As a full-service partner for the German telecommunications industry, HKT GmbH supports network operators and system suppliers nationwide in the development, construction and operation of technical infrastructures for mobile communications, fixed networks and electric mobility. The company was founded in Bochum in 1974 and employs around 300 people at a total of eight locations in Germany.

No standard processes, tens of different tools

HKT's range of services covers the entire life cycle of networks. Managing work orders and coordinating technician assignments is correspondingly complex. The processes were not standardized for a long time, each dispatcher had their own workflow and used various tools to communicate with the sales teams. All measures were maintained in a large Excel spreadsheet, work orders were sent manually by e-mail and feedback from the technicians was provided via various channels. The result was data loss and redundant, sometimes out-of-date information, which caused a great deal of effort.

Efficient workflows with a central Ninox database

Finding suitable standard software that could be adapted to the very special processes at HKT proved to be extremely difficult. The tested solutions were either too inflexible or would have required a great deal of effort to implement. That is why HKT decided to develop it in-house with Ninox. With the support of Ninox partner Markus Wulff, a central database was created in several phases, which conveniently combines all information and functions in one place. All employees involved in a project have access to the data at any time and from anywhere, using mobile devices, even at work sites. Project management has an overview of all relevant information at any time via a dashboard and can generate appropriate reports “at the push of a button.”

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Key features

• project management

• Order management

• disposition

Ninox has significantly improved project management at HKT and made it more efficient. All team members now have the same, up-to-date information and can view and process orders. Feedback from the job sites is entered into the database in a structured way by the technicians via mobile devices. There are individual task lists with an integrated notification system and predefined views make it easy to understand all processes, events and timelines at any time. “Live tracking” of all relevant milestones provides an overview and quick response times. The construction measures are also documented via Ninox. HKT uses Ninox Cloud and also on Android tablets. Based on practice, the solution is constantly being optimised and expanded as required.