With its international growth, CMA CGM needed a tool capable of supporting and streamlining its major business processes.
CMA CGM is a global leader in shipping and logistics committed to the energy transition. The company works to reduce the environmental impact of its activities and does so with a pioneering mindset: acting today with the best solutions available. With a young and diversified fleet of 494 vessels, the CMA CGM Group serves more than 420 commercial ports out of 521 worldwide. The group operates on all the world's seas with more than 200 maritime services. Thanks to its global presence and high-performance vessels such as the CMA CGM Bougainville, the CMA CGM Group transported 18.95 million TEUs last year.
Key figures
- $21.6 billion in revenue
- Presence in 160 countries
- Network of more than 755 offices
- 30.000 employees
Context and challenges
Due to the growth and international expansion of CMA CGM, the company required an integrated tool to support and streamline major processes such as Demand management, Project management, Forecast management (resource demand), Time and activity management, Budget management (portfolio budgeting), and Resource management.
In 2016, an urgent need arose to replace an obsolete timesheet management tool that had been discontinued by its vendor. Previously, CMA CGM used several different tools for project and demand management, including Microsoft Project, IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC), and Microsoft Excel. They also relied on other tools such as Readmine, TeamTrack for demand management, IT Smart for forecasting, and separate tools for timesheet management. The main problem with these tools was that they were not interconnected, making it difficult and time-consuming to find the correct information.
The Planisware Orchestra solution
In 2016, due to the urgency of the situation, Planisware Orchestra was quickly and easily implemented within the IT department. The initial scope included Timesheet management, Demand management, and Project management. This implementation demonstrated that Planisware Orchestra can be deployed quickly and adapted to various organizational needs and requirements.
How it is used
Later, in 2018, due to its success, the scope of Planisware Orchestra was expanded to include additional capabilities: Forecast management, Resource management, and Portfolio budget management.
Initially, Orchestra was used only by the IT department. Because of its success, it is now used by several other departments, including Shared Services Center, eCommerce, IT Shared Services, and Digital Lab. Today, CMA CGM relies on a single tool across multiple departments to manage different processes and tasks, instead of using numerous disconnected tools.
Another important aspect of the Orchestra implementation was the method used to deploy it. The system was implemented step by step, one module at a time, rather than through a “big bang” approach where all features are deployed simultaneously. This incremental method helped avoid confusion and misuse.
User feedback at CMA CGM has been largely positive. Users found Orchestra clean and user-friendly. Processes were clearly defined, documented, and shared, and users received proper training after the implementation.
Finally, the rich configuration features of Planisware Orchestra helped create simple and clear models for complex workflows, enabling smoother execution of work.
