A coloured spreadsheet cell led to a group-wide planning platform
The initial request was to turn certain Excel cells blue. Over the years, it grew into an application supporting vehicle and component projects throughout their lifecycle, serving as both a market database and a planning tool.
The platform digitises volume and revenue planning during acquisition and ongoing projects. Planning snapshots feed the business warehouse and other systems. The group plans from one shared set of figures.
The starting point: regional planning without shared figures
The acquisition team needed to manage vehicle-development projects worldwide. Market and customer information came from sales and finance structures that had developed regionally. The same planning item meant different things in different files.
The turning point: from local files to group-wide planning
Documented processes at each site
Workshops in Germany, the United States, Japan and China showed that incompatible planning methods were the central problem. We aligned the methods and calculations together before implementing them in the application.
Replaced spreadsheets
Volume and revenue planning moved to a web application used across regions.
Connected systems
Planning snapshots and reports flow automatically into the business warehouse and other company systems.
Added further units
Business units and product-process phases were added gradually, with a product owner from the business department and coordination with group IT.
The client is an international tier-one automotive supplier. Manufacturing and development span 50 locations, and the company employs more than 10,000 people.
