iDM Energiesysteme

Agile Sales and Resource Management

More realistic forecasts and better coordination between sales and production thanks to a solid database

The demand for innovative heat pump systems is subject to strong fluctuations. To gain a better overview and make more precise sales forecasts, Austrian manufacturer of heat pumps iDM Energiesysteme manages its major projects with InLoox.

iDM Energiesysteme GmbH has been developing and producing innovative heating systems since the mid-1970s. Since 1997, the company has specialized purely in the manufacturing and sale of innovative heat pump systems. The traditional family business has set the target of bringing 40,000 heat pumps onto the market by 2025. With a share of 10-12 percent of unit sales, large heat pumps are sold in projects and placed on the growing heat pump market using the InLoox project management software to meet deadlines, quality and costs. 

More scalability and transparency in project work 

The software change was preceded by a period of rapid growth in the number of sales and production projects to be managed, but without a valid status overview. Hannes Laister, Head of Project Sales at iDM Energiesysteme: "The project management software used at the time was too rigid and didn't have enough data to make realistic predictions. With 2,000 projects running in parallel every year, this was not a viable long-term solution for us."

Laister and his project sales team drew up a list of requirements for the desired project management tool, carried out a market analysis. They determined that the greatest potential match between the requirements and performance overview was InLoox. The platform was tested intensively and the decision was made to introduce the solution. At the same time, they developed a strategy for which data should be collected in InLoox in order to deliver the most detailed forecasts possible in the future. It became clear that the system would have to be based on four pillars in order to ensure forecasting capability and resource planning: Data storage, data maintenance, time tracking and efficiency measurements.

You can only evaluate what you track

Consequently, it was necessary to create a clear structure for document storage in InLoox. The search and filter functions were particularly important here, to create a transparent overview of the available documents at any time. Kerschbaumer: "From quotations to technical diagrams of the heat pump systems and photo documentation, everything is now stored centrally on our SharePoint server." The project management solution also specifies which fields are to be filled in and how the progress of the project is to be documented in the notes function. The InLoox "custom fields" function is used to describe, document and control projects as precisely as possible. 

The project sales team at iDM Energiesysteme also makes intensive use of InLoox's diverse dashboard views. For example, it is possible to visualize the forecast for different system sizes, the market segments in which the current projects are located or the current phase of a project. Evaluations by region are also possible, displaying where most projects are currently ongoing on a map. "With these heat maps, we are in a very good position to make predictions, such as in which regions specific heat pump installations are pending or which employees - sales, support, production, etc. - will soon be in disproportionately high demand. Thanks to these heat maps, we can identify potential bottlenecks at an early stage and take action if necessary - for example, blocking vacations or ramping up production," explains Kerschbaumer. 

Time tracking and resource planning

The time tracking entries in the projects are particularly helpful for such forecasts. These are so valuable not least because - in the long run - they can be used to determine how much time needs to be calculated for certain tasks. The integration of Outlook is very advantageous here, as it minimizes the effort involved in working with InLoox.

Laister and the project managers make intensive use of the InLoox features integrated in Outlook - from creating tasks directly from an e-mail to monitoring quotations and booking time.

Laister sees great advantages in the user-friendly interface of InLoox and is pleased that the software is used so intensively. "But there is another aspect that makes InLoox so popular: The project managers who use the platform receive an incentive for doing so - in addition to their turnover-based commissions," reveals the project sales manager. 

Within a short space of time, InLoox has become the center of iDM sales projects - to the benefit of everyone: on the one hand, the manual effort for the sales specialists is reduced because they can access quotation templates, technical schematics, etc. more easily. And on the other hand, the company benefits from the information that the project managers record. At the click of a mouse, Hannes Laister is up to date on outstanding quotations, forecast probabilities and much more. And although these figures are already very informative, iDM Energiesysteme has gone one step further and connected InLoox to Power BI.  

Power BI - And more analyzing capabilities

René Berger, Software Project Manager at iDM Energiesysteme, says: "We now have over 280,000 entries in our system. We can use the dashboards and Power BI integrated in InLoox to evaluate these figures and information in a variety of ways. This enables us not only to analyze the current status, but also to evaluate dependencies - for example between the offer, sales probability, production and the implementation team. We can now predict much better how many quotations will result in orders, when they can be expected and what this means for production."   

Achieving targets and profitability are particularly important success factors in dynamic market situations. Just as the construction of wind turbines was initially boosted by subsidies years ago and then collapsed, manufacturers of heat pumps are currently struggling with extreme fluctuations in demand and sales.  

This is precisely why the Austrian energy system provider iDM benefits from its data. Hannes Laister: "The conclusions we can draw from the data are extremely valuable for us. Not only do we know if and when sales can be expected. Our procurement department also benefits, as does production. The data generated by InLoox, its analyzability and predictive power give us the agility we need to react to constantly changing conditions. At the same time, they provide the necessary stability because we can plan reliably and operate efficiently."