Initially specified by Kingfisher IT Services (KITS), the IT Division of the Kingfisher Group, the main shareholder of Castorama, the project for deployment of the SAP Finance solution in its CASTORAMA Poland subsidiary was entrusted to Sopra Group at the end of 2009.  This inclusive price project, was carried out in line with the plan initially fixed, in terms of cost, lead time and quality, and has just been finalised.

First-rate international cooperation
The success of this project is based on close cooperation and this was the rule applied for a nine-month period by the teams in three companies:

• Kingfisher IT Services France. Based in Templemars near Lille, KITS France supervises the Group’s IT projects in Continental Europe and compliance with the functional specifications defined by the Group. 
• The Sopra Group Pooled Services Centre in Lille. Responsible for implementation of the project and guarantor of the solution, Sopra Group handled steering and the architecture and developed the necessary interfaces with the systems in place. 
• BCC, a company in Warsaw. Already a local partner of Castorama and Sopra Group before this project, BCC is one of the most reputable integrators in Poland. BCC’s Polish consultants handled the setup of parameters, training and user support in coordination with Sopra Group.

According to Catherine LEGRAND, Studies Manager at KITS France, "It’s a real success".
“The atmosphere of cooperation in which we worked was a decisive element in the successful completion of this project,” confirmed Hervé BOMPERIN, Manager of the Project for Sopra Group.

A project with promise for the future
Third-Party Application Maintenance (TMA) of the SAP Finance system has also been entrusted to Sopra Group Lille and its Pooled Services Centre, which, as a result, has added to its customer portfolio.
With 70 stores, Castorama’s Polish subsidiary is one of the largest in Europe. The deployment of SAP Finance in this subsidiary will act as a model for future deployment in other Castorama subsidiaries in Europe.