BusinessForward

By: Julio Kuok, Solutions Architect

Every now and then, a very clear analogy makes its way into a complicated process documentation project. Such is the case in our work with a growing $6 billion retailer. They were focused on meeting an aggressive goal to open 40 new stores within a year. While we were indeed helping the customer navigate an environment that is constantly changing, interdependent, and complex through the solutions of program management, IT process documentation and project prioritization, what became clear was that through these, we were writing a biography. From its inception as a potential store site through opening day, and beyond, we documented a detailed narrative. In concept, a story of a store.

Process Documentation

Every store has a story with a “bibliography” of lessons learned. This might change over time for continuous process improvement, providing insight to every new build for front line staff through executive leadership.  For, what good story doesn’t include challenges along with triumphs? Consider the many chapters in the life of a store and the sheer number of characters involved.

In the case of our customer, the amount of people and paperwork without the proper processes to support them was causing a lot of confusion. Building a new store was a huge cross-departmental effort. From selecting a location, to securing permits, planning, designing and executing each step on time was akin to the most complicated plot.  For every piece of this process, different people were generating and consuming information that was vital to the success of the construction of each one of these stores. While all of these groups were growing together in the same general direction, each was doing it their own way.  It didn’t make for a very cohesive narrative.

In my experience helping retail businesses grow, we are often driven by a set goal to build a certain number of stores by the end of the fiscal year. The end of the story. Too often though, the program management processes in place are not adequate to support building, opening and operating a new store within the timeframe. It’s like having a weak plot with disconnected characters.

Any business that  has embarked upon building a new store knows what a journey it is, populated with many twists and turns.

For example, factors in assessing how long each store will take to build (climate, type of municipality, variances, zoning) may not be shared with all of the players involved. This impedes reaction time whenever changes happen to the initial project schedule. Most importantly, when there is an overall lack of insight into timelines and delays, there is a lack of insight to additional costs that may be incurred to make sure you meet your store’s opening date.

Of course in addition growth, the plot thickens when you still have to maintain what you have today, including re-builds and remodeling of existing stores. This all needs to be factored in from a resource, cost, and time perspective to make sure initial goals are met.

Operations, Store Support and Maintenance Teams need an accurate picture so that they can provision the store. In any new retail store build, the information gathering, hand-off, and data upkeep process is very difficult to do when dealing with multiple people and various sources of information. Groups can end up doing things their own way without the insight of impacts it has on the other groups involved, which leads to the development of duplicative information.

In our customer’s case, we knew this was happening. Through our solutions we were able to determine that 37% of all the information gathered throughout the store building process was duplicative.

Within an organization, what does this 37% of duplicative data truly mean?

• Information was being stored and maintained unnecessarily
• Different versions of the information used by various decision makers
• A lot of non-value added time and effort spent towards ensuring that what was being looked at was accurate

The Story of a Store

Imagine if information and data were documented from the first look at a new site. Starting with the thought process around “this can be a store”, you build the story with the steps (chapters) necessary to move forward. You determine the traffic count for the store, the investment needed to make it prosperous, and curate data for all the important details of the store’s life.

Through regular checkpoint meetings with all stakeholders, you share milestones in its development. In our story of a store, we maintain “report cards” to keep track of which stores need more help in a certain area. This way those that are moving forward smoothly don’t consume unnecessary resources.

By the time your store “graduates” to the construction phase, the construction group will be able to read the whole history. With documented priorities and goals, that group can view its “report cards” along the way on how quickly or slowly it has progressed over time and the trajectory of where the store is going.

By the way, it’s important to note, that even if the store ends up not getting built, the story remains viable. It should never be thrown away, rather kept as a reference for future growth. If somebody else five years in the future thinks the site may be a good place to build a store, being able to reference a  history of why it wasn’t built avoids duplicative work. Situations may have changed since the investigation of building on the site. These can vary between the costs to build the store to the permits and regulations in place five years ago that may or may not remain obstacles five years from now. Like any ongoing story, some characters leave and new ones enter the picture.

Thinking of the process of building your new store as a story helps frame the complex moving parts required for success. Through improved program management, process documentation and project prioritization you will capture the multiple plot lines and see how your large cast of characters met many obstacles and solutions.  When multiple, disparate departments come together to read the story of your store, and the lessons learned, they are sure to embrace the journey equipped with a better understanding of what lies ahead.

Julio is a dynamic solutions architect and has tackled challenges with leading companies such as Sheetz, Giant Eagle and PPG. Looking to help customers solve their biggest challenges? Throw your hat in the ring!