E2P Systems saw major potential for improvement when it came to project management in the construction industry. They developed their own working methodology to solve this and implement the methodology into a SaaS platform for project management, dPlan. Today, dPlan has more than 500 users from 80 different organizations.
| Scenario | Saas for facilitating data-driven project management and project flow |
|---|---|
| Specific need | Speedy and easily understandable development to implement self-developed methodology. |
| Solution | Extensive platform with functionality for all parts of a project |
| Produced by | Gture - Appfarm Partner |
“If you’re going to climb Mount Everest, you’ll need a plan”, says Vidar Isaksen, CCO at dPlan.
“You must prepare for the trip with the right training and equipment, and you must calculate the risks. Then, while rising to the summit, you must make sure that you have the right progress. Do you have enough food? Do you take long enough breaks? After the trip, you’ll have to systematically learn from any miscalculations to perform better next time” he continues.
Based on their experience from several years of project management and consulting, the founders of E2P Systems AS developed their own methodology for project management.
“Having experienced how project management in the construction industry often is deficient and based on unrealistic assumptions, we developed our own methodology based on principles of decision-driven and LEAN project management. To implement the methodology, we needed to provide our customers with a tool,” says Jan Petter Nærby, CEO in dPlan.
E2P Systems AS wanted to digitize project management and leadership of extensive construction projects, traditionally characterized by physical process planning with post-it notes and manual processes.
The goal was to combine the ease of use of tools like Trello with the functionality of traditional project management tools. This resulted in the SaaS dPlan, built on the principles of their methodology.
“We needed a development tool that was easy to understand and well-fitted for rapid development. We got a tip that Appfarm would meet these criteria,” Nærby says.
In a couple of weeks, the MVP was developed through Appfarm’s partner Gture.
“dPlan has a relatively complex user interface, which emphasizes the flexible capacity of Appfarm” Gture writes.
The MVP was used to test the product in the market and was then launched in the spring of 2020.
dPlan is a SaaS solution giving companies the opportunity to manage their projects in a very efficient way, by planning and measuring critical project data throughout the project's lifetime and across all projects.
A short while after the launch, dPlan won Statsbygg’s competition for “ LEAN Management Tools on Statsbygg’s construction projects”
“LEAN is a comprehensive field to increase operational efficiency. At dPlan, we have been given a digital tool to carry this out in practice”, says Roar Fosse, department director in Statsbygg, to bygg.no.
Statsbygg has been using the platform since June 2020 and has more than 220 users of the solution. dPlan has already been used in a variety of projects, both in the design and production phases. Thus, proving the demand for a digitalized project management tool in the construction industry. In November 2020, they were accepted to the accelerator program of StartUpLabs. With acceleration comes new customers, and with new customers comes new demands for functionality.
“By using Appfarm, we are well prepared for meeting shifting functionality requirements”, says Nærbø.
“Appfarm makes this possible for us, because of the ease of implementing new functionality”, he finishes.
Universitetsgata 2 (Rebel)
0164 Oslo
Norway
