THE BUSINESS
The MYTOYS GROUP is the No.1 online retailer of family shopping in Europe and the leading Omni-channel provider for children’s products in Germany. Based in Berlin, the MYTOYS GROUP has operated www.myToys.de, the leading online toy store in Germany, since 1999. The company also boasts over 14 physical storefronts and more than 1,500 employees.
THE CHALLENGE
myToys has long relied on the Oracle E-Business Suite. When the company planned an upgrade from version 11.5.10 to version 12.2.5 in August 2015, a smooth upgrade was imperative.
“Our goal when upgrading to the latest version of Oracle was to make our ERP system more flexible and economically enhanced for the future, by updating the E-Business Suite and the underlying technologies. During the project, the team first worked to ensure that existing functionality would work on the upgraded system. To manage the process without risk, we opted for Panaya,” said Ralf Schmilewski, ERP Development Manager at myToys.
THE SOLUTION
Schmilewski continued, “Using Panaya CloudQuality™ Suite, we were able to get a precise idea of the scope of the project. Accordingly, we were able to create our project planning more effectively. The fact that Panaya CloudQuality Suite has a catalog of all changes between the versions has given us the confidence to conduct the upgrade smoothly.”
To ensure the quality of ERP changes, Panaya CloudQuality Suite enables full transparency before the upgrade and indicates possible sources of error – helping resolve problems before they happen. Panaya CloudQuality Suite provides all the reports needed to identify code that is no longer used in the system and can be deleted. Moreover, myToys was able to use Panaya to document test cases and track test progress.
The team at myToys especially appreciated Panaya’s ongoing validation analysis, which gave them visibility over open and resolved issues during the testing phase. François Canonne, project manager at myToys, noted, “The tool fits well with the agile project approach practice at myToys and gave the employees involved the opportunity to work independently.”
When a myToys developer would mark a task as closed, Panaya would check to ensure the task was actually completed. This built-in quality assurance helped ensure that the upgrade ran with zero defects. Without Panaya, the analysis phase at myToys would have been much more laborious. Saving time during analysis lead to a very clear return on investment for the company.
THE RESULTS: ZERO DEFECTS, LIVE ON TIME
Ralf Schmilewski added, “With Panaya, the project was successful and completed on schedule. We are very happy with the result – which is really not easy in ERP projects. We have to credit this to the Panaya CloudQuality Suite, among other things. At the push of a button, we could see what had yet to be adjusted in the system. In addition, we could be sure that there would be no surprises and unexpected issues, at least from the technical side.”