Retail / Downstream
From Fragmented Capital Projects to Unified Delivery
Primary Area
OPM
Service Area
Project Management (Demand, Program Management)
Products Used
Project Online, Power Platform
Roles Impacted
Portfolio Managers, Project Managers
Impact Highlight
75% of unapproved spend exceptions caught before Execution
Opportunity
A large fuel & convenience retail chain ran capital programs through disconnected legacy PPM/EPM/SPM tools and exception‑riddled processes—an opportunity to rebuild governance and data quality. Fast‑tracked vendor initiatives frequently bypassed approvals and stage gates, leaving leadership without a reliable view of spend, timeline, or store readiness.
Critical data scattered across customized on‑prem Microsoft Project Server 2013, plus hundreds of spreadsheets & email chains.
Inconsistent capital approval workflow; regions negotiated vendor starts before funding authorization.
No single project ID across finance, construction, IT, and store ops; manual reconciliations delayed reporting.
Schedule templates varied by program; percent‑complete meant different things in different systems.
Compliance exceptions common for environmental, safety, and payment hardware rollouts, degrading audit trails.
Solution
We aligned stakeholders, clarified required vs. optional governance, and established a common data taxonomy tied to capital budgeting rules. Our consultants implemented a Microsoft‑centric platform anchored on Project Online and the Power Platform to unify demand capture, capital gating, scheduling, and progress reporting.
People: Executive steering group; PMO competency uplift via role‑based training in Project Online, Power Apps intake, and financial coding; change champions in each region.
Process: Standard stage‑gate for capital approval (Intake → Feasibility → Funding → Execution → Closeout) enforced through Power Automate flows; variance management rules; automated compliance evidence capture in SharePoint Online.
Technology: Migration from Project Server 2013 and Excel Spreadsheets into Project Online with Azure Data Factory ETL; Power Apps front end for project intake & capital request forms; Dataverse as governed data hub; Power BI executive dashboards; Teams integration for collaboration; Azure AD security & conditional access.
Integration: Replicating actuals and WBS information from SAP; asset IDs synced to store systems; vendor performance data ingested.
Governance Automation: Policy engine flags exceptions, routes approvals, and locks budgets once funded; audit trails retained.
Impact
The client now runs all capital and store improvement projects through a governed, data‑driven pipeline with real‑time visibility from request through closeout. A unified demand and program management system built on Project Online and the Power Platform standardized intake, scheduling, and progress tracking—cutting project initiation time by 50% and eliminating blind spots locations.
Data quality score (completeness + accuracy) improved.
Capital forecast variance reduced; unapproved spend exceptions down 70% due to enforced gating.
On‑time / on‑budget completion rate improved.
Audit findings related to project documentation dropped; regulatory response time cut from weeks to days.
Executive portfolio reporting cycle shrank from to same‑day self‑service in Power BI.
Field construction teams report ~30% less manual data entry due to automated schedule and cost code creation.