
Case study
EGS-plan
EGS-plan uses OpenProject to guide customers to success in terms of building planning and realization.
egs-plan.de
The logical structure, the high degree of flexibility and the possibility of communication within OpenProject ensure a very good project overview. The integration with Nextcloud also provides cloud storage that brings tasks and files together in one place. No more searching through long piles of files.
Thilo Sautter
EGS-plan
Head of Building Performance Department
How EGS-plan works with OpenProject
Template projects enable fast project work
EGS-plan is a planning office specialized in building services that support customers with sustainable energy concepts from planning to implementation and performance monitoring. Many projects follow a similar process, which is why EGS-plan works a lot with template projects in OpenProject, as these can be copied in seconds and adapted as required.
The feature of placeholder users in OpenProject is also a plus here: these are created once in the template project and can then be assigned when copying – depending on the availability and suitability of the employees.
When starting a new project, members are thus introduced to project structures that they are already familiar with and can get straight down to the actual work - with full concentration on the content. This makes project work highly efficient!

Integrations with Nextcloud and EGS-plan's own software MonKey
Project management needs to work fast and efficiently. Well-functioning integrations with other tools make day-to-day work much easier. Organizations like EGS-plan in particular, which regularly have to deal with very large amounts of data, benefit from integrations.
EGS-plan has been working with Nextcloud for years and therefore greatly appreciates the integration with OpenProject. Employees can quickly upload large amounts of data to Nextcloud, link it to OpenProject and access it again from there at any time.
Thanks to open source software, EGS-plan was also able to create and use its own integration with the MonKey software developed in-house. The MonKey software supports engineers in preparing data for technical monitoring and optimizing the operation of buildings. The idea behind this corresponds to a basic idea that can also be found in OpenProject: For successful work, information must flow together in a single place - providing a single source of truth.

Focus on the essentials thanks to clear role structures and the Share feature
EGS-plan has been working with OpenProject for three years and has successfully completed numerous projects. In most projects, there is only one to a maximum of five people involved, who generally have a basic member role. Access is kept to a minimum, which benefits everyone: Employees can concentrate on the essentials without inadvertently changing or deleting content at a higher level.
In the case of cross-departmental collaboration, project outsiders have read-only permissions, which means they are always informed about progress even without active involvement. With around 100 employees - who all have access to OpenProject - there are only three system administrators at EGS-plan with access to all projects and who handle user administration, for example.
OpenProject’s Share feature is also particularly valuable for EGS-plan. For example, external employees can also be given access to exactly the work packages they need. This is essential for compliance with data protection, which is a top priority for EGS-plan.

Why does EGS-plan appreciate project management with OpenProject?
Efficient file management
EGS-plan handles large amounts of data on a daily basis, which can be accessed in a fast and secure way with the help of OpenProject’s Nextcloud integration.
Clear structures
OpenProject supported EGS-plan’s growth from 20 to 100 employees in the form of clear structures and easily repeatable project processes.
Regulated access
Most EGS-plan employees have a minimum level of editing permissions and reading permissions where appropriate. This simplifies work at project level and reduces risks at system level.
Maximum data protection
The GDPR and other data protection guidelines are a high priority at EGS-plan. With OpenProject, data protection is guaranteed and employees can concentrate on their actual work.
Which project management features in OpenProject does EGS-plan use?
Nextcloud integration
Secure and efficient file management.
EGS-plan appreciates the Nextcloud integration of OpenProject. They can easily collaborate on big data and ensure that everyone is working on the same file.

Project templates with work packages
Simple reproduction of similarly structured projects.
With project templates EGS-plan does not have to always start from scratch. They save time and simplify planning.

Share
Share work packages with users who are not part of the project.
OpenProject's Share feature allows permission management on a task level. This ensures everyone only has access to the data they really need.

Meetings
Collaborate in form of dynamic meetings.
Create a meeting, add agenda items, send invitations – and much more. Recurring meetings can easily be copied, which saves a lot of time.

Credits:
Header photo Landtag Baden-Württemberg: EGS-plan
Screenshots: EGS-plan and OpenProject (demo data)
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