Sample War Map
Food and beverage War Map
Chilled ready-meal and salad producer · 2 plants in Brittany · 260 employees
Retailer penalties are accepted by default because the proof sits in four places. Quality holds live outside the ERP, and one lot takes 6 h 40 to trace.
A War Map is an operating map built from real cases and expert interviews. It shows where the business is fragile, what that costs, and what to fix first.
What you receive
- 01Operational Reality
How the work really runs: people, systems, handoffs and exceptions.
- 02Findings
What it costs: quantified problems, process gaps and key-person risks.
- 03Implementation plan
What to fix first: prioritized systems, timeline and value drivers.
30 minutes. We recommend the right starting point.
Chilled ready-meal and salad producer · 2 plants in Brittany · 260 employeesThis War Map shows how we turn an operational review into an implementation plan. The dates show a possible sequence; the scope and schedule of a real engagement are agreed with you.
Operational Reality
This is what we deliver: a map of where the business is fragile, what it costs, what to automate first, and which systems should exist so leadership can stop carrying the operation by hand.
Illustrative five-week work plan, January 12 to February 13, 2026. Eleven interview roles across eight departments, both plants and seven systems. The final week is split into synthesis and handover.
Five-week sample timeline · six work blocks
One row per week. Open a week to see each working day.
- Week 1Jan 12 to Jan 16
Orders, plan and quality
Scope set on three retailer accounts. Order intake, planning, holds and penalties shadowed.
People: Philippe Le Gall, Anne-Sophie Kerbrat, Julien Morvan, Nicolas Guého, Sandrine Le Bihan, Gaëlle Pérès, Karine Le Floch
Daily detail · 5 days
Jan 12Kickoff and scopeAgreed the scope: retailer order to delivery, lot traceability, quality holds and penalties. Chose three national retailer accounts and both plants as the shadowing sample.
Philippe Le Gall · CEOSage X3ExcelJan 13Morning EDI order windowShadowed the 5:30 to 9:00 order window. 214 EDI orders arrived. 31 needed a manual edit in Sage X3: unknown article codes, promotion prices, store-specific pack sizes.
Julien Morvan · Customer Service ManagerEDISage X3ExcelJan 14Production plan buildThe weekly plan lives in a 14-tab Excel file. Promotion volumes arrive by email from the key account team. The plan was rebuilt twice that day when orders differed from forecast.
Nicolas Guého · Supply Chain and Planning ManagerExcelSage X3OutlookJan 15Lab results, holds and releaseHeld lots are flagged in the QMS and stay available in Sage X3. Shipping works from a hold list printed at 7:00 and 14:00. Release is changed by hand in both systems.
Sandrine Le Bihan · Quality ManagerQMSSage X3Jan 16Logistics penaltiesRetailers invoiced €412K of logistics penalties in 2025 through four supplier portals, offset against payments. Karine contested 9%. Each dispute needs the order, its changes, the signed delivery note and the carrier arrival time.
Gaëlle Pérès · CFOPortalsSage X3Excel - Week 2Jan 19 to Jan 23
Plant floor and compliance
Mock recall timed, dock and label flows observed, promotions and complaints traced end to end.
People: Sandrine Le Bihan, Thomas Pichon, Yannick Hamon, Camille Tanguy, Élodie Riou, Julien Morvan
Daily detail · 5 days
Jan 19Mock recall on one lotTraced a chicken salad lot. Upstream to raw material lots took 2 h 10. Downstream to warehouses and quantities took 4 h 30, because mixed pallets are built without a lot scan. Total 6 h 40.
Sandrine Le Bihan · Quality ManagerSage X3QMSExcelJan 20Dock shadow from 4:30Picking by remaining shelf life is checked by eye. Each retailer's minimum remaining-life rule is on a laminated sheet by the dock. Three loads were refused in December for short shelf life.
Yannick Hamon · Shipping ManagerSage X3EDIExcelJan 21Recipe, allergen and label changeA supplier mustard change took 19 days to reach the label. Templates are edited in the label software with no link to the Sage X3 recipe. Five people approve by email.
Camille Tanguy · Regulatory and Labelling OfficerLabelsExcelOutlookJan 22Promotion planning with retailersPromotions agreed 6 to 10 weeks ahead sit in Élodie's calendar file. Uplift is estimated by hand and never compared with actual sales afterwards.
