Novéal: digitise project management using a user-friendly, scalable and easy-to-access tool
The mission, in short...
- Year : 2021
- Country : France
- Sector : Green chemistry and biotechnologies
- Client : Novéal (L’Oréal Group)
- Type of assignment : Digitisation of project management
Background and challenges: digitising project management processes and methodology
L’Oréal’s strategic entity, Novéal is at the interface between the Group’s Operations and Research to create more responsible and sustainable cosmetic ingredients thanks to its expertise in green chemistry and biotechnologies. From its three French sites (Le Thillay, Tours and Mourenx), the company develops and industrialises exclusive and high-performance ingredients to meet the beauty needs of consumers around the world and contributes to optimising the L’Oréal value chain.
In March 2021, Novéal wanted to digitise its project management methodology and processes, which until then were based on office media manually integrated into an EDM system (electronic document management). For the company, the aim was to obtain a user-friendly tool, easy to access and able to embed ancillary documents (Excel files, PowerPoint presentations, etc.).
The mission: creation of a project management tool based on Microsoft Power Platform
The implementation choice: Dataverse vs Share Point
To digitise Novéal’s project management processes, the Talan teams first proposed a Dataverse-based tool. This solution had the greatest number of advantages, including:
- faster application design
- possibilities for managing advanced processes
However, the use of Dataverse also required the acquisition of new licences by the L’Oréal group. As this functionality was not available at project launch, Novéal opted for a Share Point-based solution. Although less complete, this solution may nevertheless evolve according to the needs of the company, and be transferred to Dataverse on the day that L’Oréal acquires additional licenses.
An iterative and collaborative project supported by the Management
Completed in just a few months, this project has also been a human success. First of all, Novéal was able to count on the support of its Management, which had made this project a priority. Then, a six-person project group was mobilised throughout implementation to ensure that the solution was consistent with the company's needs. Ongoing dialogue and testing with the Talan teams allowed us to steer the work in the right direction and quickly achieve the desired result.
The results: centralised and easy-to-access project management
In the summer of 2021, just a few months after the start of the mission, Novéal obtained a central and easy-to-access tool that guarantees end-to-end monitoring, even in the event of mobility of project managers. In addition, the company now has access to the history of its closed projects as well as all related documents.
Project data is hosted on a platform accessible by other stakeholders (e.g. employees of other L’Oréal group entities), and project managers now have the opportunity to easily organise their meetings in Microsoft Teams.
Key success factors
- Microsoft Power Platform expertise: Novéal called on Talan for its expertise in Microsoft Power Platform and its ability to quickly deploy a tool that meets the needs of the company.
- Adaptation to the customer context: the Talan teams took into account L'Oréal's technical constraints to propose a viable and scalable solution and alternative.
- Novéal’s involvement: Novéal’s management has made the project a priority and the six members of the project team have made themselves available to work with Talan to achieve the best possible solution.