Optimisation of fiber optic planning
Mendix Low-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 make 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 was founded over a year and a half ago as a partnership between KPN and pension fund ABP. The aim of the network company is to make fiber optics available to everyone. Over the next 5 years, Glaspoort therefore aims to achieve 1.2 million fiber optic connections in smaller municipalities and business parks throughout the Netherlands. Telecom providers without their own network can also offer their services via Glaspoort’s open fiber network.
To build all these fiber optic connections, the company works with numerous partners who have a lot of autonomy, allowing Glaspoort itself to remain small and compact. Glaspoort’s project organization consists of 28 people. Together they manage projects at more than 200 locations in the Netherlands. Grip and control over the status of partners’ ongoing projects is crucial to keep these projects running as efficiently as possible.
Central insight into ongoing projects crucial
Until recently, fiber connection construction projects were managed decentrally in Word or Excel. As the number of projects grew, it became increasingly difficult to manage all these projects. The company needed more centralized insight into the fiber optic projects so that they could regain an overview of the often long-term projects.
Understanding the status of projects at any time
They were looking for a partner who could offer them a solution for this challenge. Glaspoort ultimately chose Ciphix because of their knowledge and expertise of digitizing business processes. Martin Wanschers, COO at Glaspoort: “We partnered with Ciphix because we knew that with them we were bringing in true professionals. They dare to look beyond purely 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
Ciphix then started the digitization process in project planning for business parks. These projects take about a year and a half and are more complex than fiber optic connections for consumers. 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 linked to 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 timeframe.
We introduce Mendix
Going live after eight weeks
After eight weeks, the “Liberation” application was delivered. This now functions 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 back the overview of project status, tasks and milestones, and a dashboard provides management with the most important key data.
In addition, a budget module shows whether projects are staying within budget. The application has quickly become an important part of managing the daily work of over a thousand employees of the partners Glaspoort works with.
Martin Wanschers, COO at Glaspoort: “Our teams really found each other during the development of this application which created a perfect collaboration. The new application we developed together with Ciphix 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 are laying the fiber optic connections compared to when we started 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 Ciphix: “At Ciphix, we are not afraid to challenge our clients on the business value an application should deliver. This ultimately 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 wants to give the hundred or so partners who install the fiber optic connections access to the new central environment. This will make it easier for them to see the status of projects and what their input is needed for. This is what Glaspoort calls data-driven work. Through this proactive data-driven approach, the construction of fiber optic projects will become even more predictable and feasible and the final goal of 1.2 million fiber optic connections will come into sight faster.
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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