The customer
The aim of the Belgian Horse Federation (Confédération Belge du Cheval) is to defend the interests of its members and the equine sector in general. The federation represents the sector with the federal authorities, the Brussels-Capital Region and the professional organisations at federal and European level.
The CBC would like to provide the equine sector with transparent information on various federal matters, not just regarding the obligatory identification of all equidea in Belgium but also on the welfare of the animals, information on the supply chain, VAT, etc.
The project
The customer had a data base which had become obsolete (built in 2006), containing 180,000 customer references. Further to data cleaning (doubles, errors, etc.) this was slashed to 80,000 references.
The customer was looking for a data base and a central IT system.
Contraste Digital performed an initial screening to understand CBC’s overall expectations, followed by a more detailed analysis using wireframe. The federation called on the expertise of Contraste Digital to decide and direct the screening and the selection of users.
Regular guidance was put in place by way of in-house training sessions to enable the teams to manage the tool on a self-reliant basis. We also compiled a 400-page manual on how to use the platform, with the aim of helping the federation’s teams to get to know the tool.
Goals
- To optimise the work: facilitate and expedite the work to be done
- Financial target: driving down the number of errors and double data entry
- To enhance the service delivery to customers : deliver greater responsiveness through direct access to the information. Prior the new system, all processes were paper-based.
- Full traceability : which horse is owned by whom ?
Approach
Contraste Digital conducted a first level analysis to understand global expectations of CBC and then a more detailed analysis was done with wireframe to support it. The confederation relied on Contraste Digital's expertise to decide and direct the analysis and the choices of the users.
Regular support through internal training has been put in place to make teams independent in the management of the tool. A 400-page manual on the use of the platform was also drafted, always with the aim of helping the confederation teams to assimilate the tool.
Solution
The challenges encountered in the implementation of the new solution were :
- People :
- Aligning the different views within the organisation: the national and regional level and the breeders
- Managing 50 contacts
- Resistance to change : getting the people at the federation to embrace a web application in the way they operate
- Financial : budgetary constraints soon emerged, as the needs had initially been poorly defined, the budget had been underestimated and quickly exhausted. Subsequently each development had to be justified in terms of return on investment, benefits and drawbacks, etc.
- Technology : integration with third party systems, such as archiving system (DIAS), accounting and online payment software (Winbooks) and Business Intelligence.
Conclusion
Upon completion of the project, the CBC has a very comprehensive application, which is synonymous with :
- Time savings
- Operational efficiency which has substantially slashed the processing time (of inquiries, requests, etc.) and the number of errors
At the present stage, around one year after the solution was deliver, 70% of requests are processed through the online channel.
The next step is likely to be a closer integration with other partners: the Federal Agency for Food Chain Safety, veterinaries, slaughterhouses, etc. Some partners are asking for the application to be further upgraded in this sense.