Fiber optic planning optimization
MendixLow-Code application increases grip and control of hundreds of projects nationwide
Glass Gate optimizes planning of fiber optic projects
Glass Gate is a network company that as target has the coming five year 1,2 million households and companies to at close at fiberglass. Therefore works the company currently with partners to hundreds fiber optic projects throughout the Netherlands. To all this projects and processes efficient at manage, used Glass Gate ‘Liberation‘. This central application based on Mendix low-code provides Glass Gate employees central insight in the status of the projects. Glass Gate has because of this more insight in the status of projects and can partners more efficient control.
- Growing backlog in Word and Excel
Increase in larger projects provided for steeds largere oniontdaging voor the management - Collaboration with many different parties increases management task
Grip and control on status of ongoing projects crucial for efficient operations
Project management posed increasing challenge
Glaspoort is a network company that was established over a year and a half ago as a partnership between KPN and pension fund ABP. The main goal of the company is to make fiber optic connections available to everyone in smaller municipalities and business parks throughout the Netherlands. They plan to establish 1.2 million fiber optic connections over the next five years. Telecom providers who don’t have their own network can also offer their services through Glaspoort’s open fiber network.
To build all these fiber optic connections, Glaspoort works with numerous partners who have a lot of autonomy, allowing the company to remain small and compact. The project organization of Glaspoort consists of 28 people who manage projects at over 200 sites in the Netherlands. It is important to have grip and control over the status of partners’ ongoing projects to make them run as efficiently as possible.
Central insight into ongoing projects crucial
Until recently, Glaspoort managed fiber optic connection projects decentrally in Word or Excel. However, as the number of projects grew, it became increasingly challenging to manage all of them. Therefore, the company felt the need for more central insight into the fiber optic projects to regain oversight of the often long-running projects.
Understanding the status of projects at any time
They were looking for a partner who could offer them a solution to this challenge. Glaspoort ultimately chose Bizzomate because of their knowledge and expertise of digitizing business processes. Martin Wanschers, COO at Glaspoort: “We partnered with Bizzomate because we knew that with them we were bringing in true professionals. They dare to look further than just what is needed to build an application. They also analyzed what business value the application should deliver and that is exactly what we needed.”
Digitization of project planning
Bizzomate then started the digitization process in project planning of business parks. These projects take about a year and a half and are more complex than consumer fiber connections. Each project contains about 130 tasks to be completed.
The basis of the new application was formed by a “process ruler. This mapped out the entire process from the initial intake with the customer to activating the fiber optic connections. Each project was then divided into phases with milestones associated with roles and individuals. By performing the tasks associated with a phase, a milestone could eventually be achieved. This provided insight into the status of projects at any time, made it clear who had to perform what actions and within what time frame.
We introduce Mendix
Going live after eight weeks
After eight weeks, the “Liberation” application was delivered, acting as a “single source of information”. All data on current projects can be found in it, and all project management officers, controllers, and production managers use it. The application gives Glaspoort employees an overview of project status, tasks, and milestones, and a dashboard provides management with key core data. Additionally, a budget module shows whether projects are staying within budget. The application has quickly become a key component in managing the daily work of over a thousand employees of the partners Glaspoort works with.
Martin Wanschers, COO at Glaspoort, said: “Our teams really found each other during the development of this application, which created a perfect collaboration. The new application we developed together with Bizzomate allows us to deal with our projects in a transparent and predictable way. Therefore, we are now much more ‘in control’ towards our partners who install the fiber connections compared to the start of this project a year and a half ago. We have regained the overview of our projects and can now manage our projects much better and more efficiently from Glaspoort. This brings us significantly closer to our higher goal of making fiber available to everyone.”
Henry Kraaijenbos, partner at Bizzomate, said: “At Bizzomate we are not afraid to challenge our clients on the business value an application should deliver. This eventually results in better applications that are actually used. This also applies to the Mendix low-code application we built for Glaspoort. With this application, Glaspoort has insight into the status of projects at any time. They know who has to carry out which actions, on which deadline and with which budget. This allows Glaspoort to manage its partners more efficiently and complete projects on time and within budget. And that is exactly the added value we want to offer customers with our applications.”
In the future also for construction partners
Currently, the application is used daily by Glaspoort employees. In the future, the network company also plans to provide access to the new central environment to the 100 or so partners who build the fiber connections. This will also make it easier for them to understand the status of projects and what their input is needed for. Glaspoort calls this data-driven work, and this proactive data-driven approach will make the construction of fiber optic projects even more predictable and feasible. It will also bring the final goal of 1.2 million fiber optic connections faster into view.
Related
All information in one place
All data on current projects centrally accessible, with an overview of status, tasks, milestones and strategic information
Budget management offers strategic insight
Budget module has quickly become an important part of managing daily operations
Better control of projects
Better overview leads to more efficient management and helps achieve business goals
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