“Without BigPicture, it would not be possible to run SAFe or PI planning in the way we want. That's pretty clear.”
Victor Manuel Mena, head of ITSM, Holcim
Holcim's journey to agile excellence
Holcim, the world’s largest manufacturer of construction materials, recently embarked on an agile transformation journey on Jira Cloud. The company’s EMEA Digital Service Center needed a more structured and scalable approach to managing its projects.
Holcim's teams relied primarily on ServiceNow for incident, change, and release management, in addition to various ad-hoc tools like Excel. Although Jira was already in use across some teams, it primarily served as a ticketing tool rather than a platform for agile project management. This disjointed approach led to inefficiencies and made it difficult to manage the complexity of large-scale agile projects effectively. To streamline its processes, the company decided to roll out Jira more widely across the organization and adopt the SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) methodology.
The role of TecnoFor by Sngular in Holcim’s agile transformation
Holcim teamed up with TecnoFor by Sngular, experts in agile transformations, to lead the successful adoption of SAFe and implement a comprehensive project management solution with BigPicture. From the very beginning, TecnoFor by Sngular consultants were deeply integrated into Holcim’s teams, providing expert guidance and support throughout the transformation process.
TecnoFor by Sngular’s involvement extended beyond implementing tools; they were crucial in training the team, participating actively in PI planning sessions, and offering continuous support online. Their commitment was evident as they stayed involved until the third or fourth PI planning cycle, ensuring that Holcim’s teams were not only effectively onboarded but also fully equipped to carry out SAFe practices independently.
“It was a great experience working with TecnoFor by Sngular. They are very supportive and always available. They are very good partners.”
Victor Manuel Mena, head of ITSM, Holcim
Building a complete project management ecosystem with BigPicture
After optimizing Jira for agile methodology, Holcim faced the challenge of executing SAFe, particularly in planning and tracking program increments. To tackle this, they evaluated several tools and chose BigPicture - Project Management & PPM as the ideal solution for managing SAFe within Jira. BigPicture stood out for its seamless integration with Jira, advanced dependency management, and versatile reporting features.
“BigPicture was very adaptable. It was very close to the proposals from SAFe methodology that other tools didn’t have.”
Victor Manuel Mena, head of ITSM, Holcim
Key differentiators
- Seamless integration with Jira: BigPicture offered a direct integration with Jira, allowing Holcim to maintain a single source of truth for all project data. Unlike other tools that replicate Jira data, BigPicture works directly with Jira's database, ensuring real-time updates and consistency across all teams.
“Some other tools are replicating the Jira database and working in offline mode. With BigPicture, we were touching and updating the Jira database directly. It was very appreciated from a technical point of view and also from the operational point of view as well.” – Victor Manuel Mena, head of ITSM, Holcim
- SAFe compliant: Holcim chose BigPicture due to its seamless alignment with the SAFe® framework, which made adopting Agile practices straightforward. The tool's pre-configured templates, such as ART, Program Increment, and Iteration, mirrored SAFe® guidelines closely, providing the flexibility to adapt Jira processes while maintaining alignment with Agile methodologies. This made BigPicture an ideal choice for scaling Agile across Holcim's operations.
- Dependency management: Holcim appreciates BigPicture's advanced dependency mapping. This capability is crucial for PI planning, as it allows teams to visualize and manage complex dependencies across multiple projects, ensuring smoother execution and reducing the risk of bottlenecks.
- Flexible views: BigPicture's flexible layouts allow teams to analyze project data from various angles, catering to Holcim's diverse stakeholder needs for visibility and reporting. The Overview module provides cross-ART visibility and customizable views, while the Program Board visually summarizes features, deliverables, and dependencies, enabling seamless multi-team planning with real-time Jira integration.
Implementation and results
Holcim's adoption of BigPicture - Project Management & PPM has been a game-changer in their agile transformation. Today, BigPicture supports over 140 Holcim users during PI planning sessions, streamlining their work and enhancing collaboration. The tool's ability to handle large-scale agile operations has significantly improved Holcim's efficiency in project execution, making it an indispensable part of their digital transformation.
BigPicture’s seamless integration with Jira, powerful dependency management, and versatile reporting capabilities have enabled Holcim to manage complex projects with greater efficiency and transparency. With the continued support of TecnoFor by Sngular, Holcim is well-positioned to leverage BigPicture as it scales its agile practices globally, ensuring that it remains at the forefront of the construction materials industry.
About Holcim
Holcim is a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions with net sales of CHF 27.0 billion in 2023. Driven by their purpose to build progress for people and the planet, their 63,448 employees are on a mission to decarbonize building, while improving living standards for all. They empower customers across all regions to build better with less, with a broad range of low-carbon and circular solutions, from ECOPact and ECOPlanet to their circular technology platform ECOCycle®. Through innovative systems, from Elevate roofing to PRB insulation, Holcim makes buildings more sustainable in use, driving energy efficiency and green retrofitting. With sustainability at the core of their strategy, they are on the way to becoming a net-zero company with 1.5°C targets validated by SBTi.
About TecnoFor by Sngular
TecnoFor by Sngular, is a technology consulting firm, being Atlassian Platinum Parter, Cloud and ITSM specialized, mastering process automation, Process Mining, and agile methodologies. Its deep knowledge in frameworks and systems allows it to design customized solutions for each business.
Training is also part of its core, as TecnoFor by Sngular have been providing technology training for 20 years in areas such as Process Mining, SAFe, OKR, and Artificial Intelligence, among others.
TecnoFor by Sngular distinguishes each scenario and personalizes every project, equipping the Atlasian community with the necessary knowledge to maintain excellence and competitiveness in the market... and always with passion!
Struggling to run SAFe in Jira? BigPicture gives you built-in PI planning, real-time dependency mapping, and flexible program boards so you can scale Agile without stitching together multiple tools.
Try BigPicture for Jira