Ulrike Meyer is responsible for the road-show management at GetGoing in Germany. ZCOPE helps her manage multiple projects at the same time. She also integrates partners and clients creating a central communication platform. In this short interview she will tell us all about how she accomplished this.

Where did you hear about ZCOPE?

I read about it on a project management blog. I was looking for the right software for almost a year before we started to work with ZCOPE. We are a product oriented company on the one side but still work like an agency on the other. We wanted a tool that would support both. I tested a lot of services but they all failed in one or an other way.

What was your first impression? Why are you using ZCOPE?

Well, my first impression of the screen-shots on the website was very positive. Finally a software that is fun to look at for 10 hours a day. It has a clean structrure, the fonts are large and the interface is intuitive. 

How do you use ZCOPE? Which functions do you use most?

Together with Outlook, ZCOPE is the first app we start in the morning. A click on "My tasks" tells me what I have to do today. I really can't say what we use most because we work with everything that ZCOPE has to offer.

The projekt blog is one of the most important features. We use it as a knowledge database in the project and as a pinboard for the whole team. Sometimes we publish information for all project stakeholders. Nothing is simpler than this: Write a blog post and the system will notify everyone.

We don't use the budget feature too much at the moment. Our pricing is too complex and could not be handled with ZCOPE. But I guess the smart guys at ZCOPE will do some upgrades in the future to extend the possibilities. 

Did you use another software tool before or did you organise your projects „the hard way“ (Emails, Excel etc.)?

Our road-show management has been using a software since 2006 that was specially built for them. This tool only aims at projects with client access. It's not suitable for telling the painter which wall has to be painted or the printer when a foil has to be changed from 2008 to 2009. Switching to ZCOPE was very easy for the team because we felt it was a real help. Everyone in the team started using ZCOPE immediately. And once you know what a task list and a task is for, working with the tool is more or less self explaining ;-)

Have you ever used ZCOPE for something else than typical project management?

We haven't used it to exchange recipes yet but from time to time ZCOPE is our FTP server. We started a project called „Downloads“ where we put all large files that we need regularly. It looks so much nicer than a standard FTP client ;-)

Any secret tips for using ZCOPE?

ALWAYS create a task list and then the tasks. This is the only way to link blog posts, documents, dates and milestones ;-) It doesn`t look like a secret trick but it will save you a lot of time.

Did ZCOPE optimise the communication with team members and clients?

Immensely! Carpenters, painters and printers love the tool. If a deadline changes we post it on ZCOPE and everyone is informed. The more stress you have the more you forget to inform every stake holder of your project. Another very helpful feature is the support for multi languages because many of our clients aren't from Germany.

How many projects do you manage at the same time?

At this moment we have 11. Most projects last a few months, some last over a year.

How many people in your company use ZCOPE?

We have 8 people working with ZCOPE internally. When adding external partners we reach a total of 13 people.

How did you introduce ZCOPE to your clients?

Not at all. We called them to let them know that an account had been set up for them. From then on we let them do everything by themselves. We never had one single technical request. All questions were regarding project management issues. The reason might be: We have very clever clients. But I guess the simplicity of ZCOPE adds something to that :-)

How did ZCOPE change your email behaviour? Do you send less emails than before?

I send a lot less than before. The problem with emails is the reply to all button. Everyone uses it. With ZCOPE all relevant information are in one place and are archived. Including comments and replies. 

What do you like best about ZCOPE?

Right from the beginning I loved the well structured interface and the very good legible fonts. I open ZCOPE every day and work with it. No matter where I am, I have my office with me.