How AIRSENSE Analytics communicates over 150 procedures in Stackfield

About AIRSENSE Analytics

AIRSENSE Analytics is a developer and manufacturer of detection devices for dangerous substances and supports customers in the areas of First Response, Public Security, Aviation, Logistics, and Environment in combating CBRN hazards (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear).

Paul Plüschke has been with AIRSENSE Analytics for over five years, driving corporate and business development from the management team. In his role, he has been responsible for digitalization during the coronavirus crisis, among other things, and got the collaboration in Stackfield rolling. Today, Stackfield is an integral part of the entire value chain at AIRSENSE and is deeply integrated into various day-to-day work processes.

The initial situation: unstructured face-to-face meetings and the limits of agile project management with SAP and EAP

Before COVID, the company's processes were primarily organized via SAP and EAP. Collaboration between teams was purely face-to-face and very ad-hoc. Plüschke only vaguely remembers meetings that were far too bloated, far too extensive, and far too lacking in content. Although the individual players had a great need to communicate, the discussions were too uncontrolled and meetings often went on for hours with many interruptions. Furthermore, AIRSENSE had tried to introduce agile methods for years using physical Kanban boards, but without a collaboration tool, this was often only partially successful, ultimately leading to the decision to look for a digital tool.

Strict safety requirements steer the choice towards Stackfield

As part of an evaluation project organized by Plüschke, various providers were to be reviewed and compared with each other in terms of AIRSENSE's requirements. As AIRSENSE operates in the security sector, among other things, the company is subject to special requirements: where Stackfield stores data (in particular the geo-redundancy of 200 km recommended by the German Federal Office for Information Security) and how information is encrypted - every detail was scrutinized. With Stackfield, it all worked out somehow, says Plüschke, thinking back to the evaluation. The competition dropped out pretty quickly due to the lack of data security. Another decisive factor for Stackfield was the flexibility offered in Stackfield's rooms, which would allow the teams to digitize all physical Kanban boards without any problems.

The introduction of Stackfield at AIRSENSE Analytics

With an onboarding plan lasting several weeks, AIRSENSE started its acclimatization phase in Stackfield in 2020. The absolute top priority was to continue working under coronavirus conditions, explains Plüschke, meaning that nothing could be left to chance - there was a lot at stake. A small user group, not hierarchically organized within the company, but consisting of everyone interested in the transition, initiated a test phase. The team met at least once a week, processed the feedback received, and worked on a small, flexible set of rules for using Stackfield within the company. In just a few months, an organic set of rules developed quite quickly, says Plüschke.

What's special here is that the set of rules was created and optimized in Stackfield. Every piece of information was processed in pages and discussions and made available to colleagues. This ensured that everyone had access to important guidelines for using Stackfield at all times. In an internal further training concept called AIRCademy, the participants in the admin group additionally presented various features to familiarize colleagues with the system. For Plüschke, the introduction of Stackfield was a complete success.

Process management in Stackfield: creating, executing and monitoring workflows

Around 180 rooms with nearly 55 employees: Stackfield is now used to its full extent at AIRSENSE and supports the company in the implementation of all processes. Plüschke explains: The moment a process needs to be communicated, which is always the case with processes, we have a room, a board, a responsible person, and a co-responsible person. By using room templates and taking the rules and regulations into account, each room is precisely tailored to the specific requirements. All project-specific communication is recorded in the task cards. The task is assigned to the responsible individuals, who then work, document, and communicate exclusively in the task card, a so-called work package. This allows you to work with the tool in a very focused way, praises Plüschke.

Stay up-to-date remotely: transparent history in Stackfield and chatting in the mobile app

For Plüschke personally, Stackfield is a great support, especially when it comes to remote work: I travel a lot and am often on the road in other time zones. I also have operational responsibility for one or two things. When you open Stackfield in a different time zone in the morning, you can follow the progress of your work very easily. Stackfield not only offers a detailed history for each room entry, but the latest activities can also be checked for news per module, per room or even organization-wide. With Stackfield, Plüschke never has to worry about overlooking or missing anything important.

In addition, the mobile app helps him quickly check upcoming online meetings or reply to messages. The app is actually always active on my cell phone and I hardly use anything else. [...] The last update was very convincing. As AIRSENSE has made clear arrangements to only communicate via Stackfield, Plüschke knows that he receives all important messages via Stackfield and does not have to open his email inbox. Stackfield is used every day and is the absolute main communication tool.

Seamless collaboration with external parties in Stackfield

In addition, Stackfield is a great help when working with external parties. Plüschke explains: When we carry out product development, we involve external users on the boards, for example, suppliers or customers, if they have to submit high-frequency reports but are not allowed to use our own infrastructure. The customers then get their own Stackfield access and we can communicate securely. That was also something new and special for us. Stackfield proves to be particularly useful in software development, firmware development, and design. The relevant customers are usually more tech-savvy and are happy to use tools like Stackfield. Stackfield also makes their work much easier, says Plüschke.

Productivity has increased tremendously. The level of acceptance is extremely high.

All in all, AIRSENSE is impressed with Stackfield. Paul Plüschke now knows that the tool has become an integral part of his day-to-day work and has no plans to part with Stackfield any time soon. Stackfield is so deeply integrated into the processes. We have no plans to change that in the next 20 years.