Pannon Solar Boat Team: From Excel to complete project and task transparency
Solar Boat construction, University project
Veszprém, Hungary
January 2023
25
On-board and support IT, On-board electronics, Power electronics, Mechanical engineering, Social media, and PR
The Pannon Solar Boat Team needed better transparency of projects and tasks as they only used Excel to delegate tasks. This community of students, who constructs a solar-powered ship supported by the university, needed to manage the tasks of every department in the same space. They implemented Easy Project with an easy-to-use interface and with Hungarian support. Now they mainly use Kanban and Gantt for better cooperation.
Struggles before switching to Easy Project
The software they previously used was not sufficiently comprehensible and it didn't provide enough support to get to know the interface better. Beforehand the definition and the delegation of the tasks took place in Excel. This did not allow dynamic changes and they couldn't monitor the workload of the departments which is important for them due to the university scholarship system, as they determine the remuneration of the departments on this basis. They very much needed better transparency of projects and tasks.
The assignment
Expectation to meet
- Well-planned tasks of each department
- Workload of team members in their tasks
- Team leaders can see where the project is going
Time to implement
Preparation
During the one-month trial, they tried to map out the opportunities offered by the software, so that they can prepare the schedule in the future. It is essential to be able to manage the tasks of every department in one space.
After the trial they introduced the use of the software to one of their departments in the first place, so that they can see together with the users how to manage the site, and based on the experience gained from this, they have extended it to other teams as well.
Training
Primarily the team leaders attended the software presentation. After that, one of their members prepared tasks for their team for the first time, which resulted in the introduction of the software. Then it gradually became available to other team members.
How about some results?
The implementation of Easy Project brought:
- One tool for managing tasks of every department
- An easy-to-use interface
- Support (in providing assistance in Hungarian)
- Multifarious views available (Gantt and Kanban are the most useful)
Szendi-Joó Inez
The main reason we chose Easy Project is adaptability. It's difficult to use a system that can handle complex and varied engineering tasks and ever-changing needs – everything from the timing of their marketing appearances to the workload of their team members can be easily managed in the software.
The most used functions
- Kanban and project overview - what the task is and which process it is currently in, leadership discussions can thus be optimized and processes can be made manageable
- Gantt chart and tracking the tasks - shipbuilding consists of many small tasks and sub-tasks, they can divide these into small chores with the help of sub-projects and sub-tasks.
Who is Pannon Solar Boat Team
Pannon Solar Boat Team is a community of university students, who construct a solar-powered ship. The team consists of roughly 25 members, which is made up of members of Pannon University. There tend to be several distinct sections such as On-board and support IT, On-board electronics, Power electronics, Mechanical engineering, Social media and PR. The main sponsor of the construction is the university, not only financially, but instructors also participate and help the project to be fulfilled.
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