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Power Platform Microsoft ERP Retail and wholesale Low-code

Case R-kioski

A very demanding ERP system for 250 companies was built for R-kioski – "The project succeeded excellently within the desired schedule and budget"

R-kioski needed to renew its ERP system, which handles the financial administration and business operations of R-kioski Ltd and about 250 franchise companies. A very experienced partner was sought for the project, and Digia was chosen as the supplier. The demanding project succeeded within the desired schedule and budget, and the result was of high quality, thanks Maria Sjöroos, CIO, CDO and CPO of R-kioski.

R-kioski is an entrepreneur-driven convenience chain with over a hundred years of history in Finland. The chain includes about 360 R-kiosks around the country. The company is part of the larger Reitan Convenience Group, which serves customers in approximately 2,000 stores in the Nordic and Baltic markets.

In R-kioski's business model, franchisees are offered comprehensive background services so entrepreneurs can focus on their core business and serving customers. Retailers are also provided with all the necessary systems, and a common ERP system serving entrepreneurs is in use. Its data is needed by all merchant systems, such as replenishment systems, POS systems, and reporting systems.

Maria Sjöroos, CIO, CDO and CPO at R-kioski, says this makes the IT environment very demanding.

"There are about 250 retailer companies, which is a really big mass. R-kioski Ltd is a support organisation for retailers that contractually manages various services on behalf of entrepreneurs. We calculate and pay the salaries of all companies, do the bookkeeping and compile the income statements."

The challenge is increased because R-kiosks typically make smaller one-off purchases, and retailers order many small quantities of different products from suppliers. It generates huge transaction volumes for the systems. Sjöroos says that this places high demands on the performance of the ERP system.

In addition to financial administration, the system also maintains basic information about all kiosks, products, and campaigns and forwards kiosk orders and invoices. Also, the masses are large in them.

What we did

What we used

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management
  • Microsoft Power Platform
  • Microsoft Power BI
  • Microsoft Azure Data Lake

I haven't seen many ERP projects where the schedule, budget, and agreed-upon scope have been adhered to while the quality has been good. Our whole team thinks that the project went really well.

Maria Sjöroos, CIO, CDO and CPO, R-kioski

The demanding system renewal required a competent and experienced supplier

Previously, R-kioski used Microsoft's older Dynamics AX ERP system to serve entrepreneurs. However, its technical life cycle was ending.

R-kioski decided to migrate to Microsoft's cloud-based Dynamics 365 ERP system. This allowed it to utilise the development work carried out on the previous system and the user experience accumulated by the users of R-kioski Ltd's support organisation.

R-kioski found that an experienced operator was needed to supply a very demanding system, and a request for information about the project was sent to a few IT suppliers.

"This ERP system is the heart of what we do. The system has all master data that goes to different systems through integrations. The system also receives all information from elsewhere and converts it to direct suppliers, for example. It all makes the ERP system very complex," says Sjöroos.

Based on the request for information and further discussions, R-kioski chose Digia as its partner.

"When we compared Digia's experience and expertise in such systems, especially the D365 Commerce share, with other operators, it gave one clear reason for the choice," Sjöroos says.

The project was completed quickly, with high quality and on budget

The project started in January 2023 and progressed at a rapid pace. The commissioning was originally scheduled for January 2024, but it was postponed to the beginning of March to allow more time for testing and not overlap with the rush of financial administration at the beginning of the year.

"The project was a success, and the schedule chosen for the project was also kept. The project did not last long, considering the scope of the work. The budget was also very good for Digia," Sjöroos praises.

This is based on Digia's sophisticated delivery model, which enables high-quality work to be carried out on a tight schedule. Sjöroos also gives special thanks to the professional project manager hired by R-kioski.

In addition to the ERP system, R-kioski's business analytics and reporting were also renewed in the project. Previously, reporting was done using a solution connected to the old ERP system, which could no longer be connected to the new system. It was replaced by the modern Microsoft Power BI solution.

Due to the project's complexity, R-kioski wanted to build ERP and reporting solutions side by side so that some of the development teams included the same people. Sjöroos praises Digia's flexibility in constantly adjusting the project's resourcing to serve R-kioski's needs best.

"Digia has highly skilled consultants and experts"

R-kioski is satisfied with the new, modern and high-quality system.

"Many things work more smoothly, and data transfers, for example, can be managed completely differently than before. Dynamics 365 also communicates well with Microsoft's Power BI and Power Apps, which we use to handle some tasks," Sjöroos says.

However, he says this is only the first part of the reform. The new system enables even more automation of tasks.

A good example is creating new products and campaigns, which requires manually adding information to POS systems and marketing materials. Sjöroos says that the new ERP system makes it possible to automate such steps, making practical work much easier.

Sjöroos praises Digia's smooth cooperation. The project demanded the supplier's expertise, and Sjöroos says that R-kioski's wishes were fulfilled.

"Digia's operations and quality met our expectations before the selection. Digia has highly skilled consultants and experts. Our employees have received a lot of support from them and learned a lot from them," Sjöroos says.

R-kioski also appreciated Digia's cooperation with Microsoft Finland, which supported some aspects of the project. Now, the cooperation between Digia and R-kioski continues, for example, in continuous services and further system development.

"We are very proud of the success of this project. I haven't seen many ERP projects where we have stayed on schedule, on budget and to the agreed extent, while at the same time the quality has been good," says Sjöroos.

"Our entire team here at R-kioski thinks the project went really well."