valantic supports Dental-Union with System Implementation
In line with the company’s digital strategy, Dental-Union decided to change its Product Information Management (PIM) system. Both the selection of a suitable provider and the implementation of the new system were supported by valantic.
The company: Dental-Union GmbH
Dental-Union GmbH operates one of Europe‘s largest central warehouses for dental supplies in Rodgau, Hesse. On a total area of more than 11,000 square meters, over 37,000 immediately available items are stored on two floors, which are sourced from suppliers from all over the world. More than 57,000 additional items can be procured at short notice. Founded in 1967, the company has 13 legally independent partners with around 100 depots in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Albania. These partners have round-the-clock access to a range of 94,000 dental products from over 400 manufacturers. All orders received by 4 p.m. are processed and dispatched directly and reach the customer the very next day.
Over 9,000 parcels with a total weight of 20 tons are processed daily by around 205 Dental-Union employees. This unique distribution structure makes it possible to maintain and cultivate the regional awareness of the shareholders and the important direct contact with end customers (e.g. dentists, laboratories, clinics and medical care centers). Dental-Union supplies customers throughout Europe and supports both domestic and foreign sales partners.
Vanessa Zwarg
Head of Online and Print Media
”The successful implementation of the new PIM and DAM system was a challenging but also extremely rewarding journey – from the selection process to the final deployment. Thanks to the close collaboration with valantic and the great commitment of the team, we were able to create a customized solution that meets the needs of our business while remaining future-proof. This partnership was key to the success of our project.“
Go-live on schedule thanks to best-in-class project governance
Challenge
After a successful software selection process, valantic was commissioned in a follow-up project to support Dental-Union in the implementation of the selected Product Information Management (PIM) system. Due to the limited resources resulting from the high level of professional involvement of the employees on the customer side and the general day-to-day business, Dental-Union needed a partner to support the implementation in terms of organization and management of the provider.
Consulting approach
Based on the existing competence in the area of project governance and the experience from various implementation projects, valantic took over organizational and accompanying activities as a third party, such as the monitoring of tasks, adherence to the schedule and – if necessary – the processing of escalation points. The focus on the customer‘s needs and a feel for the various project phases as well as the intensity of support that depended on them were decisive for the successful completion of the project.
Customer benefit & solution
With valantic‘s support, the responsible department at Dental-Union was able to concentrate on the technical and functional realization of the implementation project and thus on the processes, the data model and the intensive testing of the system. valantic proved to be an objective and competent partner who not only ensured transparency in the project, but also enabled a fast and efficient implementation.
From the selection process to the deployment of the new system
As part of its digitalization strategy, Dental-Union decided to change its PIM system. With this decision, the company laid the foundation for a future-oriented approach in the digital media age.
Such a decision can have various reasons, from new providers on the market with more advanced technologies to legacy systems with a high degree of individualization and correspondingly complex system updates (so-called releases). valantic was called in to accompany the selection process and to find a future-proof and stable system that meets the requirements of the changing market and thus the company.
Using a tried-and-tested methodology and years of market knowledge, a suitable provider was identified whose PIM system met Dental-Union‘s requirements. The subsequent implementation of this system, which was to completely replace the old system within 10 months, proved to be a challenge.
The day-to-day business running parallel to the changeover and the high level of internal resource commitment of the system users, who had to devote themselves to the complex technical configuration, required external project support to provide organizational support for the implementation project and ensure that the schedule was adhered to.
In continuation of the previous collaboration, valantic took on this task and supported Dental-Union from project initialization at the end of 2023 to the go-live in mid-October of the following year.
The detailed conception of the different levels of the new PIM system – including product level, item level and sales channels – represented the second phase of the implementation project after project initialization. To this end, mandatory processes were recorded, the existing data model was critically scrutinized, the existing data sources were recorded and the peripheral systems and corresponding interfaces were recorded. In addition, it was determined how the sales structures of Dental-Union should be mapped in the new system, which functions should be integrated and which general logics should be followed for the articles offered.
In this phase, valantic was able to support the project management with a structured preparation of the various concepts, the development of the project plan based on this and the monitoring of the various tasks. The project plan specified both the various work steps, which were documented and tracked in Jira, and the time frame of the project.
In the subsequent phase, the implementation, the work steps defined in the project plan were implemented operationally. This included the development of a suitable data model, the definition of future processes and the preparation of data migration. Once the defined processes and functions had been approved by those responsible on the customer side, the implementation partner was able to implement them in the system and configure the new PIM system step by step in accordance with Dental Union‘s requirements.
Since the company‘s internal system users, in this case the employees of the print and online media department, were primarily involved in the operational system changeover and were therefore working at full capacity, valantic took over the coordination, tracking and prioritization of the tasks, the role of mediator between the project managers and the general communication about the project status, progress and any obstacles that arose. This ensured an optimized distribution of available resources and strict adherence to the schedule.
The progress of the project and therefore the integration of the data into the new PIM system had to be checked and monitored in recurring cycles in the test environment in order to test the functions and processes and workflows defined in the backend. This test phase included multiple function and integration tests.
In addition to testing the function of a button, for example to save an article, integration tests were used to check whether the logics stored in the system work according to the processes defined in the concept. The test plans developed in the conception phase served as the basis, which were now coordinated by valantic and whose results were fully logged. Any malfunctions identified during the tests were rectified by the implementation partner.
In preparation for the go-live date and thus the changeover from the test environment to the productive system, the so-called deployment, a risk analysis was carried out, among other things. In this critical phase, it is important to uncover system errors, set priorities and adjust exports so as not to jeopardize the go-live. valantic ensured the necessary transparency in the project and a successful go-live by preparing all relevant documents and information.
In the subsequent hypercare phase, necessary optimizations and adjustments were made to the PIM system in order to monitor interfaces to existing systems and resolve problems that arose in day-to-day business.
An implementation project is accompanied by project quality assurance and governance in order to manage the project efficiently and minimize risks.
valantic accompanies Dental-Union from the selection process to the deployment of a new Product Information Management (PIM) system
After a successful software selection process, valantic was commissioned in a follow-up project to support Dental-Union in the implementation of the selected PIM system.
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Ju Lee-Schultz
Managing Consultant
valantic GmbH
Samira Müller
Lead Consultant
valantic GmbH