Comprehensive project portfolio: In-house development for time recording is reaching its limits
“Our two focal areas are consulting and software. This results in an extensive portfolio of different project types,” explains Stefan Schubert. As a member of the SCHUMANN Executive Board since September 1, 2020, he is responsible for project organization and execution. He explains: “That means we have projects in which we advise our customers, regardless of whether they then opt for our software solutions or not. There are also projects in which we introduce and also adapt our software to the customer. Internal projects, in which we further develop our standard software, are another major area. This results in a total of three very different project areas.” For the time recording of these different projects, SCHUMANN had developed its own software solution, which was operated on the company's own intranet. “With this solution, it was already possible to book working hours on individual projects. Vacation management was also already possible,” recalls Yvonne Jost. At SCHUMANN, she is responsible for central controlling and the introduction of internal tools and software solutions.
“At some point, however, we reached its limits with the system, in particular when it came to cross-project evaluations and project controlling. ”
Yvonne Jost
Central controlling and implementation of internal tools and software solutions, Prof. SCHUMANN GmbH
When asked whether to further develop the existing solution accordingly or look for a standard solution from a third-party provider, the decision was made in 2017 to look for a corresponding external solution.
ZEP: standard solution for time recording in project-oriented companies
The decision was ultimately made in favour of the ZEP time recording software solution for projects from provantis IT Solutions. provantis IT Solutions was founded back in 2000 with the aim of developing and marketing a web-based, industry-independent standard solution for time recording and project controlling, specifically in project-oriented service companies. With ZEP, this goal was achieved. Today, the software solution is already being used successfully every day by more than 900 companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This includes companies that offer consulting or software development as well as engineers. The size of the company ranges from freelancers to companies with several hundred employees.
Yvonne Jost explains the selection process for the new software solution: “We did Internet research and came across ZEP fairly quickly. We had two other software products on the shortlist, but then we finally chose ZEP because the solution best met our requirements. ”
“With ZEP, we are able to map all of our project types mentioned above. Each employee records their working hours themselves. We also cover three areas with ZEP. We keep employees' working time accounts. We use the booked hours as a basis for billing our customer projects, i.e. everything that is billed externally, and we use ZEP to control all internal and external projects. ”
Stefan Schubert
Member of the Executive Board, Prof. SCHUMANN GmbH
The internal software development projects are managed in ZEP in the same way as the external customer projects, even though there is of course no billing in the strict sense of the word internally. According to Stefan Schubert, however, SCHUMANN is thus able to verify that internal project costs “remain within limits.” SCHUMANN uses the ZEP additional module “Departments” for allocation to individual divisions and thus currently manages 500 projects in ZEP. More than 150 employees use ZEP as part of their daily work.
Billing and interface to financial accounting
In order to then also calculate the working hours recorded in ZEP for customer projects, SCHUMANN uses the additional ZEP module “Invoicing” for invoice planning and invoicing. The module links the recorded working hours with the hourly and daily rates stored in ZEP and creates the corresponding invoice from this, which can then be forwarded to the customer. In addition, the ZEP module can be used to plan invoicing in advance. The system also reminds you when working hours have been posted for which no billing has yet been made or has been planned.
SCHUMANN uses DATEV's software solution for financial accounting. Currently, the data from ZEP is still being transferred manually to the accounting department. However, Yvonne Jost explains that it is planned to use ZEP's export interface in the future. It makes it possible to transfer invoices and costs recorded in ZEP.
Operation in an on-premise model
ZEP is offered both as a license solution, which can be purchased and installed by customers (“on-premise”), and as a cloud service. SCHUMANN has opted for the on-premise version. According to Yvonne Jost, this was due exclusively to cost reasons. When asked about the plans for a migration to the cloud, Stefan Schubert explains: “There are no concrete plans. However, we've already made the transition to the cloud with other tools. It is therefore possible that this will also be the case with ZEP in the future. At least we know that this option is also technically available to us at ZEP. ”
Optimize the billing process
“The billing process has been optimized.” This is how Yvonne Jost summarizes the experience gained from using ZEP so far. It adds:
“In particular, the coordination of outgoing invoices has been significantly improved. ”
Yvonne Jost
Central controlling and implementation of internal tools and software solutions, Prof. SCHUMANN GmbH
She gives ZEP Support top marks: “The colleagues at provantis respond to our inquiries within a very short period of time and are always available to provide us with advice and assistance.” And when there are additional requirements and requests for enhancements at SCHUMANN, the manufacturer is always open to the ears. Yvonne Jost confirms: “Until now, we haven't had to individualize the software. Instead, in most cases, our input was incorporated into future versions or updates of the standard solution. ”
