Internal company processes regarding the communication of personnel from headquarters with individual stores were done mainly through the means of phone conversations or the exchange of information through e-mails and web applications. This system has become obsolete and could not be adapted to the dynamic changes in the company. The control over a wide range of internal processes, from franchisees to internal employees of the headquarters was inefficient, lengthy, and inconclusive. To cover this IT discrepancy, an information system was needed, which would be universal, reasonably priced, and able to cover as many processes as possible.

System Team assistant was implemented to automatize internal processes. A pilot process within the application was an issue-tracking solution to request in-store repairs and to record the manner in which they have been solved. The goal of the solution as a whole was to make the issue tracking and requesting clearer and to improve the information given to franchisees about the way their request is handled. The system was to be also able to assist the technician, providing him with the list of incidents, from which he can optimize and plan his trip.

Benefits of the Team assistant application in the process of requesting in-store repairs are as follows:

Franchisees – an explicit procedure of submitting a request; clear information of the request status; the ability to track the request; summary of historic requests per store.

Tesco Franchise Stores – precise allocation of tasks to the involved user and the control over deadlines, a quick overview of all requests; set deadlines for approval by the approver (accelerating the process); fast assessment of requests made by each store; the ability to analyze the workload of internal technician; history of the length of all services provided.

Given the fact that the application is entirely universal and able to define additional processes by a trained employee on the client-side, further processes are developed without the assistance of Neit Consulting. And so, there are 9 previously defined internal processes currently in use, with more to come.

“Concerning the demand of making our internal communication clearer and more efficient, we were looking for a flexible tool, that would comply with the majority of our specific processes in addition to being user friendly. The Team Assistant application has set explicit rules for communication between franchisees and the headquarters. A huge advantage of the application is the option to save further costs thanks to the ability to define additional processes on our own, without any further assistance from Neit Consulting consultants.”