Case Study
A profitable luxury fashion house requested a consultation with Monrah to improve their Product Life Cycle management. The legacy ERP system was outdated and inadequate when it came to coping with the company’s growth: obsolete information coupled with human error slowed down the whole product development process, causing inaccurate information to be distributed. As a result, the business was in severe need of streamlining their Product Development process.
PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT
Identifying issues
Monrah’s first task was to understand the company’s AS-IS process and interview different stakeholders to grasp the business’ specific needs. After this, we identified areas in need of improvement.
Firstly, there was a gross lack of visibility of the critical path for product development. For example, the Estimated Arrival Date (ETA) was a key date that wasn’t easily accessible to all stakeholders. Moreover, changes to the ETA were not communicated to all parties, generating the potential risk of missing the time to market.
Real-time communication pathways
Monrah understood that in order to improve Critical Path Management (CPM) the retailer needed to create effective real-time communication channels among all stakeholders during the product development process. We therefore initiated the creation of Request for Proposal (RFP) and Request for Quotation (RFQ) requirements documents for external suppliers to understand the requirement of our clients; we also created a list of needs to be sourced.
Supplier sourcing
Finally, we researched and screened potential suitable suppliers, shortlisting three to bid for the contract.
The evaluation criteria for these suppliers encompassed Functional and Non-Functional requirements, including but not restricted to:
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Sample management
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The supported features the suppliers offered
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Cost management
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Reporting
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Service Maintenance (e.g. how supportive the suppliers are if the system is down)
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The Future Role Map of suppliers’ product and service development
Monrah also invited suppliers on-site for feature demonstrations and technical discussions, enabling the stakeholders to easily ask key questions. We then further facilitated the selection process by cross-referencing suppliers’ bids against industry competitors. Finally, a graded feedback was carried out with the participating project committee to ascertain the supplier’s reliability. Afterwards, a calculation was created to prepare an accurate Return on Investment (ROI) estimation, enabling us to justify investment in this project.
Impact and Advantages
In using Monrah’s services, our client was empowered to select the right supplier for their business. Moreover, we oversaw improved efficiency and productivity both within the fashion house and with suppliers, and our structured approach to the needs of the business led to success in improving the CRM and PLM processes.
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PROJECT PLANNING
ERP strategy improvement
Negotiating a very short lead-in time to Asian market entry, Monrah assisted the company in its endeavour to build a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Drawing on our experience, we cultivated a new strategy for the fashion house, strengthening their requirement gathering, stakeholder management and project planning. As a niche consultancy firm grounded in both the European and Asian markets we were able to formulate a structured approach to resolving our client’s problems.
Firstly, we gathered the optimal requirements for their ERP system by consulting with stakeholders and come up with the most appropriate solution. As a multi-lingual company, we were able to communicate with stakeholders both in East Asia and at the company’s headquarters in Europe, thus ensuring all parties were able to be involved in our processes.
Real-time AGILE software development methodology
Additionally, we initiated the establishment of AGILE Software development methodology, enabling stakeholders to see the software development process in real time. In using an approach open to such responsive insight, we could effectively re-calibrate the focus of the requirements as per stakeholder request.
 China Market EntryEntry into Asian market achieved following comprehensive local supplier evaluation, analysis of competitive landscape, provision of marketplace partners network and facilitation of integrated, compliant e-commerce platform. |  Project PlanningSuccessful acceleration of Asia market expansion planning across multiple channels, the improvement of legacy ERP system and the implementation of software allowing for real-time design input from stakeholders. |  Supplier ManagementIncreased profitability and improved time-efficiency achieved through the merging of subcontractors, the streamlining of IT systems and the rendering of software systems more effective. |  Product Lifecycle ManagementGreater efficiency and a more lean production process enabled through the improvement of CRM and PLM processes and the providing of comprehensive supplier evaluation and selection guidance. |
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