Saint-Gobain R&D teams working for the construction businesses as well as the Corporate Innovation team needed a system to replace obsolete in-house developed tools that were difficult to maintain and were seen as not user friendly. This new system would be an opportunity to unify its R&D processes while respecting business specificities, allowing later rollout to other R&D entities or functions (global engineering, marketing, …). Saint-Gobain turned to Planisware in 2018 to help integrate its innovation management and drive efficiency.
Valérie Goletto, Global Administrator for Planisware at Saint-Gobain, shares more on how they implemented the tool within a decentralized structure, how they overcame challenges, and what lessons they’ve learned along the way.
A Global Company with Decentralized Operations
Saint-Gobain, with over 160,000 employees spread across 76 countries was funded nearly 360 years ago. Saint-Gobain has grown from being a mirror manufacturer (famously supplying mirrors for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in France during its construction) to a worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction.
“In R&D, we are around 3,700 researchers worldwide working closely with marketing teams. Our customers are at the core of our innovation,” explained Valerie Goletto.
Saint-Gobain’s organization is decentralized by design, with central and local R&D teams working for the construction businesses allowing them to tailor innovations to local customer needs. “The central teams can bring support to the local teams. With such an organization, we manage a good balance between short, mid and long-term projects”.
This setup is ideal for a company like Saint-Gobain, but it also presents coordination challenges, particularly when it comes to aligning project and portfolio management across multiple business lines.
The Need for a PPM Solution
By 2018, Saint-Gobain needed a more advanced system to manage its innovation projects at a central level. The internal tools they had been using were becoming difficult to maintain, and their use had largely shifted toward budget management rather than project and portfolio oversight.
“We needed a solution that could support our team in driving innovation and promote future growth,” Valérie explained. “We chose Planisware because we wanted to go above budgeting and expand its use to operational project & portfolio management. Our goal was to create a common framework that would allow our different business lines to work together.”
Planisware was adopted as part of a phased approach, with the initial focus on budgeting and reporting. “Our motto has been ‘slow and steady,’” Valérie said. “We knew that transitioning to a new tool would require time and careful planning to avoid overwhelming our teams.”
Implementing Planisware? A Step-by-Step Approach
The implementation of Planisware began with a focus on budget management. “We started with about 60 users and kept the process straightforward,” Valérie recalled. This first phase is the most important for establishing a foundation upon which the company could build.
Once the budgeting functionality was in place, the team expanded Planisware to include portfolio management and later, project management. Today, over 600 users from the R&D and engineering teams rely on Planisware, and the tool has fully replaced the older systems. Valérie emphasized that this phased approach allowed them to grow Planisware’s role organically.
“Each year, we continue to roll out smaller projects aimed at improving existing functionalities and adding new ones, we collaborate closely with our users and gather feedback through surveys to ensure that the tool meets their needs.”
User Adoption and Change Management
Switching from multiple tools to Planisware took effort. One of the biggest hurdles was convincing managers to adopt a tool that wasn’t seen as “free,” compared to the internally developed systems they had been using. Gaining the sponsorship of the R&D Director helped in overcoming this barrier.
“Our R&D Director helped secure the necessary resources and budget for the implementation,” Valérie explained. “Her support was essential, not only during the rollout but also in encouraging broader adoption across the organization.”
Training was another component of the transition. Saint-Gobain invested heavily in training materials, including videos, documentation, and a dedicated SharePoint site for ongoing support. They also used feedback from annual surveys to prioritize topics that users found challenging.
“There will always be a mix of users—some who are eager to adopt new tools and others who are more resistant,” Valérie said. “We focused on those who were willing to experiment and provide constructive feedback. Their enthusiasm helped persuade others of the tool’s value.”
The surveys revealed that portfolio managers appreciated having a single source of truth for managing their projects, but project leaders still saw Planisware primarily as a reporting tool. “We’re working on changing that perception by refining our internal project management processes and positioning the tool as a key resource for day-to-day management,” Valérie said.
Ensuring Data Quality
When it comes to data quality, it’s a challenge that every business faces. “Our users need to trust the numbers,” Valérie emphasized. “We have three administrators who oversee data quality across our key business lines and perform regular checks, particularly during critical periods like the annual budget process and long-range planning. We are exchanging on a weekly basis to share our experience and best practices in our respective perimeter.”
Saint-Gobain has also implemented specific data management rules within Planisware to ensure accuracy. “Cost controllers use dedicated reporting features to cross-check data consistency, and user permissions prevent unauthorized changes during the budget process,” Valérie explained.
What’s Next for Saint Gobain?
Looking ahead, Saint-Gobain plans to extend the use of Planisware to new users. “We would like to embark project team members so that project leaders can assign tasks directly within the platform and track progress more effectively,” Valérie said. “Another step could be to improve resource management to better allocate team members and avoid overloading or underutilizing staff.”
In the long term, Saint-Gobain aims to onboard local teams into Planisware to improve communication and collaboration across its decentralized structure. “Today, mostly the central teams are using Planisware,” Valérie noted. “Integrating local teams would significantly enhance the dialogue between our central and local teams, allowing us to work more cohesively.”
Valérie offers an important lesson for other organizations embarking on similar journeys: “Sponsorship is key. Having strong leadership support is essential for a successful implementation.”
She also emphasized the importance of aligning digital tools with well-defined processes. “Digital solutions are only as effective as the processes they support. Refining our project and portfolio management practices has allowed Planisware to work for us,”
By implementing Planisware step by step, engaging users through feedback, and ensuring data quality, Saint-Gobain has paved a path towards management in a decentralized organization. With plans for further enhancements, the future of Planisware at Saint-Gobain looks brighter than ever.
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