HKScan is a diverse food company that produces high-quality, responsibly produced products for homes, schools, workplaces and restaurants. The company’s home markets are Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the Baltic countries. In addition, HKScan has export customers around the world. (www.hkscan.com)
Good cooperation with Thinking Portfolio brings more transparency and structure to projects
Regular review of the existing product range and new innovations is an important part of HKScan’s production process. The new Product Development Portfolio allows for a more comprehensive review and a better overview of the actual number of projects at different stages and in different areas at a glance. Development Manager Tuomas Turkki finds it easy to monitor the progress of projects with the portfolio and sees that it has also brought clarity to project management, in addition to strengthening the systematic nature of the whole product development process.
-Overall, transparency in our product development pipeline has improved significantly. Not only can we immediately see the big picture and where each project is planned for in the launch cycle, we can also easily review projects in more detail than before.
HKScan’s product development portfolio is configured on Thinking Portfolio’s pre-built portfolio management platform. Tuomas was involved in the implementation of the new product development portfolio from the beginning, mapping the needs of the organisation even before the actual implementation project with Thinking Portfolio got underway. This upfront work and HKScan’s active teamwork together with Thinking Portfolio’s consultants guaranteed an excellent outcome.
-Once we knew what we needed, it helped to streamline the already clear and agile Thinking Portfolio implementation model. If something was still under consideration during the workshops, we were always well supported by the supplier’s experienced application consultants. This allowed us to use their practical experience to build our own product development portfolio.
The Thinking Portfolio product development portfolio provides excellent support for its user
It’s easy to list positive user experiences, says Tuomas. The use of Thinking Portfolio’s product development portfolio has improved planning and projects are kept on schedule better. Having a visual overview of the projects in the product development area, and where there is room for improvement, makes it easier to prioritise between projects. Projects can be downsized or added to the pipeline if necessary. You can easily go back to old completed projects using the archiving feature, and you can also use the historical data to plan for the future.
The portfolio’s filtering capabilities and ready-made presentation templates are highly appreciated by HKScan users. No one needs to compile project information into separate reports or other presentations outside the portfolio. Creating project-specific to-do lists in the portfolio will greatly help in monitoring the progress of the project and forming a status overview. Users can keep track of their own tasks through a simple Kanban view, where tasks collected from different projects can be filtered by author or by project.
Users review the projects in the portfolio themselves, both those involved in the projects and the management team. Reports and presentation templates are ready in the portfolio and, depending on the filter, can be used as such for different situations.
-Reports are easy to understand and visual. The portfolio view alone is an excellent reporting tool. Separate reports may not be needed at all.
– It’s much easier than before to make updates to projects in internal product development meetings, and users can easily see what has been implemented in a project.
The next step in expanding the use of the portfolio at HKScan is the introduction of project prioritisation features, and in the future it is likely that the portfolio’s versatile resourcing features will also be used more.
Thinking Portfolio does not leave the client struggling alone
As a supplier, Thinking Portfolio is also praised for the fact that the client has not been left alone even after the implementation. Thinking Portfolio has been very active in keeping in touch, asking how the product development portfolio is going and offering to help whenever needed. Tuomas also mentions the supplier’s application support, which has been excellent, providing support immediately when requested. There have been no technical problems with the portfolio either.
-The technical functionality of the portfolio has been solid all along and there have been no challenges. We have also done further development on the portfolio, and this has worked very smoothly. Demo Corner events organised by Thinking Portfolio have provided us with more information about ongoing development and new features that we can add to our development portfolio if we want to. It’s great to have help and insight when needed. The dialogue between Thinking Portfolio and us works very well. Highly recommended!
Tuomas Turkki
Utvecklingschef
HKScan
