Project Description
Designing standardized processes and key data tracking templates to support company-wide product development efficiencies and realize quick wins.
The Client
A home décor superstore selling a wide range of hard goods, including decorative accessories, artwork, draperies, rugs, and furniture.
The Challenge
The retailer was going through a great expansion in terms of the number of stores and assortment of goods offered. In addition to the expansion, they wanted to increase margins by designing more products in-house under the company’s brand name. Due to the speed of the expansion, many of the day-to-day processes were still being handled with a small company mindset without any firm direction on specific roles and responsibilities.
The company had created a design and sourcing department, but due to the unclear roles, every product area performed the product development process differently, and many associates were confused on their specific job function. In order to support further expansion of stores and increased quantities of sales, a standardized product development process with clear roles and responsibilities was needed.
The Parker Avery Solution
To fully understand the company’s product development process and associated pain points, the Parker Avery team began by interviewing representatives across the client’s applicable business areas, including design, product development, sourcing, packaging, and merchandising.
Parker Avery utilized knowledge from a small, senior-level client core team and information gathered during the interviews to build standardized future-state process flows for the entire product development process. Additionally, the team specified the role responsible for each step in the flow along with any measurable changes that were needed in the new process with regards to people, process, and/or technology.
Throughout the design process, the team also identified and designed key templates for collecting/tracking data that would be standardized as part of the new process. Parker Avery’s key deliverables during the project included:
- Future state process flows
- High-level change impact analysis
- Key standardized data collection/tracking templates
The Result
The process design and documentation were used to feed the next project phase of implementing the new process, including creating a deeper level of detailed activity steps and training documentation.
The client was also able to immediately implement ”quick wins” without significant change management or training, resulting in a more efficient process for the current season.