Information & Facts
About the customer: Innovation driver in the German food retail sector
Our client is responsible for the digital solutions of one of Germany’s largest retail companies. They develop modern, scalable systems for brick-and-mortar retail as well as for e-commerce, logistics, and supply chain management. They also support highly complex IT landscapes and develop central applications for inventory management, forecasting, goods availability and merchandise management systems, as well as the digitalisation of branch processes.
Our client’s demand forecasting system plays a central role in supplying supermarkets. It is deeply integrated into adjacent systems such as ordering, discount campaigns, product maintenance and logistics processes, and plays an essential technological role in ensuring that product stocks in stores meet demand. It therefore provides the foundation for efficient, data-driven control in modern smart retail, leading to higher end customer satisfaction.
1) Challenge: Critical dependency on a complex legacy system
The DB2/C and C++ forecasting system is a central, business-critical application that ensures goods are available in thousands of stores every day. However, its historically grown structure, strong integration with surrounding systems and incomplete documentation made further development of the legacy system. At the same time, our customer no longer had the necessary internal resources available, which could have compromised application’s long-term stability – with direct implications for inventory accuracy, scheduling, and the customer journey.
In order to operate the legacy system reliably, modernise it effectively and avoid disrupting long-term transformation projects, a partner with an in-depth knowledge of complex legacy IT was required. 7P was selected because of its proven expertise in application lifecycle management, its experience with business-critical merchandise management systems and its ability to quickly familiarise itself with established legacy systems.
2) Solution: A scalable team of experts for comprehensive legacy lifecycle management
To ensure the reliable further development of the platform, 7P put together an experienced team of consultants and software experts. The team worked intensively on the code base, process logic and DB2 data structures. On this basis, a dedicated team of experts was established, which managed all changes in an agile setup using clearly defined and documented user stories. This is an essential part of professional application lifecycle management. This approach ensured a consistently high standard of quality and maximum transparency.
During the course of the project, 7P assumed full responsibility for application lifecycle management. This included:
- Analysis, design and specification of new requirements
- Architecture and software design
- Change and release management
- Further development and integration of relevant software modules
- Data modelling, database optimisation (including DB2)
- Quality and regression testing
- Migration projects, build pipelines, operational handover
In addition, the team provided support for investigating operational anomalies and carrying out scenario analyses, both of which are essential for stable operations. The functional enhancements that modernised the legacy system and relieved the burden on specialist departments were particularly valuable. These included integrating a discount tool, introducing new logic for discount types and implementing seasonal control mechanisms to enable more accurate forecasting.
Supplementary, 7P established a comprehensive regression testing system and a scenario analysis framework. This enabled forecasts to be evaluated more reliably and operational decisions to be improved. The organisational transformation at the customer’s site was also actively supported. This resulted in a transparent and stable cooperation model with a well-coordinated team of experts. This team delivered clearly defined services and ensured the further development of the forecasting system without jeopardising operational goods availability.
3) Result: Stability, scalability and significant relief for internal teams
By working with 7P, our customer was able to ensure stable, scalable and future-proof support for its complex legacy system without placing additional strain on internal resources. While its own teams focus on innovative platforms, modernisation programmes and AI-based retail processes, 7P takes care of the entire application lifecycle management and ensures the secure, high-performance operation of the business-critical application.
The successes achieved confirm the effectiveness of the chosen approach. They strengthen the company’s technological base and support key retail processes. These range from branch processes and warehouse management systems to the efficient design of the customer journey in both brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce. Due to this positive development, further joint measures are already being planned. These include modernising individual system modules and preparing strategic transformation steps for the overall architecture.
Successes of the ALM from 7P
Relief
About 60% reduction in workload for internal teams in legacy development and operations
System stability
Significantly increased system stability through structured support, regression testing and error analysis
New features
Higher forecast quality through new functions and scenario analyse
Scalability
Scalability through flexibly deployed experts for supply chain and merchandise management systems
Process acceleration
Faster implementation of change requests through standardised modules and agile delivery models
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