Case Studies on Project Management in Automotive Environment

Car manufacturing and sales has become a complex and multi-faceted process that involves many tasks. These tasks include sourcing, production and distribution, marketing, sales and after-sales, and many other tasks. Having a good understanding and experience with project management allows businesses to break down the process into manageable pieces and each project as a separate project. This article will focus on three different automotive programs as seen from the perspective of a project manager.
ETL Solutions Data Integration for Honda
This is something that any car dealer who manages multiple dealerships can relate to. If not managed well, co-ordinating stocking, sales, and client support can be a nightmare. This problem can now be taken to the level of a car manufacturer. Honda UK has 200 independent dealerships that use different Dealer Management Systems (DMS) for sales, accounting and servicing. It’s not like you could force them to use a single DMS.
Honda is a large car manufacturer and it is important that they have a constant connection with their DMS dealers so they can monitor the process and plan production at their UK plant.
ETL Solutions was called to assist Honda with automated car parts replenishment and after-sales customer satisfaction survey. All the DMS could export or produce some type of data. This was a saving grace.
Problem was that data structure varied depending on which DMS was used by each car dealer. ETL Solutions was able to “standardize” the reports using their data centre, providing Honda with consistent data. The entire process is shown in the slideshow below.
The main challenge was to create data processing rules that Honda could accept and process.
Creditplus Finance Calculator by an in-house team
Recently, I participated in a team effort to build a car finance calculator (see the link here) for Creditplus.co.uk, an online finance brokerage.
The challenge was to create a tool that could both be used on-site and distributed to different automotive websites. Interactive tools such as quizzes and calculators are a great way for website visitors to stay longer on the site. It helps increase conversions and promotes the website as visitors who find the tools useful often share the tools with their friends or colleagues.
We had to find a way to embed the tool on partner websites that was as easy as possible because of the differences in how they were constructed and the web proficiency of the owners. It was assumed that most partners had little to no programming knowledge so that only one line of code could be embedded on the site.
We followed the basics of project management and the project went smoothly. This is a testament to the fact that the traditional concept still works in today’s digital age.
Initiation, This involves setting the goal, understanding the purpose and justifying the costs involved in delivering the project. This is a crucial step in a car sales environment. The resources are limited so unless you can justify the effort, the project should be cancelled.
Making a feature list, planning the design process and setting deadlines;
Execution,Ai building the calculator, and testing each stage on different systems (internal or external).
Monitoring and reporting are important. As with all web-based tools, errors can occur. Monitoring is essential to ensure that developers receive immediate feedback when the tool goes wrong.
Ford Resource Management System by Pcubed
Although this is an old project, the execution makes it a great case study.