Replacing virtually every single system within 18 months (including vendor contracts, licenses, applications, data center, network, servers, phones and PCs) was the challenge faced by Mervyns as a newly independent company, when it was spun off by Target in 2004.

 

"The magnitude of the systems challenge was relatively unheard of in the industry," says Becky Nesmith, director of Mervyns product design & development (PD&D) operations.

 

But the situation also presented an unprecedented opportunity for the Hayward, CA-based retailer, which operates more than 175 family-friendly department stores in seven states and produces private label fashion and home décor products - the chance to completely revamp the company's IT systems and infrastructure.

 

It allowed PD&D to replace its legacy systems, including homegrown applications and other software solutions. "We had been working on client-server applications and Access databases, and nothing was integrated," says Nesmith. "We were working in a standalone world. So while it was a daunting challenge to move into the environment that we did in a short amount of time, it was a huge opportunity for us to completely integrate everything we brought on board."

Systems At A Glance ERP: JDA Software Financials: Lawson PDM: Gerber Technology Point of Sale: NSB Group Sourcing and brand management: ecVision Warehouse management: Manhattan Associates

 

To take on the challenge, identifying the complete system vision and the proper resources was key. Almost immediately after the separation from Target was announced, an end-to-end process flow was done. Process diagrams were created to visualize how all the systems would integrate and work as a whole.

 

"We knew we would need to have that in place before we even began to look at technical solutions," says Nesmith. "It was a big help for us once it came time to talk to our IT partners and begin actually looking for vendors."

 

From the beginning, Mervyns IT and PD&D teams worked closely in sync and partnered with Hokura LLC, a consulting group and solutions provider. "The IT team, including Hokura, was with us from the very beginning when we worked on what the three-year vision would be, to take all these databases and replace them with fully integrated 24/7 applications," says Nesmith. "There was a very unified vision and that made all the difference."

 

A thorough selection process
The first step was to identify high-level requirements during meetings with key business teams. "Getting clear requirements from our business clients ensured that we selected the right vendors upfront, says Ann Wong, IT manager of PD&D.

 

Based on business requirements, the team began researching industry publications and references. Outdated client-server systems would not work for the new business model; PD&D was developing web-based, fully integrated systems allowing collaboration with vendors where needed.

 

A fit/gap analysis document was created to prioritize the required functionalities, and to rank the three or more vendors that best met these needs. Once the choices were narrowed down, the Request For Quote process began, and customers who had implemented similar solutions were contacted for feedback.

 

Strong partnerships with vendors are a priority. "We are not just looking for somebody to come in and implement a system. We want them to understand not just the requirements of the system but our long-term strategic vision," says Wong.

 

Using this process, within two and a half years, Mervyns PD&D was able to complete its transition from stand-alone Access databases to a full suite of integrated systems. The decision-making team was kept to a small, select group of individuals, allowing for quick approvals.

 

"When we went into meetings, all the decision makers were there," says Nesmith. "That made us much more nimble. Decisions were made almost immediately, without going through a lengthier, more formalized process."

 

System solutions
Mervyns partnered with Hokura to build a web-based vendor management system (MVM) from scratch, to house its more than 600 private label vendors and more than 1,700 factory profiles.

 

The company's brand compliance team can now see which vendors have agreed to comply with the standards of engagement, track invoices and factory audit results, and ensure that all private-label vendors register their factories, which has reduced audit cycle time. Compliance management workload was reduced by about 50 percent by going from a manual to an automated system.

 

The next step was to tackle solutions for design and product specifications. PD&D decided to replace a client-based technical design specification and construction system that had been developed by Target, with Gerber Technology's WebPDM. The company's CAD systems also had to be replaced and re-licensed for Mervyns' needs. PD&D selected Blue- Fox NedGraphics and Adobe CS applications for its textile and graphic design work.

 

"Because of the business calendar, we had to run the old and new systems in parallel," says Wong. " That was a big challenge - to be sure we could keep the old system running but also introduce a new system as well."

 

Another application that had to be implemented was a new Item Setup system (MISU), developed in-house through the partnership with Hokura. "We took a lot of the manual processes out of setting up an item, so that our vendors really own the process," says Nesmith. "That has been a huge win for us."

 

Having MVM, WebPDM, and MISU in place allowed PD&D to finally implement a fully integrated product lifecycle management system (MPLM). Mervyns selected ecVision's XpressCommerce solution to support its global buying and sourcing process and improve its brand management, in part because of the system's ability to integrate with WebPDM through its FLM integration. The ecVision modules implemented included: Masters, Reservations, Cost Sheet, Schedule and Reports.

 

Integration a key priority
With the MPLM implementation, PD&D was able to integrate its vendor and factory information from MVM, product information from WebPDM and MISU, and PO information from the merchandising application. "Now that the systems are fully integrated, there is so much more that users will be able to do without duplicate data entry. The system also integrates the relationship between vendors and factories so we know they are approved and don't have to check that constantly," adds Laurel Barkis, manager of PD&D Systems and Technology.

 

"This will provide us with huge opportunities for vendor collaboration through 24/7 web-based realtime access. We want the vendors to be able to get into the application and eventually create a vendor-designed product."

 

In addition to integrating internal systems, better visibility was needed for external partners, such as sourcing partner Li & Fung and other thirdparty service providers. Vendors can go into the MPLM system to make updates when in the past, they had to do this on Excel spreadsheets. Now they can collaborate with Mervyns' product development managers directly in the system.

 

Through a combination of ecVision and Mervyns custom integration, vendor information is pulled in from MVM, product information is pulled in from WebPDM (through the FLM integration), product information is also integrated with MISU, and PO information is pulled in from the merchandising system.

 

Once product information is established, schedules and cost sheets are generated. Reservations can be created at a higher level with the vendor, and can compare what was committed on the cost sheet to what actually turned into a purchase order.

 

"By utilizing the initial three-year plan as the Mervyns PD&D roadmap, the complete end-to-end integration developed between the [aforementioned] applications was achieved," says Hokura's president, Ric Lara. "Integration to the appropriate applications is often the largest single failure point in a PLM implementation."

 

By integrating front-end design and product development systems with other applications, manual data entry is eliminated.

 

"Also, by having a single source of truth, we are able to get better reporting and visibility, rather than modifying Excel documents from various systems," says Wong. "We can see a more end-to-end view of the business." The MPLM system allows Mervyns PD&D to be more flexible with changing consumer trends, provide end-to-end product lifecycle visibility, and improve productivity of their global supply network.

 

Future plans
At this juncture, Mervyns is focused on adding additional capabilities to its existing systems and considering what to invest in for the near future.

 

Though third-party business partners now have much better visibility in terms of reporting and requirements, this will be a continued focus. "We would really like to make sure that our vendor base, whether through Li & Fung or domestic importers - anybody who does private label product for us - has the opportunity to work directly online in terms of collaborating on designs, product specifications, scheduling, all of those things," says Nesmith.

 

An enhanced collaborative process will provide additional real-time design and development work between PD&D and vendors. "The next major frontier for us is to give vendors hands-on opportunity to send back corrections, specifications, and really be responsible for their side of product lifecycle management approvals and events and milestones," says Nesmith.