Case study

Efficient digital collaboration in the City of Constance with OpenProject

How the city administration of Constance uses OpenProject to bring more transparency and efficiency to its project management and team collaboration.

www.konstanz.de

Efficient digital collaboration in the City of Constance with OpenProject

The challenge: digital collaboration in a complex administrative structure

With around 1,200 employees, the city administration of Constance was faced with the challenge of managing its diverse projects and collaboration within the departments more efficiently.

Previously, Excel spreadsheets, face-to-face meetings, phone calls and emails were mainly used for task and project planning - a manual and time-consuming process that can lead to inconsistencies. A common platform for collaboration and project management was therefore needed throughout the city administration.

OpenProject as a common platform for collaboration

For the City of Constance, it was important to introduce a common tool for all tasks within the entire city administration as well as for project management. All tasks were to be centrally integrated in one tool and could be viewed transparently by the departments involved at all times.

Constance attaches great importance to project management, and a set of rules had already been developed and a comprehensive manual for project management created before OpenProject was introduced. The Digitization and IT department then had the task of selecting a suitable software and, after a comprehensive tendering process, OpenProject was chosen.

Efficient planning and implementation of construction projects

Larger and smaller construction projects in Constance are now managed centrally in OpenProject. Existing projects are gradually being integrated into the system to ensure consistent and transparent planning. The city’s largest current construction project involves an extensive team from various departments, utility companies, architects, consulting firms and other external partners.

Due to its high priority in the organization and its long-term duration until 2038, a digital solution was urgently needed. By using OpenProject, all relevant information is now bundled transparently in one central location. Everyone involved has access to the current planning status at all times, which facilitates collaboration, shortens communication channels and significantly increases the efficiency of the entire construction project.

Digital facility management with OpenProject

The maintenance and repair of municipal buildings in Constance is now also fully mapped in OpenProject. The 16-people team uses Kanban boards and work breakdown structures to manage the maintenance of more than 160 buildings. Each building is mapped in OpenProject using work package types, subdivided by building category. Each task for these buildings - from repairs to regular inspections - is created directly in the system as an associated subtask and assigned to the responsible team members for processing.

The current status of work is updated in real time so that the team leader always has an overview of open tasks and the status of individual activities. OpenProject also enables resource-saving planning by allowing the availability of personnel and materials to be calculated in advance. This ensures that maintenance work is carried out efficiently and possible failures are detected at an early stage.

Optimized resource planning for the municipal public order service

The municipal public order service (kommunaler Ordnungsdienst - KOD) of Constance also uses OpenProject to organize and manage daily tasks. Similar to building management, tasks are recorded centrally in OpenProject, prioritized and assigned directly to the responsible employees - be it checking parking spaces, investigating noise complaints in clubs or monitoring cleanliness in parks.

Team leaders can plan tasks directly in OpenProject and assign them to the employees. They receive an automatic notification as soon as a new task is due. The current status of each task is documented in real time so that the team leader has a transparent overview of open and completed tasks at all times - without time-consuming phone calls or manual coordination.

Thanks to the central platform, all assignments are transparent and documented, which is particularly helpful in the event of complaints or inquiries from citizens. This significantly improves efficiency and transparency in the public order service and facilitates communication within the team.

Value for money

OpenProject convinces Constance with its outstanding price-performance ratio, which is ideal for the requirements of public administration.

Flexible configuration

Thanks to its flexible customization for various use cases, OpenProject can be perfectly integrated into the existing processes.

Transparency and progress

Project progress and tasks are recorded centrally, which increases transparency and facilitates collaboration between offices and external partners.

Wide range of features

Comprehensive features for classic and agile project management and task management, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards and meetings - all combined in one platform.