Falcon Flash June 2008
Dear customers and partners,
conject's growth path continues non-stop - especially in Munich and Dubai. In both of these locations conject is moving into new and larger offices. We are celebrating the opening of our new Middle East headquarters in the spectacular Business Central Towers in Dubai Internet City on July 2nd with the motto "German Engineering and Arabian Hospitality." Shortly thereafter you're invited to celebrate our new world headquarters in Munich, Germany on October 5th.
This issue of Falcon Flash will show you how to start a new project in conjectPM in three simple steps. You'll also learn why the German Savings Banks (Sparkassen) are rolling out conjectFM. Are you crazy about perfect execution? Then you might want to start with the article on our User of the Month.
Are you interested in celebrating with us the opening of our new Middle East headquarters in Dubai? If so, please add your name to the guest list.
Would you rather experience our new world headquarters in Munich?
More information and registration here.
Best regards,
Elke Tonscheidt (elke.tonscheidt©conject.com)
This months Falcon Flash
Udo Rapp backed the right horse from the start
User of the month
Are you also "a fanatic when it comes to perfect execution"? And are you not only familiar with the terms DIN 276, 277, VOB or contract law, but they're a part of your everyday vocabulary? If so, then Udo Rapp is the person for you. This experienced vice president for commercial construction controlling at Commerz Real not only feels at home in Southern Europe, where he loves to go on vacation - Udo Rapp is also someone who lives for cost controlling and who loves his work. The people he deals with, including at conject, are active in the construction sector, and also speak the same language using the same words. That's worth a lot, particularly if you're as busy as he is. The communication works "like a well-oiled machine."
In his opinion, the best argument in favor of using conjectCM at Commerz Real is found in its "practice-oriented application and its adjustability." It everyday project business simply faster and more efficient. And the transparency which the numbers provide is a basis that Rapp can no longer do without. It is especially helpful in diverse projects such as automation of the annual accounts HIP (manufacturing and maintenance program) or implementation of the building tax deduction. He was also deeply involved in projects like the comprehensive expansion of the reporting system (interest, quarterly checks for HIP) and the extension of interfaces to SAP R/3. For almost nine years now he's been working with conject and APSIS - the product known today as conjectCM, bought and integrated by conject in 2002.
If all of this is possible, then why aren't all project managers equipped with modern software tools yet? Rapp also feels this is a good question and names two reasons for this: "First, there is still an aversion to new investment, second, there is simply a lack of awareness about the availability of this software."
Rapp feels he is "surely a trendsetter" in the real estate sector. Many real estate investment funds - whether DEGI, OIK, DIL, Deka, AMB Generali or Allianz Immobilien - have already visited Commerz Real, the result of the merger between the Commerzbank subsidiaries Commerz Grundbesitz Gruppe (CGG) and CommerzLeasing und Immobilien AG (CLI). It has since become one of the largest real estate asset managers and provider of leasing and investment solutions worldwide. "Colleagues came to the company and watched a demonstration of our processes," Rapp reports with a certain amount of pride, because it is simply "good to know that you've backed the 'right horse' from the start."
In his free time Rapp does not saddle up his horses - rather he prefers to ride his racing bike whenever he has the chance. "Every year, for example, I take part in the annual race around the tower in Henning," he says and if his travels take him further, then he's just as comfortable in Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Portugal or Cyprus. "It takes me no time at all to downshift into the relaxed Southern European lifestyle," Rapp says with a smile. After all, the pace in Wiesbaden is a bit different...
In everyday life, he's an absolute "fanatic about clean working processes" and feels that they should be supported optimally with IT. "This is the only way to work efficiently," knows Rapp who, prior to his current job, worked 17 years for HERTIE at the head office in the commercial department responsible for the Construction-Technology-Equipment division. At the time, he also succeeded here in setting up a cost controlling system. No problem for Udo Rapp, an absolute expert when it comes to cost controlling...
Product Tips
Did you know that...
... you can manage as many projects as needed with unlimited storage with your "conjectPM Professional" access?
It is really easy to create new projects - you can get right to work after 3 steps! First select a template for your new project and enter the parameters. You can then invite project participants to conjectPM and define their access rights. And this is how it works in detail:
Step 1 Selection: Create a new project (under "My Projects"). |
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Step 2 Select the template and enter the key project data. | |
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Step 3 In the "Administration" section you can now add participants easily to a new project, assign access rights, define categories, etc. | |
Would you like more information? Then take part in our free Workshop. You'll find information, dates and registration here. | |
...you can now sort your data as needed in conjectCM?
Often the documents in conjectCM consist of a large number of items such as the project budget, for example, if it has been based on an account system. It is all the more important to be able to maintain an overview of these items. Here you have the option of sorting these items according to your individual needs. To do this, you can find the menu item "Sort" with the right mouse button in every table display of data in conjectCM documents. Through configuration of the sorting levels in the window that appears, you can then define the desired sequence. Version 3.13.19 or higher also has the option of assigning all lists and reports with as many sorting levels as needed.
