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Case Valio

Valio chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 as its supplier management system

Valio needed a supplier management solution that would prevent information from being scattered among emails and spreadsheets. The solution was Microsoft Dynamics 365, which now helps Valio to comprehensively manage both its suppliers and ingredient procurements.

 

Valio was looking for a supplier management solution that would be as visual, clear and automated as possible.

“The contact details for our suppliers were usually to be found in the email account of a procurement specialist or buyer. We didn’t have a centralised location where their colleagues could also find contact information for suppliers. We wanted a clear system that would collate this information, so we would no longer have to rely on emails and spreadsheets,” says Valio’s Pia Kivelä. 

Valio explored alternatives from several system suppliers.

“On the basis of our requirements and a presentation given by the Digia D365 team, we decided that Dynamics 365 would be the best and clearest system for us. Even on the basis of this short demo, it was clearly the most visual solution and the one that would best meet our needs,” says Kivelä.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 enables the comprehensive management of both suppliers and ingredient procurements. The system contains information about all of Valio’s suppliers and procurements. It also contains details of all the requirements placed on suppliers and their current status. The system provides suppliers’ contact details, along with supplier complaints, audits and assessments.

You can also see all the requirements for ingredient procurements, such as those for use in baby food or organic produce. And to top it all off, the system also has a project monitoring feature that provides information about ongoing projects and their progress.

What we did

  • ERP

What we used

The system project went extremely smoothly. It was evident that the Digia D365 team had a lot of experience in similar projects, as everything was under complete control.

Pia Kivelä, Valio

A model project

“The system project went extremely smoothly. I have nothing bad to say about it. Everything started on time and was clearly ordered and scheduled. Communications were clear and consistent. It was evident that the Digia D365 team had a lot of experience in similar projects, as everything was under complete control,” says Kivelä.

Valio introduced the Dynamics 365 system in November 2018. The deployment phase always poses a challenge, as you need to get everyone using the new system on a daily basis.

“We’d already given people a lot of information about the system in advance. Personnel were eagerly looking forward to the introduction of the new system and wanted to see what it was like. There have, of course, been some challenges, as not everyone has fully internalised the idea of the new system and what can be done with it, in spite of training,” says Kivelä.

However, the system’s benefits are already evident.

“Our suppliers’ contact details used to be floating around in emails, with each buyer being responsible for their own contacts. But now, for example, we have a trainee who is carrying out a small project that requires contact information for suppliers, and this information was readily available in the system. The trainee did not have to ask anyone for the information. We also use Dynamics’ dashboards to monitor our indicators. It’s made our daily work a lot easier,” says Kivelä.

“Digia knows exactly what to do”

Valio has been very satisfied with Digia as a partner.

“Digia is a great partner. Really agile yet still very consistent and systematic. And Digia knows exactly what to do. They have a clear vision and define the requirements very accurately. With Digia there are no major changes to the budget or workload, as they seek to take everything into account in the early stages of the project,” says Kivelä.

“We were promised the best project team and I’d like to thank Digia for keeping that promise. They were indeed a fantastic project team, particularly in the way they were able to focus so thoroughly on our daily activities that they knew how to implement a solution that would best meet our specific needs,” says Kivelä.

Pia Kivelä gave Digia’s project a score of 10 out of 10.

Future plans

Valio intends to further develop its system in the future.

“We definitely want to add more information to the system, such as how much money we pay to each supplier and what volume of purchases are acquired from each supplier. We already have this information available in a separate system, but we’d like it all in Dynamics,” says Kivelä.

“We’re also exploring the possibility of expanding the system to our suppliers sometime in the future, so that they would also be able to access their own data,” she says.