Albertsons Implementation Update

With the aggressive go-live plan that was announced by Albertsons earlier this year, we know that many suppliers are eager to get an update on where things stand with the Procurant implementation.

Albertsons and Procurant IT teams have been working very closely since the beginning of May, and we have successfully completed system testing between the two platforms. Last week we started the user testing phase. Albertsons buyers are now actively using Procurant’s test site to test business workflows. This week will be our 2nd week into user acceptance testing (UAT) and so far it is proceeding as planned. We anticipate UAT to be completed by end of the month.

In addition to UAT, we are also working on getting Albertsons set up on Procurant’s production site. A lot goes into this task such as getting all the user data, locations, partner, and catalog data ready. It is similar to the onboarding process on the supplier side.

Catalog setup for retailers is often a major task, requiring significant review and testing before we do the final data upload to production. We plan to have all setup tasks completed by early July.

As I write this update, all the milestones are lining up well and we are on track to meet the initial go-live date of July 12. For this first phase, three distribution centers (DCs) have been identified to be the first to transition to Procurant:

• Auburn
• Spokane
• Anchorage

Starting July 12, all suppliers who receive orders from these three DCs will begin seeing new purchase orders created through Procurant. However, for all in-flight orders that were created through Albertson’s old system prior to July 12, suppliers will still need to access the old system to close out and invoice those orders.

Having worked on numerous retail customer migration and onboarding projects through my career, this project has been fairly smooth. We have a dedicated customer in Albertsons that has remained closely engaged with us right from the start, and they are extremely focused on meeting the stated timelines.

With projects of this scale there can be unexpected bumps or challenges, and if there are any changes to the plan we will do our best to keep the supplier community informed. But for the moment, everything looks good and we are on track for meeting our goals for the big day — July 12.

Check back to the Hubbub regularly, as I'll be posting updates about the progress of this important implementation.