Overview
Bonava, one of Northern Europe’s largest residential developers, has undertaken a journey to digitize and streamline its project budgeting processes. By adopting Planyard, a cloud-based budgeting and subcontractor management tool, Bonava aims to achieve transparency, efficiency, and accuracy in its project financial management.
In this case study, we delve into the challenges Bonava faced, the transformation enabled by Planyard, and the resulting benefits.
The Challenges
Bonava’s previous financial management system relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets and outdated accounting tools. Although Excel offered flexibility, it also introduced errors, inconsistencies, and inefficiencies.
Klaus Treimann, Senior Construction Manager at Bonava, explains,
“Excel is fine to a certain extent, but it has its limitations, particularly in maintaining data consistency and transparency across multiple stakeholders and projects. We needed something that could scale with our growth.”
"Excel is fine to a certain extent, but it has its limitations, particularly in maintaining data consistency and transparency across multiple stakeholders and projects." - Klaus Treimann
The Transformation
In search of a better solution, Bonava adopted Planyard as part of a broader digital transformation initiative. Klaus and his team focused on implementing a system that not only met their current needs but could also adapt to the company's evolving requirements. Planyard offered a comprehensive tool for budget tracking, change management, subcontractor management, and progress monitoring.
Implementation Journey
The journey to implement Planyard at Bonava started with a pilot project aimed at addressing immediate challenges. Klaus and his team approached this pilot cautiously, gathering feedback from various stakeholders to ensure the solution aligned with the organization’s expectations.
Klaus notes, “We wanted to make sure the solution didn’t just solve one problem but addressed several of our pain points, from tracking costs in real time to facilitating easier collaboration.”
Key Benefits Realized
Increased Transparency and Collaboration
With Planyard, Bonava gained real-time insights into project budgets, subcontractor invoices, and cost variations. This shift significantly increased transparency, allowing all project stakeholders, including subcontractors, to stay informed about budgetary progress.
According to Klaus, “We don’t have to manually send reports or files to our subcontractors anymore. They can see their own budget line items, submit change orders, and upload invoices directly into the system. This has made a big difference in efficiency.”
"We don’t have to manually send reports or files to our subcontractors anymore. This has made a big difference in efficiency and accountability." - Klaus Treimann
Enhanced Risk Management
One of the critical benefits of Planyard has been its ability to support proactive risk management. Bonava now visualizes potential financial risks at an earlier stage, which allows them to take corrective action sooner.
“Unexpected costs towards the end of projects no longer blindside us. Planyard helps us track changes in real-time, so we can manage our budgets proactively,” says Klaus.
"Unexpected costs towards the end of projects no longer blindside us." - Klaus Treimann
Time Savings and Efficiency Gains
While Bonava hasn't formally measured the time savings, Klaus acknowledges the significant reduction in manual work. Previously, late-stage meetings were a common occurrence when financial risks became visible, often dragging down profit margins and leading to stressful, last-minute adjustments.
With Planyard, they no longer need those separate meetings to discuss project finances. Instead, the information is readily available in the system, providing everyone with up-to-date data at their fingertips. This proactive visibility has helped eliminate the surprises that used to occur toward the end of projects, enabling a more controlled and profitable project outcome.
Improved Data Consistency and Accuracy
The automated processes in Planyard have drastically reduced the number of manual data entries, leading to fewer errors. Klaus highlights, “In Excel, it was easy to accidentally input the wrong number or forget a critical update. Planyard’s automated checks and workflows have helped us avoid these mistakes, which in turn saves us a lot of time and headaches.”
In Excel, it was easy to accidentally input the wrong number or forget a critical update. Planyard’s automated checks and workflows have helped us avoid these mistakes. - Klaus Treimann
Project Manager’s Perspectives
Oliver’s Experience
Oliver Jakobson, one of Bonava’s project managers, shares his perspective on the changes introduced by Planyard.
“All the project stakeholders can now have an instant overview. For example, anyone with the proper user rights can review the bids from subcontractors, project profitability forecasts, etc.
So the management, project managers, site engineers, estimators, and procurement managers now have one place where they can easily and in real-time keep track of what's important.”
"All the project stakeholders can now have an instant overview." - Oliver Jakobson
Oliver contrasts this with the previous reliance on Excel
“The main struggle was that things didn't work in sync; there was always a delay, and the costs in project budgets and accounting didn’t match. It was also not possible to manually double-check the costs each month. When using Excel, one would spend several days at the project end to backtrack the errors.”
"The main struggle was that things didn't work in sync; there was always a delay, and the costs in project budgets and accounting didn’t match. It was also not possible to manually double-check the costs each month." - Oliver Jakobson
He further explains how he approached cost forecasting while using Excel
“When using Excel, I used to update the spreadsheet while approving the costs on our accounting system. This helped me to be accurate with my project cost forecasting. However such accuracy is not widely used by all project managers.
If you don’t constantly update the costs on the project budget, it can easily lead to an accumulated and unpleasant surprise at the project's end. Everyone has heard of such cases where the errors are at least sixfold.”
Siim’s Experience
Another project manager, Siim Toots, shares his own experience with Planyard.
“I save three workdays a month, which is about 15% of my work time. Part of it is pure time-saving, but another significant part is stress reduction.
I no longer need to meticulously check that every invoice is copied into Excel, ensure nothing is entered twice, that nothing gets lost, or worry about calculation errors. This is especially important because new priorities are constantly emerging for a project manager, and it’s hard to find focused time to do manual budget tracking.”
"I save three workdays a month using Planyard, which is about 15% of my work time. Part of it is pure time-saving, but another significant part is stress reduction." - Siim Toots
Siim emphasizes Planyard's user-friendly interface
“The Planyard UI is user-friendly. It just took a couple of hours to learn the main functionality. Some subcontractors are still stuck in their own systems when submitting bids, but every subcontractor that submits a bid via Planyard helps save our time.”
"The Planyard UI is user-friendly. It just took a couple of hours to learn the main functionality." - Siim Toots
Siim also mentions the positive feedback from subcontractors
“I’ve heard quite a bit of positive feedback regarding the collection of subcontractors' monthly applications for payment. It’s easy and provides a good overview for the subcontractors. And for those struggling with language, there’s a dropdown menu that allows them to select a suitable language.”
For Siim, Planyard has become an essential tool
“Planyard is an essential tool for me that provides a quick and operative overview and visualizes the importance of cost tracking. I can’t imagine manually tracking invoices and entering them one by one in Excel anymore just to see my committed costs. That feels like the Stone Age.”
"I can’t imagine manually tracking invoices and entering them one by one in Excel anymore just to see my committed costs. That feels like the Stone Age." - Siim Toots
Conclusion
Bonava’s transition to Planyard has demonstrated the powerful impact of digital transformation in the construction industry. The company has significantly improved its project budgeting and financial risk management processes by addressing core issues like data transparency, accuracy, and efficiency.
For Klaus and his team, the journey is far from over. They are continually exploring ways to leverage Planyard’s capabilities further, including integrating it with other systems for a more holistic project management approach.