Diagnostic business process mapping sessions in finance and operations suggest the potential to save or repurpose approximately 160 FTEs
Background

• Over the course of a two-year period, two grocery chains and a chain of quick service restaurants were acquired by an existing chain of grocery stores. In total, the parent company was now responsible for managing approximately 35 locations consisting of restaurants and grocery stores in both the U.S. and Canada
• The parent company solicited the help of Tefen to help in identifying existing business processes that could be optimized (in terms of saving FTEs) by implementing a new ERP1 and POS2 system
• Following the consolidation of the four banners, each banner maintained their existing names, employees and business practices. The four banners, though consolidated, were managed by two separate headquarters; one in Canada responsible for the Canadian chains and one in the U.S. responsible for all U.S. locations

Challenges

• Each chain was running a different technology platform on both the front-end and the back-end leading to data discrepancies in both format and architecture
• The knowledge of these technology systems, both operating and troubleshooting, was limited to the local employee base
• The employees at each chain were all accustomed to the business processes and technology they had always know and often showed resistance to change
• The segmented nature of the business quadrupled the amount of work that had to be done to manage each business; if each business were on one platform of technology, operations and reporting could occur on one platform
• The private equity firm who funded the operation was demanding aggressive growth and immediate results with the hopes of ‘exiting’ the venture within two years of the fourth and final acquisition

What has been done?

• We kicked off the project in Finance and Operations with process mapping sessions detailing each step of common processes performed by stakeholders and the time spent performing each task. The 2 months performing these tasks would prove essential in later implementation phases
• Simultaneously, an ERP & POS selection process was performed utilizing a decision matrix customized to the needs of the client
• Given Tefen’s deep understanding of the business’s processes, the client chose to continue with Tefen for implementation phases of the technology
• A living BRD3 was developed with third party technology providers to communicate the needs of the business in the scope of the selected technology
• New and more efficient processes were mapped, tested, and implemented in the organization
• A change management program was developed to support the implementation of the new technology and processes
• Tefen remained on-site with the client for close to a year continuing to support the rapid growth of the young organization. Tefen never ceased to add value to the organization by-
• Optimizing processes as the company became more experienced and lean
• Augmenting the labor force when roles and responsibilities were stretched thin
• Supporting the training of new and existing employees
• Improving the way implemented technologies were used and troubleshooting any user needs

Results
The new technology allowed the client to consolidate its headquarter operations to one location managing all store and company needs from a single office.
Optimized and established processes provided the foundation for the company to grow from 35 retail locations to 60 locations in a year, and close to 100 locations within a year and a half.