Élodie Riou · Key Account ManagerExcelOutlookEDIJan 23Complaint file buildAbout 45 consumer and retailer complaints a month. Each file needs the lot, production record and lab results. Average 2 h 15 per file, of which about 1 hour is searching.
Julien Morvan · Customer Service ManagerQMSOutlookSage X3 - Week 3Jan 26 to Jan 30
Internal analysis
Penalty sample, write-off causes and the lot data flow analysed against 2025 records.
People: No interviews this week
Daily detail · 5 days
Jan 26Penalty sample reviewChecked 380 penalty lines from 2025 against orders, dispatch advices and receipts. 34% had evidence to contest: retailer order changes after cut-off counted as shortages, or late arrivals after the retailer moved the slot.
PortalsSage X3EDIJan 27Write-off root causesMatched 12 months of write-offs, €1.1M or 1.6% of revenue, to promotions and holds. 38% of the value was linked to promotion forecast misses and 22% to holds released too late.
Sage X3ExcelJan 28Lot data flow mapFollowed the lot number from goods receipt to dispatch. Found 4 points where it is keyed again by hand and 1 where it is lost: mixed pallets.
Sage X3QMSEDIJan 29Time allocation studyCoded shadowing notes and task logs for the 11 interview roles into five time categories.
Jan 30Procedure vs practiceCompared the documented IFS procedures with observed practice for 17 workflows. Separated necessary food-safety checks from re-keying.
- Week 4Feb 2 to Feb 6
Opportunities and plan
8 initiatives scored, night shift checked, value model and 16-week roadmap drafted.
People: Thomas Pichon
Daily detail · 5 days
Feb 2Opportunity scoringScored 8 initiatives across 3 departments on food-safety impact, value, complexity and dependencies.
Feb 3Night shift checkChecked findings against the night shift. Production declarations are keyed at the end of the shift, so lot stock is 6 to 8 hours late in Sage X3 every morning.
Thomas Pichon · Production Manager Plant 2Sage X3QMSFeb 4Value modelBuilt conservative and higher cases from 2025 penalties, write-offs and the hour register. Separated margin effects from released capacity.
Feb 5Roadmap designSequenced initiatives so that hold status reaches Sage X3 before recall tooling is built on it.
Feb 6Internal QAChecked every figure against interview notes and source files.
- Week 5Feb 9 to Feb 11
Synthesis
Findings validated with department leads; two corrections made.
People: Sandrine Le Bihan, Nicolas Guého, Karine Le Floch
Daily detail · 3 days
Feb 9Deliverable assemblyAssembled the War Map in three chapters: operational reality, findings and implementation plan.
Feb 10Validation with department leadsReviewed process maps and the hour register. Two corrections: the hold list is printed three times on Saturdays, and one retailer portal allows a bulk export.
Sandrine Le Bihan · Quality ManagerFeb 11Final QAFinal check of numbers, dates and dependencies. Handover pack prepared.
- Week 5 · HandoverFeb 12 to Feb 13
Handover
War Map delivered; first two initiatives and owners agreed.
People: Philippe Le Gall, Gaëlle Pérès, Anne-Sophie Kerbrat
Daily detail · 2 days
Feb 12Pre-handover reviewWalked through findings and value ranges. Agreed that every penalty dispute and every hold release stays a named person's decision.
Philippe Le Gall · CEOFeb 13War Map deliveryDelivered the War Map and roadmap. Hold sync and EDI order repair chosen to start first, with Sandrine and Julien as owners.
Philippe Le Gall · CEO
What We Heard
“The penalty shows up six weeks after the delivery. By then the signed delivery note is in a box at the plant and nobody remembers the truck.”
“A lot on hold is blocked on my screen. In the warehouse it is blocked only if someone reads the printed list.”
“I hear about a promotion when the first big order lands. Then I rebuild the plan at ten at night.”
“The minimum shelf-life rules for each retailer are on the wall, laminated. Two of them changed last year.”
“We pass our IFS audits. What I can't tell you is how long a real recall would take on a Saturday.”
Team Members Interviewed
Systems Accessed
Strategy Session · 30 min
A real engagement is scoped in the Strategy Session and may begin with a War Map or a bounded Feasibility Sprint.