management, and helped the team to focus on their core business, not manual tracking.

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