The world to the centimetre
Success story from BLOM Deutschland GmbH
When the going gets tough, BLOM Germany's surveyors deliver precise data. This is true not only for use in crisis areas - such as in Indonesia after the tsunami or during the floods on the Oder and Elbe rivers - but also for the construction of bridges, roads and railways. Projektron BCS also provides precise data. The project management software was initially introduced at BLOM Germany for project planning, controlling and time recording. Since the ISO 9001 certification, it has also been used for quality management.
BLOM Germany, based in Schorndorf, is one of the leading companies in the field of remote sensing, photogrammetry, laser GIS and surveying.
BLOM Germany currently employs 20 people, around two thirds of whom have a university education. Based on a broad range of services as well as the competence and experience of our specialist groups, we provide qualified services in the fields of photogrammetry, laser scanning, geodesy, consulting and geoinformatics.
Projects at BLOM Deutschland
Our work is not for couch potatoes. Our engineers are often on the road. After the tsunami in December 2004, engineers from BLOM Germany were in Indonesia for a year. The destruction had to be documented and the country remapped. We also determined where the earth had sunk below sea level due to the wave. This made it possible to check whether it was advisable to build there again.
Introduction of Projektron BCS
BLOM Germany's projects can be very short, but sometimes last up to twelve months. The assignments all over the world make the coordination of tasks and the planning of project phases and resources a complex matter. Therefore, our management decided to introduce Projektron BCS in 2003.
We have now been using the software since 2003 - primarily for time recording, project planning and controlling. The booked hours of our employees provide information about whether the project is still on schedule, and they provide receipts for our management and the clients. The web-based nature of the software guarantees that our employees can access project data and book their time from any location using only an internet connection. Recently, another function of Projektron BCS has become increasingly important for us: document and quality management.
All documents for the quality management system in Projektron BCS
Our company is quality certified according to ISO 9001:2015. To maintain certification, regular repetitions, so-called audits, are necessary. ISO 9001 describes which processes must be disclosed and how this must be done, e.g. using a quality management manual.
When the auditor from TÜV Rheinland visited us, he was very pleased. Instead of going through our company and asking our employees where to find the QM manual, for example, he could simply sit in front of the computer and be shown where everything is stored in Projektron BCS. To ensure that all important documents can be found quickly not only by the auditor, but primarily by all employees, we have created various resources in the "Internal" area of Projektron BCS. Here you will find, for example, the work instructions, the IT systems with passwords, the vehicle fleet with information on where which car is and when, and - particularly important for our surveyors: the GPS equipment with inspection stamps.
Information on software is also available here: This makes it possible to check at a glance which virus protection is available and when it needs to be renewed, whether there are enough licences and for which software maintenance contracts exist. There is no need for tedious searching through folders and files.
A software-supported quality management system offers us a great advantage: the search for documents is considerably shortened. Projektron BCS saves time and therefore also money. This is very important for us and other companies that are audited according to ISO 9001. After all, such a certification can cost medium-sized companies a good 15,000 to 20,000 euros a year.
Further advantages through BCS
Auch für unseren Verantwortlichen für die betriebliche Sicherheit bietet Projektron BCS einen Vorteil. Wird er gefragt, wie viele Stunden er für die betriebliche Sicherheit genutzt hat, kann er sich in der Software seine Buchungen auf die betreffende Daueraufgabe anzeigen lassen. Das ermöglicht das Zeiterfassungsmodul von Projektron BCS.
The communication history is also checked in the audit and is central to future viability. In Projektron BCS, memos for telephone arrangements or personal meetings can be created for each contact. Project or contact-related emails can be automatically imported from the mail server by Projektron BCS and assigned to the projects or the customer.
Correspondence and verbal agreements are thus documented in the long term and are centrally available to our employees. This also applies to new versions of our QM manual. If the manual otherwise has to be laboriously reprinted after each change and sent to the quality managers at all locations, it can now simply be uploaded into the software.
The authorised signatories click that they have read and approved it, and everything is done and the new release is accessible to every employee. This simplified workflow makes short-term adjustments to the manual possible. We are much more flexible when it comes to our quality management. Especially when a company like ours is spread over several locations, a central, web-based system is a great advantage.
Our conclusion: document management, document control, filing, access: Everything is clearly regulated in BCS.
