How the Oberalp Group used Twproject to reduce the number of project management tools and increase transparency across global compless projects

The challenge

With a portfolio of 6 brands, each delivering highly engineered mountain and outdoor wear, the Oberalp Group has been supplying athletes, climbers and mountaineers for decades.

As the company grew, so too did the number of project management tools in use across the business. The company used to have seven tools, which were not aligned as they were implemented over time. One department had even built their own software, and two marketing teams were using different products despite having similar needs.

There was room for improvement here and Oberalp was ready to go a step further.

At any one time, Oberalp is managing long-term technical development projects structured in a predictive way, alongside creative work using agile approaches, and partnering with organizations like the EU and universities for research initiatives. 

“It can take years to bring a new concept to market. We test our products with athletes who give us feedback, and you need at least one season for testing in the snow.”

The company wanted a single dashboard to see what was being developed across each brand, category, and product while still allowing teams to work autonomously. It was time to bring Oberalp on to one project management platform. 

With Twproject we can bridge the different cultural approaches and methodology approaches as it is a very flexible and adaptable tool

Approach

• Methodologies: Oberalp needed a tool that could support both predictive and iterative projects, enabling each team to choose the most appropriate approach. Twproject supports both out-of-the-box.
• Change management: No team was using Twproject, so it was a change for everyone. Oberalp imported past project data to make the transition easier.
• Transparent timelines: Oberalp’s business is a seasonal business. Development timelines for each item in a collection must converge to hit the market at the same point to deliver a complete system of products to the customer. Twproject makes that data transparent, enabling decision-making across divisions. 
• Ongoing improvements: As Twproject releases new features, Oberalp benefits instantly as they have no need for bespoke customizations.

Results

• Reduced 7 tools to 1 for product development.
• Improved transparency across cross-divisional projects
• Improved cost control

Reduced tool set

Since implementing Twproject, Oberalp has benefitted from having everyone on the same tool. 

“The Twproject team has been accommodating in an intelligent way. We had some special requests, and once we explained them, it was clear they could be useful for other customers as well. Twproject was able to put the requests into the mainstream development so all customers benefit.”

As well as the good working relationship with Twproject, another benefit is the reduced maintenance and IT costs as a result of streamlining to a single solution. 

Improved transparency

Prior to implementing Twproject, project progress information was fragmented across multiple systems. The Oberalp team can now see all projects connected with each brand, category or product. The increased transparency helps with cross-brand, cross-divisional meetings and decision-making. 

“A binding that went into development years ago has to be in the color of the helmet developed for this season.”

It’s not only the aesthetics of a collection that benefit from projects sharing a common dashboard. The technical elements of how each piece connects to the others have to come together too. Twproject helps the team deliver projects with the confidence that seasonal deadlines will be met regardless of the development path or methodology used in every department.

Improved cost control

The Oberalp Group prides itself on innovative solutions.

“Innovation projects have to be agile and are often financed by grants. We have to send reports of development hours and costs to the funding agency.”

Oberalp employees do not generally record their time, but for research projects where cost control is essential, Twproject makes it easy. It reduces the overhead associated with time recording and makes it faster to collect data for sponsoring organizations.

The bottom line

Since implementing TWproject, Oberalp has been able to streamline its approach to project management and increase transparency throughout the global team while cutting IT costs. As a family business, Oberalp is unique, because the team shares a passion and motivation that goes beyond work.

“It’s the people, we try to create the conditions for people to do their best and to help them do better.”

Twproject is a way of empowering employees to collaborate in bringing positive change.

At Twproject, they are very competent people. They are not only suppliers, but they are also partners. That’s the most important thing