Arcadia deploys cloud-based project management tool from CA

CA Clarity PPM will give the retail giant better visibility of projects across its seven brands

Arcadia, the UK's largest privately owned retailer, has begun deploying a cloud-based project management tool from CA Technologies that will be used across the group.

Brands owned by Arcadia include Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins.

The web-based version of CA's Clarity Project and Portfolio Manager will provide Arcadia with a centralised electronic record of all the group's projects that will help to improve the speed and accuracy of status reports.

"We chose the on-demand version of CA Clarity PPM to achieve a quick return on investment," said Andrew Clarke, group IT director at Arcadia.

"The cloud-based solution shortened the deployment time for us and lowered our outgoing costs," he added.

Before implementing the CA system, Arcadia was managing up to 50 IT and e-commerce projects through a collection of legacy systems and spreadsheets.

These included a Notes-based timesheet system and numerous bespoke applications.

The lack of a centralised system to manage projects meant that the IT team had been finding it difficult to control costs.

A reliance on paper-based reporting also created difficulties for the business systems manager to monitor the status of each individual IT project.

"This solution will act as a centralised project management tool, giving us increased visibility of projects across our 2,000-plus stores and seven retail brands; enabling improved resource planning and head office reporting," said Clarke.