PharmaLex GmbH is one of the largest service companies for worldwide drug approval and was founded in 1998 with headquarters in Mannheim. With a team of about 45 specialists, the company supports pharmaceutical companies worldwide in the approval of their products.
Pharmacists, physicians, chemists and biologists are involved with services related to regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical device registration and many other topics related to the product groups concerned. In addition, the company offers training, provides speakers at professional events and is active in various committees.
At PharmaLex, the processing of orders is the responsibility of department heads. They coordinate the time schedule, the assignment of the respective employees, prepare offers and plan the entire course of the project. Depending on their complexity, the projects are time-consuming, require a lot of coordination and agreement and are strongly bound to deadlines. The basis for smooth processing is reliable project management. If required, PharmaLex employees take on tasks as regulatory experts "on demand" on site at the company (PEPs).
Clemens Hauk is responsible for controlling and finances at PharmaLex. He collects the data on the assignments of his colleagues and regularly obtains an insight into all projects. An important tool that provides information about the employees' assignments is the time recording software ZEP Professional from provantis. "The time recording is simple and self-explanatory".says Hauk. "As the application is web-based, all colleagues can log in and enter their hours on the go via a secure internet connection."
At the beginning of 2009, they were looking for a suitable software. The market offers different solutions, but after careful pre-selection, only a few options came into question, among them ZEP. Here, the possibility of customising ZEP proved to be an advantage.
"ZEP is clearly and logically structured".says Clemens Hauk. The quick overview of the project hours and the project controlling were convincing. Another argument in favour of the software is the error-free evaluation and simplified invoicing as well as the simplified time recording. The software was released for use at the end of February. Two probands tested the handling of the software. Hauk says about the implementation costs of ZEP: "The introduction of ZEP for our 45 employees, including the transfer of 160 projects and all employee data, as well as the test phase, took a total of about 130 hours."
Colleagues most frequently use three evaluations from ZEP: project status plan/overall status plan, month-end evaluation (in ZEP month-end evaluation) and project time evaluation. "ZEP has simplified project controlling, time recording and invoicing for us."says Hauk. The following tasks are carried out with the software: Time recording, project control, overtime and holiday recording. Furthermore, the generation of invoices is already done with ZEP. Different possibilities for data exchange are used with ZEP: PDF export, CSV export. The high security and server availability are highly appreciated: "We have not had a single failure, not a single record has been lost so far."
"ZEP is a great tool, especially the possibility of individualisation is of great benefit".says Hauk. He is particularly satisfied with the provantis hotline, which is used when necessary: "The hotline is absolutely necessary, as some tricks are complex after all." The IT experts in Ditzingen have many ideas, and new adaptations are developed regularly.
In the future, Clemens Hauk would like to see more ZEP functions: A project planning tool and the possibility of bid management. This would give the department heads a better basis for decision-making when planning new projects.
Joseph Meyer Street 13-15
D-68167 Mannheim
We answer your questions quickly & competently. Contact us by phone or email.
+49 7156 43623-0 or contact form
