Johan van der Beek: Advisor Project- management
Efficient time registration for construction projects? ClockWise is the key
Large construction projects involving multiple parties are a challenge in terms of time registration and project management. “ClockWise offers an efficient and transparent solution for this,” says Johan van der Beek, Project Management Advisor, a self-employed person.
What projects do you work on in Clockwise?
‘The first project was the renovation of the Piet Heintunnel in Amsterdam. That was a major project. If you drive through it now, you hardly see anything of it, but a lot has been adjusted and improved. I am currently working on another major project: the construction of a new traffic control center for the municipality of Amsterdam. This also includes the functional systems that control tunnels. These are complex projects that involve multiple parties. In the case of the traffic control center, Yunex Traffic, Heijmans and the municipality of Amsterdam work together. All employees of these parties register their hours in ClockWise. That makes it clear and manageable.’
Why is ClockWise so useful when you work with many parties?
‘ClockWise offers us the possibility to register hours together. In a project like the traffic control center, people from different companies work together, and each company has its own internal systems. Bringing all those hours together is a huge challenge. ClockWise solves that by offering one central system in which everyone records their hours. This way we know exactly who, when and how many hours worked on the project. This is not only efficient, but it also prevents errors and makes the invoicing process much simpler. I also introduced ClockWise to the Hoogheemraadschap Rijnland, where we work with seven parties. My experience with ClockWise is so good that I wanted to use it there too. Never change a winning team!’
Is it an advantage that ClockWise is an independent party?
‘Absolutely. Government agencies such as the municipality of Amsterdam and the Hoogheemraadschap Rijnland must guarantee transparency. They must demonstrate that registration and invoicing are done independently. ClockWise offers that independence. It is not an internal system of one of the participating companies, but an external tool in which everyone can keep track of their hours equally. That is a major advantage for the collaboration between public and private parties.’
How quickly can ClockWise be set up and used?
‘I have it up and running within a week. And I am not an IT specialist. The system is so simple that anyone can get started with it right away. The start-up process is clear: we add the users with their name, function and rate, and we divide the project into categories on which hours can be recorded. This can be as detailed as you want. What I also like is that the system works very intuitively. Of all the people who work with it, I have never been asked: “How does this work?”. That saves a lot of frustration and money, because you do not have to organize long and expensive training sessions. In addition, it is easy to scale up and down, as we experienced during the renovation of the Piet Heintunnel. Even during large peaks in use, the system continues to work smoothly. If I have a question? Then I just call and I immediately get someone who knows what they are talking about. These short lines make ClockWise a really pleasant system to work with.’
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