Challenge
Galeria Kaufhof was using the retail planning system based on Oracle RPAS. The retailer’s unique planning process took into account each store’s local market, customer groups (each with their own expectations) and multi-channel shopping possibilities, the aim being to ensure every customer’s experience of the Galeria Kaufhof brand was always positive.
The retailer wanted to make some enhancements to its assortment management, and needed to ensure that its competitiveness was not going to be impacted as a result of the changes. Galeria Kaufhof tasked Weigandt Consulting with improving its planning solution, which included taking on the support of the planning processes, and ensuring that the system data was aligned with the chain’s changing business requirements.
Project
The project consisted of a number of activities: supporting the planning processes, technical maintenance of the financial and assortment planning processes, optimising system performance and implementing new functionality.
Weigandt’s scope of work entailed creating functional and technical concepts for change, implementing them to the RPAS platform and testing. In addition, the team started providing daily support to the chain’s business users, and undertaking data loading, unloading and inspection.
The following tasks were performed by Weigandt:
- Migrated the system planning environment from AIX to Linux, for increased productivity.
- Migrated the production environment to a new server.
- Changed the depth of assortment planning to the product group level (articles group), which greatly simplified the process.
- Added a new assortment planning process for online store (modified interfaces and batch scripts, integrated, prepared measures).
- Designed and integrated functionality for the financial planning and assortment of goods which had been overlooked in the concessions. This has allowed the chain to get an overall picture of all the product groups, avoiding shortages and overstocking.
- Implemented changes to the planning processes (calendar hierarchy and fiscal year) following Metro Group’s sale of Galeria Kaufhof to Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company in the summer of 2015. Prior to this, the planning cycle took place in September and October. The retailer had to move its planning cycle to February to match its new owner’s schedule. Also implemented additional planning functionality to cover the four-month period of transition between the old and new planning calendars, from the technical concept through to testing.
Results
The technical and functional improvements to its planning system allow Galeria Kaufhof to better respond to the changing requirements of the business and the market. The ongoing enhancements of the chain’s planning processes in line with its unique business processes ensure the company remains competitive and profitable.
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