“Projects on time”

Novozymes’ Assay & Development department have gained an overview of project management and greater visibility in the main organisation with TimeLog Project and TimeLog Extranet.

Novozymes Assay & Development department uses TimeLog Project to track time and manage the departments’ internal projects.

Furthermore, Novozymes has chosen to extend their solution with TimeLog Extranet, and TimeLog Departments making it possible to share knowledge across organisational departments and with external partners.

“Since choosing TimeLog as our supplier, our department has gained a better overview of projects and improved management tools.”

Moreover, TimeLog Extranet now allows the department’s customers to monitor their Assay & Development projects.

Going from Excel to TimeLog Project

“Before TimeLog Project was introduced we used Microsoft® Excel to register time and manage the projects,” says Henning Nielsen, managing director of Assay & Development at Novozymes.

Concurrently, the number of employees in the department grew making this method too difficult to maintain and administer. The Excel method became too cumbersome, and was insufficient in providing the necessary overview of the department’s projects.

“That’s why I decided to find a solution that adhered to our motto – ‘projects on time’.”

Larger systems such as Microsoft® Project were considered in the initial phase, but as Henning Nielsen points out:

“Microsoft® Project was quickly rejected due to it’s complexity and the many additional charges, such as training and consultancy, connected to this solution.”

Instead, Henning Nielsen chose to further investigate solutions that met the department&rsqou;s many needs.

“We need a solid project management and time tracking system that is easy to implement, has a flexible price model and is intuitive, making it fast and easy for the user to get to know the system.”

In particular, the desire to find a solution that exempted the company from any long term contracts was decisive. The decision to go with TimeLog Project was quickly taken, as its inherent flexibility covered the many needs of the department.

Quick and painless implementation and happy colleagues

In April 2007 Novozymes chose to implement TimeLog Project. At the beginning TimeLog created a solution for 14 users, but this number quickly grew and currently more than 40 employees now use the application. This includes registration of employee hours by the laboratory technicians to overall management of the project managers’ projects.

The implementation process was quick and painless:

“The implementation process, including user training, took less than one month. This meant that our employees quickly got started on using the system, and got used to it,” says Henning Nielsen.

TimeLog Project and TimeLog Extranet give better insight into project status

The result of the implementation was clear:

“There’s a much better planning of projects, and insight into the various departments projects now than before.”

Timelog Extranet which is primarily used by the departments’ customers to monitor their projects and has also been well received.

“It has given the management of Assay & Technology Development the needed tools to monitor the projects, and solid insight into the departments’ various projects.”

Furthermore, the different reports are used widely. The Work Load Report gives the project manager the overview of each employee’s capacity now and in the future. It is therefore used frequently, especially when the department reports on its status.

As Henning Nielsen describes it, TimeLog Project has in every conceivable way proved itself to be a great investment:

“It is the answer to my prayers.”