Success Story – Weijman Property Maintenance

The challenge

Lisette: “At the time I started in my new position, business operations and processes were largely recorded in Word documents and Excel statements. This was not only error-prone, but also meant that process optimization and everything related to standards and quality was exclusively the party of the VGA colleague within our company.”

“The real estate sector is pre-eminently a market governed by increasingly complex laws and regulations. Take, for example, ISO 9001, a standard with logical, general guidelines that you make yourself applicable within your own organization. Unlike the SCC standard, which is so specific and describes in so much detail all the things you have to comply with that you might wonder if we are not missing the mark.”

“Our new director immediately saw the need to purchase a modern software system that would allow us to have and keep our affairs in good order now and in the future. The starting signal for my search was thus given.”

We did not choose a quality management system specifically for construction because with WoodWing Scienta, we can work on quality together with all stakeholders.

The solution

“An online search brought up three systems: two quality management systems specifically for construction, and WoodWing Scienta. Although the latter seemed to have little affinity for the construction industry, the website appealed to me greatly. It presented the software as a ‘digital colleague’, one that ensures support and involvement throughout the organization.”

“At Weijman and Mens-Zeist, we genuinely care about people, about 'doing things together.' With that, the choice of 'odd duck' WoodWing Scienta was obvious. This system enables us concretely to work on quality together with all those involved. The human aspect and user-friendliness emerge right from the home page. The look and feel is very inviting, it just looks social.”

Despite the fact that I sometimes lie awake with new forms of legislation coming up, I know that with WoodWing Scienta's capabilities we can ensure that it remains manageable.

“A consultant from WoodWing Scienta helped us with the basic setup of the system which we then rolled out after a kick-off and with a clear schedule for the people in the office. This was quite exciting because, over the years, everyone has developed their own way of working, which is now centrally recorded and visible to all. But by looking together at possible inefficiencies, everyone's work ends up being easier and more enjoyable.”

“We are super excited about WoodWing Scienta's solution and consultants. They have been – and still are – always available throughout the process. We are helped immediately, sometimes even by an entire team at the same time. The WoodWing Scienta organization is just super customer-oriented, and the people are clearly very experienced.”

The result

“Everyone is enthusiastic about how good the system looks and how easy it is to use on your own. The search function is fantastic because you can also search the content of documents. I feel that the capture of processes and practices in WoodWing Scienta has allowed the merger of the two companies at the staff level to go more smoothly than it would have without it.”

“Last November, we had our first ISO 9001 audit. Despite the fact that only a quarter of the documents were still in WoodWing Scienta, the auditor was livid. With a few presses of a button it is clear how you deal with things and how processes run. Moreover, we can set up WoodWing Scienta so that the standards work for us instead of the other way around.”

The WoodWing Scienta organization is tremendously customer-oriented and the people are clearly very experienced.

“For the future, we expect to achieve a piece of process optimization and efficiency. It all becomes transparent and you have in WoodWing Scienta the ability to place tasks and responsibilities where they belong in the organization. This adds ownership to each part of the whole and you no longer have to carry that burden alone as a quality manager.”

The next step

“Now that colleagues in the office are up and running with WoodWing Scienta, we're going to work on a dashboard for the cell phones of employees on construction sites. We'll keep that as simple as possible: safety procedures, filling in hours, contact information, and the latest news. But they also have access, if they want, to all the information out there with the search function.”

“The Toolbox meetings are an obligation from one of the prescribed standards to share active instruction on a safety topic with employees every month. We currently do this through a dedicated app, but in the future, we will also bring this into WoodWing Scienta.”