Braunschweig State Theatre – Contract management

Braunschweig State Theatre contract management – Automated with ELO.

The Braunschweig State Theatre is the largest cultural institution in Braunschweig and the region, attracting 230,000 visitors every year to its three permanent performance sites and seasonal open-air stage. Tradition and innovation go hand in hand and thanks to Bechtle, the theatre is now benefiting from a completely paperless office with ELO Digital Office. Contract management has also been automated with ELO, which has not only accelerated processes, but made them less prone to errors. Guest performances and hires can now be organised and managed at the click of a mouse.

Project details.

Services

Software
Modern Workplace

Industry

Public sector

Manufacturer

Company size

250 – 1,500 employees

Challenge.

The Braunschweig State Theatre organises and holds a host of events including plays, musical theatre, dance shows, concerts and youth theatre productions. It also hosts guest performances and is available for hire, all of which entails an enormous amount of administrative work. Until now, everything from calculations to quotes and implementation was paper-based and had to be processed manually, which not only took up a lot of time, but was also prone to errors. Each request had to be individually processed, calculated, checked and approved, but it didn’t stop there as coordination between the various departments such as stage construction, purchasing, marketing and visitor services was also handled in the same way. The Braunschweig State Theatre therefore collaborated with Bechtle to roll out the ELOprofessional ECM system to digitalise the processing of incoming invoices and contract management, with the latter also being centralised. The State Theatre’s aim was to automate large parts of its contract management, accelerate processes and track every step. With this in mind, it was on the lookout for a solution that would be flexible enough to meet the theatre’s very specific needs. Existing calculations needed to be integrated and documents made searchable as well as archived in a legally compliant manner.

The digital contract management solution will optimise our workflows long-term. Every department—from production and tech to stage construction and quote management—are delighted with the solution. Thanks to ELO and the modifications Bechtle made to suit our needs and processes, everything is now fully automated and centralised, minimising errors and accelerating the entire process of drawing up contracts for guest performances and hires. It’s fantastic that everything works so easily now.

Stefan Mehrens, Administrative Director, Braunschweig State Theatre

Solution.

Bechtle was tasked with expanding and modifying the ELOprofessional system already in place to meet the Braunschweig State Theatre’s specific needs. The aim was to centralise a host of processes and integrate them into the ELO Contract Business Solution. To do so, Bechtle modified the standard solution in such a way as to integrate multiple elements that had previously been missing, meaning, for example, the IT company could develop special forms for guest performances, calculations and the visitor service. Step by step, the theatre’s entire workflow—covering everything from expressions of interest and planning to approvals and contract processing—was mapped into the modified solution. Every department involved was to be automatically informed as soon as a certain phase was reached, but this meant the calculations used up to this point had to be copied to ELO using an Excel spreadsheet so they could continue to be used into the future. Bechtle was able to ensure that all relevant data from this Excel file is now automatically copied to the corresponding form fields in ELO, meaning all forms are correct and complete all while allowing the contract management department to carry on working with a format it is familiar with. Furthermore, all information and the measures taken are now immediately available in ELO for approval. Bechtle also made sure that all this information is managed centrally and transparently in ELO by configuring the application to document all form data so that it is always clear who did what and when. Plus, digital archiving also means that each document can be retrieved quickly and easily.

After Bechtle had modified the software for Braunschweig State Theatre needs, it underwent several tests to ensure that everything was working as it should and every department was happy. During the tests, Bechtle made some tweaks to optimise the solution with it scheduled to go live in the new season.

Business benefits.

With ELO’S digital contract management solution, Bechtle has laid the foundation for considerably faster and less error prone processes at Braunschweig State Theatre. The manual workload has been cut dramatically with critical tasks being forwarded automatically to the right people, saving time and relieving the burden on staff. By automatically copying data from the original Excel spreadsheet, data transfers are seamless and therefore support the near fully automated preparation of contracts. With data stored in a central hub, all relevant information on guest performances and hires is now a breeze to find and everyone involved can keep an eye on the individual process steps at any time. ELO’s permissions concept also ensures that only authorised people can access certain documents meaning data remains safe and secure. This new solution has given the Braunschweig State Theatre a modern, efficient and flexible way of working that keeps admin to an absolute minimum, considerably facilitating day-to-day business for the theatre’s staff.