Frenell uses TimeTrack to manage absence and vacation requests, as well as to track working hours and project times.
Jann Kirchberger is the Operating Officer in Frenell GmbH and also supports the administrative tasks in the HR area on a smaller scale. Frenell GmbH was originally founded in 2006 under the name Novatec Solar and renamed Frenell GmbH in 2015 as part of a management buyout. The company now has a total of around 60 employees. Frenell specializes in the turnkey delivery of solar thermal systems.
In general, we specialize in turnkey supply of solar steam generators. As a typical IPC, also known as a general contractor, we supply central power plants for electricity generation. Our focus is on large power plants that generate solar-based electricity without using fossil fuels. We are able to provide a constant power supply around the clock, either as base load or on-demand. Our solutions are used, for example, on islands that are not connected to regional power grids. This is a particularly important issue in regions in Africa where electricity is only available 20 to 30-40% of the time. Many large private consumers of energy such as mining companies, steel mills, concrete plants and others are increasingly interested in this technology.
Currently, we use the system mainly for recording working hours and project times with internal costs. Some of our colleagues work very flexibly, often in a home office, and they use the system to enter their attendances. For example, they indicate that they are present from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Mondays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, and then again from 2:00 p.m. or similar.
It’s also cool to now have a comprehensive overview of all vacations at a glance. Through the shared calendar on the Exchange Server, all vacations can be entered directly. This gives everyone an overview of who is present and when. This is really practical. The release of vacation and the display in the calendar is now faster and more efficient compared to manual processing.
I especially like the company structure that you can build with Time Track Web App. You can define different locations and teams there and assign clear responsibilities, for example, each of the five team leaders has their own team and is responsible for vacation releases and working time control. This is very convenient in a dynamic company like ours, because there are clear responsibilities and everyone is responsible for their area. It’s convenient that one person doesn’t have to be responsible for everything, but that each team leader has his or her own tasks to keep track of.
Kai Kübler is responsible for controlling in the company. He is the EP system supervisor and takes care of business controlling.
I found the implementation really easy. At the beginning there were some small errors because someone had chosen something wrong, but within 2-4 weeks everything was working pretty well. Otherwise, the implementation of the software was quite easy. On the whole, the software is relatively simple and understandable for the user. At least, I have implemented another software here in the company that was significantly more complex.
For me, it is particularly advantageous that we, as the parent company in Karlsruhe, sell engineering hours to the project companies. This makes it much easier to sum up the hours at the end of the month and calculate and invoice the total for each project company. This definitely saves time, as I can indicate exactly how much time I spent on each project without having to add it manually each time. Everything is clearly summarized and makes the whole process much easier.
The ease of use is definitely a big advantage as well. It’s really self-explanatory where to go and what to do. Compared to other software solutions that have been partially adopted here and with which there were many problems, Time Track is very user-friendly. A minimal introduction is enough to be able to use it well. It also provides a good overview and analysis of working hours. It is also very easy to extract the hours and make exports. When it comes to just recording working hours and project time tracking, Time Track is very simple and self-explanatory.
TimeTrack supports Frenell in easily recording and managing working hours, project times and absences such as vacation and sick leave. In addition, TimeTrack offers a clear display of vacations in the shared calendar, which enables a quick overview of attendances. The software’s flexible adaptability to Frenell’s company structure with different locations and teams facilitates the assignment of responsibilities and the division of labor. Overall, TimeTrack helps to simplify and increase the efficiency of Frenell’s administrative processes.
