Client Case Studies

Needs

• Home furnishings retailer that designs and manufactures a wide assortment of exclusive products
• Opportunities to improve operations
  • Enhance supply chain visibility to support increased vertical integration
  • Develop an in-house transportation fleet
  • Improve control of its international supply chain
• CRA guided the selection and implementation of an advanced Transportation Management System (TMS) and Warehouse Management System (WMS)

Actions

• CRA executed our well-honed strategy to:
  •  Understand client’s supply chain vision and strategy
  •  Document the current and future functional and technical requirements  
  •  Develop a strategic business case
  •  Create an implementation roadmap
• CRA managed the Selection process
• CRA was selected to manage the implementation coordinating the activities of the selected vendors and client’s resources

Results

• With CRA direction and leadership, client moved decisively to select and implement a new systems meeting the needs of both the business and IT
• Client deployed the solution to support domestic transportation, yard management and ocean import operations across multiple distribution and warehouse facilities
• With the success of that rollout Client is benefiting from lower transportation costs and improved stock visibility

Needs

• Client is one of the largest off-price retailers in the US, operating over 1,000 stores
• Client has been growing and expanding every year opening 100+ new stores annually
• Client wanted to look at the Store of the Future from a Customer Convenience perspective

Actions

• Leveraging our industry insight, knowledge, experience, and market research CRA gathered data on over 600 customer service-related capabilities in 18 retailers
• CRA conducted workshops with Client executives and associates to discover the areas of Customer Convenience and their affect upon the Store of the Future
• At the same we conducted shopper surveys to better understand their Customer Convenience priorities

Results

• CRA identified 10 key Customer Convenience Technology initiatives providing data around cost, effort and risk of each initiative
• CRA provided Client with vital competitive information about their competition and retail industry leaders
• CRA expanded the previous Store of the Future roadmap to 3 – 5 years

Needs

Client needed to consolidate their international Point of Sale system to the corporate support team.

These needs included:

• Quality Assurance Lead for international testing activities
• Management of the day-to-day testing activities and reporting to leadership
• Creation of knowledge articles to support proper transition and training of international POS to corporate resources
• Build out of testing scenarios and scripts
• Collaboration with Client leadership in defining and executing automation strategy in support of international POS and Self- Checkout solutions.

Actions

CRA provided a highly-proficient QA Lead whose deliverables included:

• Reviewed, analyzed and evaluated current testing environment, QA team, and processes
• Led day to day testing activities and reporting in support of program(s) delivery 
• Documented Gap Analysis of existing International POS documentation
• Mapped existing requirements to test scenarios
• Created communication plan for QA and Transition teams
• Trained Global QA teams through knowledge artifacts
• Defined automation strategy for POS and SCO solutions
• Delivered daily and weekly status reports, as well as Quarterly Business Reviews and, if appropriate, Steering Committee reviews
• Conducted project retrospective at conclusion of engagement

Results

By relying on CRA’s QA SME to transition their international POS system to the corporate support team, Client was able to execute their POS and Self Checkout solutions’ automation strategies efficiently, and with little delay, due to:

• Thorough test environment evaluation and gap analysis
• Requirements mapping
• Comprehensive communication plans
• Post project evaluation

Needs

• Client operates nearly 600 locations across the US.  Over the past decade this retailer has embraced rapid growth with expansion outward from the sun belt
• Due to their current state point of sale (POS) falling out of support, Client was forced to evaluate their POS options within a tight timeframe
• CRA led phases prior to POS implementation included: requirement gathering, hardware selection, software selection, recycling vendor selection, and Quality Assurance (QA) management
• Client was uniquely challenged due to limited IT staffing, tight timeline, poor vendor relationships, and an amalgam of issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

Actions

• Collaborated with Client executives and external vendors to create a manageable implementation plan and schedule 
• Created and maintained documentation such as installation manuals 
• Managed a live “War Room” fielding Tier 2 & 3 support calls, giving third party technicians support and guidance during installations
• Inspected each store location’s completed installation and manager sign-off sheets using photos and video to verify install completion 
• Standardized PPE use for technicians to safeguard their own health, as well as the health of Client employees and customers
• Maintained detailed statistics on technician performance (reported technical issues and time on site) allowing for grading performances and retraining as needed

Results

• CRA’s efforts resulted in the smooth rollout of over 600 retail locations across 33 states
• Effective Project Management and Planning resulted in effective hardware inventory and technician scheduling  
• Utilizing live support for coordination and progress of all sites reduced required reschedules
• Control of documentation led to constant improvement and seamless distribution
• Quantified technician performance created substantial increases in efficiency
• Regular communication with vendor partners lessened the number of and impact of delays