Novozymes
Case Study
"Projects Delivered On Time" With TimeLog Project
Novozymes' Assay & Technology Development department has a better overview of its project management and greater transparency in the organization with TimeLog Project and TimeLog Extranet.
About Novozymes
Novozymes is the world's leading biotechnological company in the field of enzymes and microorganisms and has customers in 130 countries working in 40 different industries.
Today, the company employs more than 4,500 people around the world and in 2006 the company had a turnover of almost 7 billion DKK.
Novozymes' Assay & Technology Development department employs more than 40 employees and has, among other things, the overall responsibility for development and automation of the company's analysis methods.
Key Benefits
I would recommend TimeLog Project to other companies at any time!
Novozymes' Assay & Technology Development department uses the TimeLog Project solution to register and manage the department's internal projects.
In addition, Novozymes has chosen to acquire the add-on module, TimeLog Extranet, which enables the company to exchange information between different departments and external partners.
"After choosing TimeLog as supplier, our department has gained a better overview of the various projects and also improved the management reporting tools."
Moreover, the department's customers now have the ability to continuously follow the Assay & Technology Development department's projects with TimeLog Extranet.
From Excel to TimeLog Project
"Before TimeLog Project was introduced, our department used Excel to register and manage projects", says Henning Nielsen, Assay and Technology Development Director in Novozymes.
We needed a reliable project management and time registration tool that was easy to implement. We also wanted a flexible price model together with an intuitive structure which makes it easy for the user to learn how to use the system.
As the number of employees in the department increased, Excel became too difficult to manage and maintain. In the end, the Excel method required too many resources compared to the benefits and at the same time did not provide the necessary overview of the department's projects.
"Because of that, I decided to find a solution that lived up to our motto – 'Projects delivered on time'."
Larger systems such as Microsoft® Project were considered in the preliminary phase, but Henning Nielsen found that such a route was not the best way to go:
"We quickly rejected the Microsoft Project solution because of its complexity and the many added costs that we would have to spend on for instance training- and consultancy hours."
Instead, Henning Nielsen chose to look more closely at solutions that were able to fulfil the department's many needs.
"We needed a reliable project management and time registration tool that was easy to implement. We also wanted a flexible price model together with an intuitive structure which makes it easy for the user to learn how to use the system".
Especially a flexible agreement securing that the company was not forced to commit to a long-term contract was a primary objective for Novozymes. TimeLog was quickly chosen by the company as the answer to these different needs as it had a flexible price model and easy-to-use interface.
Painless Implementation and Happy Employees
In April 2007, Novozymes chose to implement a TimeLog solution. Originally, the TimeLog solution was implemented for 14 users, but the system has risen to the occasion as the number of users has increased significantly and is now used by all of the more than 40 employees in the department. From time tracking among the department's laboratory technicians to overall control of the project managers' projects.
The implementation process was quick and painless:
"The implementation process, including user training, took less than a month which meant that our employees quickly started to use the system and learn how to use it." Henning Nielsen adds.
TimeLog Project and Extranet provide better Insight into Status of Projects
The result of the implementation was quickly obvious:
"There's a lot better planning and insight into our department's projects than before TimeLog Project."
The customers have also been very positive and TimeLog Project is primarily used by the department's customers to keep track of the projects that they are involved with.
It's the answer to my prayers.
"Extranet has provided the Assay & Technology Development department a tool to continuously track the projects as well as provided our customers with solid insight into the status of their different projects."
Moreover, TimeLog Project's many reporting tools are vigorously used. In particular, the workload report which provides project managers with the ability to gain an overview of each employee resource's workload capacity at present and within a future timeframe is often used in connection with the department's regular status reports.
As Henning Nielsen describes it, the TimeLog Project solution has in more ways than one proven itself a very good investment:
"It's the answer to my prayers."
