Semper - a free educational institution for all age groups - was looking for a suitable tool to replace its vacation management system. The previous solution involved a high level of maintenance, which the institution no longer wanted to handle itself. With TIMETOACT Vacation Manager for Microsoft 365, Semper found a solution that offers maximum convenience as Software as a Service (SaaS) and meets its demands for user-friendliness.
Maximum convenience in vacation management: Semper uses TIMETOACT Vacation Manager as SaaS
Education provider benefits from user-friendliness of M365-compatible TIMETOACT solution
Note: This reference dates from before the merger and was created by TIMETOACT – now part of ATVANTAGE. Our experience remains the same – only our name has changed. You can find more information about the merger here.
Initial situation:
- Semper was using a solution developed in-house as a leave management system
- High maintenance effort around the operation of the tool
- Desire for modern solution that can be linked to Microsoft 365 product range
Solution:
- TIMETOACT Vacation Manager als Software as a Service (SaaS)
Added value:
- High usability
- Seamless integration into M365 landscape
- Semper hands over responsibility for hosting, maintenance, operation and support to TIMETOACT
New vacation planner for Semper: teachers must also apply for leave
Students in Germany have around twelve weeks of vacation per year to recover from the demanding daily school routine. Contrary to a common prejudice, teachers do not just sit back and relax during this time - they are entitled to up to 30 days' vacation and use the rest of their time off for further training and lesson planning, for example. Teachers, secretaries and other school employees must apply for leave in the same way as other employees. For a long time, the Semper Group used a solution developed in-house as a vacation management system.
This was associated with a high level of maintenance: Semper used to take on all the tasks involved in operating the tool itself - tasks for which the educational institution does not actually have sufficient IT resources.
Core requirement:
On the part of the school management, there was a desire to introduce a modern, cloud-based leave management system and to completely hand over responsibility for hosting, maintenance, operation and support. The tool was to be available to Semper's 700 employees across Germany at all locations and be able to be linked to the Microsoft 365 product range.
Vacation Manager as SaaS impresses with convenience and clear functionality
In TIMETOACT's Vacation Manager for Microsoft 365, Semper saw the right solution for itself: a streamlined, user-friendly vacation management system that focuses on the functions relevant to Semper.
Vacation Manager start screen with vacation overview
- The tool offers all the essential functions such as vacation request, deputy selection and vacation approval, and does without unnecessary bells and whistles.
- Users simply authenticate themselves via their Microsoft 365 user data.
- The approved leave automatically appears in the requestor's Outlook calendar.
- Vacation account, vacation calendar, and other dashboards (e.g., for vacation requests, substitutions, and tasks) help employees stay on top of things.
- Vacation days are calculated automatically - the tool takes weekends and holidays into account.
In order to keep its expenses around the Vacation Manager as low as possible, Semper decided to use it as Software as a Service (SaaS). TIMETOACT takes care of hosting, maintenance, operation and support, leaving the people responsible at Semper more time for their actual tasks.
What we like about Vacation Manager - besides the seamless integration into our M365 landscape - is the ease of use. The application process is very intuitive, eliminating the need for time-consuming employee training.
Dr. Swen Ziller
School management of the vocational high school
Semper Schulen Media gGmbH
Step by step to successful implementation
Semper set January 1, 2023 as the fixed date for the new Vacation Manager to go live - accordingly, TIMETOACT started setting up the environment in November 2023. Only user names and teams were to be transferred and migrated from the predecessor tool, for which Semper provided the necessary data as a CSV export. After the migration and the setup of the accesses, our experts linked the Vacation Manager with Outlook: On the one hand, to automatically notify users via e-mail about activities in Vacation Manager (e.g. vacation approval), and on the other hand, to automatically transfer vacation entries to the Outlook calendar. After our experts had completed the setup, they handed Vacation Manager over to Semper for testing and final optimizations.
Employee leave overview for managers
The cooperation with TIMETOACT worked smoothly. It was particularly pleasant to have a contact person who clearly assigned to us and is always is always in the picture about the project.
Dr. Swen Ziller
School management of the vocational high school
Semper Schulen Media gGmbH
Conclusion: Easy handling and more time for the essentials
Vacation Manager went live as planned on New Year's Day 2023. After a short familiarization phase, Semper's school personnel are already using the tool routinely and are satisfied with its operation and functionality. Thanks to the provision of the tool as software as a service, the effort that Semper previously had with the self-developed solution is eliminated. In the future, TIMETOACT will continue to be available to the educational institution for questions and problems regarding Vacation Manager as part of the support contract.
The Semper Group - the education provider for all age groups - is headquartered in Dresden and covers various types of schools from elementary schools, high schools and technical colleges to vocational training and adult education. With locations in six German states, we are positioned throughout Germany and continue to grow.
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