Architectural and engineering company ATP

Introduction of a company-wide Management Information System

The internationally active architectural and engineering company ATP was able to improve its company-wide controlling considerably and optimise the financial controlling, project controlling, acquisition controlling and personnel controlling sections. ATP is now able to present its management with all its business data promptly and in a standardised form.

The Situation at the Outset

There were many different IT systems in operation within the company, including the project management and time recording systems and the acquisition database. There were also several different accounting policies and currencies as well as a number of external and internal financial accounting systems, ORLANDO and DATEV, for instance, and the cost accounting methods. All these pre-systems were neither sufficiently documented, stable, integrated, nor could they be consolidated. Furthermore, very different lines of business were to be included, such as an IT business and a real estate management company. Data processing was done locally.

Overcoming the Problems

From the group perspective, the processing and presentation of the data had always proved to be difficult, as this required a great deal of maintenance, which at the time was still done using MS-Excel. It was no longer acceptable for the information to be gathered from so many different system platforms, which was why Manfred Handle, a civil engineer, set himself the target of installing an MIS system with the ability to present the management with all of the business data.
The consultancy firm CONEVA Consulting GmbH provided ATP with support during the evaluation phase. After comparable products had been shown in tests to be too inflexible, following the suggestion of CONEVA Consulting GmbH, a decision was made in favour of the Corporate Planner software from Hamburg. Corporate Planner was best able to meet the requirements in flexibility, from displaying performance and financial key ratios to mathematical models for evaluating production cost ratios and cost distribution sheets with diverse allocation keys. These flexibility requirements could be fulfilled with respect to reporting and as a calculation instrument for annual and medium-term planning.

Implementing the Software

Except for introductory training, the engineer Manfred Handle and his staff were able to implement the software themselves.
The schedule for this was relatively tight: the company structure was completed, using the characteristic Corporate Planner tree, after the software had been purchased and three days of introductory training given by the Hamburg software company, in November 2003. The time taken, including for creating reports, amounted to three man-days. 2.5 further days were required for data import and transferring the historical data, during which a specific conversion macro was programmed, which enables the incorporation of the diverse charts of accounts. In December 2003 both systems ran parallel to each other, and the software was fully implemented according to plan as of 1.1.2004, after a total of 8 external and internal man-days, including training.

The Resulting Improvements

Since the introduction of the software, information can be provided about every project stage regarding invoices, external services, payments in advance, work in process and changes of inventory (with a drill-down to the most detailed level). Furthermore, information can be retrieved about how the prospects of particular projects are rated (probabilities of success or realisation) for acquisition controlling purposes, as well as about the capacity planning or future workload of each member of staff.
A major advantage is the presentation of a consolidated view of individual company results. The planning process is displayed when carrying out annual rolling medium-term planning, the annual budgeting and the June and September forecasts. 25 staff responsible for planning pass on their data to Manfred Handle. Reporting takes place by means of MS-Word templates which are generated automatically by Corporate Planner, and using CP-Web, the internet-based add-on product, which makes the reports available online. The time spent on reporting was able to be reduced by one third. The consolidation of a new subsidiary company, for instance, now just means two hours of work for Mr. Handle.
Mr. Handle appreciates the advantages which convinced him to purchase the software: "Corporate Planner provides maximum flexibility when modelling the company, is extremely user-friendly and fully independent of software producers and consultants as well. This is especially important if changes take place on a day-to-day basis." His remarks make it clear just how important a thorough evaluation process is before new software is introduced. At ATP, even a year before purchasing the software, precise requirement specifications were being defined and recorded. The pre-systems, particularly the time recording system ("time master") and the financial and cost accounting structures, were optimised so that the required analyses could be obtained later.

About ATP

ATP Planungs- und Beteiligungs- AG, with currently over 300 employees in its offices in Innsbruck, Vienna, Munich, Zagreb, Prague and Dresden, is an internationally active architectural and engineering company and the largest provider of full-service architectural planning in Austria and South Germany. For more information, visit www.atp.ag