...you can create a supplemental object description in conjectFM?
Up to now, only a simple object description was displayed, for example, in the object search or in trees. Instead of this "simple" object description, it is now possible to generate a more "informative" object display. Of course, it is much easier to identify a person when first and last name as well as location are displayed instead of merely the last name.
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And this is how it works: | |
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The new object display has been implemented in the following program functions:
For more information on conjectFM contact Claus Ludewig. | |
Fig. 1: Standard display
Fig. 2: Display with extended object description
Fig. 3: Class registration in conjectFM Working at conject - we'll show you what it's really like!
Corporate News
"Flat hierarchies, open communication, dynamic teams"
- everybody talks about it, but in our conject movie WE'LL ACTUALLY SHOW YOU!
It's clear that the entire conject team had fun filming the movie, but this initiative is nevertheless based on a serious subject: conject is still actively seeking new employees!
The film is one of many different projects intended to document the working environment and to motivate potential applicants. Under the motto "I'm here already! When are you coming?" conject proves it's willing to go to unusual measures.
This was also the case in May, just in time for the Recruiting Fair Bonding at TU Dresden, where conject set up a juice bar right by the front door of the new cafeteria. The highlight of this unusual campaign was former Saxon Minister for Social Affairs, Dr. Hans Geisler who has been a member of conject's Advisory Board for several years. Together with conject employees, Geisler served freshly squeezed orange juice to students and provided information on open positions and job profiles at conject AG. And he did this for one simple reason: "I want to help young, motivated people find a qualified position with a lot of potential," said Dr. Hans Geisler, who was also responsible for the Department of Youth Affairs. "We are seeking, for example, civil engineers who want to enter the field of IT consulting."
Currently conject has positions open in the divisions:
Consulting, Development, Account Management and Central Services
Learn more about how to apply here.
German Steel Construction Prize 2008
Industry News
The German Steel Construction Prize is one of the oldest architectural prizes in Germany and is awarded every two years by the association "Bauen mit Stahl."
The awards ceremony will take place in October at the German Steel Construction Day in Mainz; the winners have already been announced. The young architectural office Regina Schineis Architekten BDA in Augsburg will receive the "10,000 prize for the 'Werk- und Denklabor (Working and Thinking Laboratory)' of the Pauker Company" in the Friedberg industrial park near Augsburg.
Of the 73 properties submitted for the competition, nine others also received awards. They include new construction of the assembly and administrative center ESTA by Gerken Architekten + Ingenieure in Ulm. According to the jury, the architects utilized the advantages of steel to elegantly and masterfully expand in and around existing construction to increase the space needed, at the same time making it the company's new symbol.
You will find further news on the real estate industry from industrieBau-online.
CAFM on the Rise at the German Savings Banks
Customer News
Last year the trend was already clear. And this year it's stronger than ever. German Savings Banks (Sparkassen) are rapidly introducing professional CAFM systems. What's the reason behind this trend? It's all due to InfoAccount, the CAFM product designed especially for German financial institutions. InfoAccount is sold and implemented by conject's partner company Inform Solutions GmbH. The product itself is based on conjectFM.
German financial institutions have special CAFM requirements that conjectFM and inform solutions were able to solve. For example, the system must be all-encompassing, covering internal as well as external processes in building and service management. Inform Solutions was already well known for their security solutions for financial institutions. With InfoAccount, Inform Solutions rounds out their offering with a system that can transparently plan, control and analyze all processes for the Savings Banks. In fact, all operational aspects outside the core financial business can be managed by this modern CAFM system.
Currently 150 Savings Banks are in the process of implementing InfoAccount and one out of every five is already live. The major data centers for the Savings Banks - the Sparkassen Informatik and FinanzIT - already had many years of positive experience with conjectFM and therefore recommend exclusively InfoAccount to their customers. Sparkasseninformatik even offers the solution on an On-Demand (hosted) basis.
This recommendation rapidly made InfoAccount/conjectFM the leading CAFM product in the financial industry.
Warning: Powerful Virus spreading rapidly
Customer Stories
Thomas Geissler from Carpus+Partner is a top conject customer. He has been infected with a serious virus. Worse still, he has infected more than thirty additional people. And these people are spreading this highly contagious virus to many more people that they are in contact with. There is no known cure.
This virus has already had a serious effect on the way that Thomas Geissler and the other infected people work. The side effects are numerous: more free time, on-time projects, happier project participants.
You guessed it: it's the conject Virus.
Indeed, the use of conject does spread in a viral fashion. Mr. Geissler started using conject over five years ago at Carpus+Partner. Having set conject as the standard at Carpus, most of the internal and external project participants were asked to join the conject community as well. With every new project, the community grows. And the external project participants are also project managers in other projects and therefore spread the virus further.
The real advantage for Mr. Geissler is that when he starts yet another project, most of the participants are already familiar with conject. In fact, many are already paying members. This makes the rollout for each additional project smoother than ever.
Find out how you can catch the conject virus.
