A consistent and clear visualization of project tasks enables optimal collaboration between customer and consultant
The new transparency facilitates communication with stakeholders and allows project completion on time
Detailed project data visualization minimizes plan deviations and work overloads
Additional costs are easily identified and minimized through regular controlling with standardized reports
The consulting company enowa (since 2001 part of the convista group) was founded in Europe and North America back in 2002. Enowa's main business focus lies in areas like IT and SAP Consulting. The focus is on helping with digital transformation and consulting SAP and IT projects. In SAP consulting, services are provided to customers mainly from plant and mechanical engineering and food and pharmaceutical industries.
The main challenge regarding large customer projects is that project contributors are often based on different continents. It is not uncommon for a project like an SAP launch to be planned and controlled in Austria but executed by Mexicans in Colombia and Venezuela.
Due to the time difference, cultural characteristics, and the enormous geographic distance, it can be challenging to track which project tasks Mexican project contributors have already started and completed in Venezuela or Colombia and to what extent the project has proceeded.
Enowa AG had been aware of this problem since the founding phase, but an appropriate solution could not be found at that time. First, as it often is, a ticket system and Excel sheets were the chosen system to handle major projects. But sending Excel documents back and forth via email brings a whole lot of issues with it.
Duplicated data and discussions about the correct versions come to mind. Therefore, Enowa decided it was time to find a project management software capable of handling big projects worldwide with many team members.
Example: The personal Kanban board in Planforge
Following a recommendation of a former business partner, Hans König, co-founder and one of the two CEOs of Enowa Austria AG, became aware of Planforge.
Since customers and external project contributors were also intended to work with Planforge during projects, easy learning and intuitive handling of the project management tool was particularly important. Another critical point was the guarantee of a consistent documentation standard, especially because different document layouts are often difficult to compare.
A two-day test phase followed where Hans König independently worked with Planforge. From the beginning, Mr. König was convinced of Planforge's intuitive usability.
Also, Mr. König appreciated the consistent report design, which made data comparison possible without great effort. After clarifying the remaining questions about some Planforge features via phone, the cloud version of Planforge was licensed.
There wasn't even a need for an introductory workshop since everyone involved at Enowa understood the intuitive software solution by Planforge right away. The entire software rollout went smoothly and quickly ahead.
Since then, Enowa has licensed a number of users handled by the project employees and partners of Enowa, the customer, and the customer's project team. Once the project was completed, these users will be used for the next project and assigned to the respective project participants.
Example: Status reporting in Planforge
A simple but very popular feature of Planforge is the to-do list, including the possibility to attach documents. The to-do list is even defined and reviewed with the contractor before the project starts.
This has the advantage that all tasks are defined before the official project start, which then can be processed in a more structured way. As a result, there are fewer misunderstandings, and projects can be completed on time. Furthermore, Planforge's reporting feature makes project communication easier because all information is presented in a predefined and unified format.
The most important benefit for Enowa is that everyone involved in the project has access to the same information and can update their scope of information at any time and anywhere.
So Planforge is now being sold as a quality standard in major customer projects because the contracting company can check its project's progress with Planforge whenever, wherever.
An expansion of Planforge users is already planned. For one thing, Enowa AG plans to handle all big project offers with Planforge in the future. In this way, such projects are also more transparent for the partners with regard to who contributes how much work or person-hours.
Furthermore, an enormous need for advice in SAP consulting is assumed because all companies have to switch from an older SAP system to the new SAP HANA in the next few years.
CEO increase AG"Projects often get out of hand, as clients later frequently demand things that were originally not included in the requirements according to the contractor. With Planforge, we have the project and all its tasks in sight right from the start and both sides can check at any time what needs to be done or has already been done."
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