CGI and Bell implement a solution to manage Bell's 4,000 vehicle inventories

"The CGI solution has not only permitted us greater visibility of our equipment, but has also provided us with traceability. We now have increased opportunities to manage our inventory."

John Wundele, Senior Advisor - Supply Chain, Re Engineering, Bell Canada

The Client
Bell Canada is Canada's largest supplier of telecommunications services. With one of the world's most robust and reliable public switched networks, Bell Canada provides advanced voice, data and image communications to millions of business and residence customers across Canada. Bell's Supply Chain Management group provides operational, system and process reengineering support to the many business units within Bell.

The Challenge
There are more than 4,000 Bell Canada Field Services Technicians across geographically dispersed regions of Ontario and Quebec; Bell was seeking to improve its control and deployment of the equipment used by these technicians. Although each technician's truck carries inventory, a technician might require equipment that is not on hand. Bell wanted to find a way to let technicians know whether needed equipment was in the vicinity in a colleague's truck, and asked CGI to help with the development of a system to track this local inventory.

The engagement was dubbed the Customer Order Optimum Linkage (COOL) project. The goal was to track inventory consumed against actual customer demand. This led to the creation of inventory visibility within Bell's technicians vehicles. Consequently, the visibility and the proper management of the local inventory would allow for increased utilization of the local inventory and better controlled costs.

While seemingly straightforward, the project actually incorporated a number of challenges. Bell already used SAP technology for many functions, and the new system would be no exception. However, this project would involve multiple customer ordering systems as well as many SAP modules. Moreover, a technician's identification in the SAP system was different than that in the Bell ordering system, so this too would have to be resolved. And finally, orders of several different levels and statuses would be entered into the system, so a major reconciliation effort would be required.

The Strategy
CGI was brought into the project because of its experience in similar field inventory visibility mandates. CGI also has extensive expertise in all facets of SAP technology. Each CGI team member came with a specialty, whether in SAP, project management or training, and the team members worked closely with each other and their Bell project team counterparts.

A detailed needs analysis was conducted and a blueprint of the new system established. Then, a thorough walkthrough of the specifications was carried out, with all team members attending each other's walkthrough, ensuring no stone was left unturned.

The project defined and implemented the right processes and tools to allow the technicians to order material against an existing customer order, and to report the material installed for that specific order.

The additional transactions would be recorded in SAP to allow better inventory visibility and local management of truck and work center stock levels. The integration of "downstream functions," such as material utilization against existing customer orders, increased the scope of the supply chain and allowed better collaboration among the players involved.

In addition to the solution itself, a mobile engine was integrated into the Portal to permit technicians to work offline and upload information upon completion of a job. At all times, the team focused on allowing technicians to use the new tools to better meet their primary objective of top-notch customer service. And finally, CGI built a training package for Bell to assure technician buy-in and proficiency with the new tool.

"CGI's functional experts in each domain were crucial in helping me understand precisely how the solution would work," stated John Wundele, Senior Advisor - Supply Chain Re-Engineering, Bell Canada. "Because they took the time at the beginning of the project to conduct an exhaustive blueprinting exercise with us, we actually accelerated the implementation of the project and reduced the fine tuning that was required after the go-live. The dedication and perseverance of the CGI specialists on the project - which continued to be demonstrated after the solution was implemented - ensured that the new system was working exactly as intended."

The Technology

• SAP R/3
• SAP Enterprise Portal
• SAP Mobile Engine
• SAP Enterprise Buyer Professional
• SAP Business Warehouse
• WFMS, FWFM, COPS, TIM, FSOS

The Results
Within the initial five months of implementation of the solution more than 2,200 technicians were using the new platform. After seven months COOL had generated considerable savings in material reutilization, with further savings expected to be generated in the nine months following. Today, Bell technicians using the COOL platform can easily query the system to determine where stock is available in order to complete or begin a job earlier.

"The solution that Bell and CGI created has not only permitted us greater visibility of our equipment, but has also provided us with traceability. We now have increased opportunities to manage our inventory," concluded Mr. Wundele. "All Bell Canada employees commit to protecting the company's assets. The COOL project went a step further and put a tool in the hands of our technicians that helps them to manage this responsibility."

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