From University to Enterprise: Resource Planning Systems with Ganttic

Overview

Organizations ranging from university research labs to global engineering firms benefit from dedicated visual scheduling to manage their daily operations. While small to mid-sized teams like LAT and Peab Grundläggning use Ganttic to escape the chaos of spreadsheets for tracking specialized equipment and heavy machinery, large corporations rely on it to fill operational gaps. For global teams like EDAG Group, Ganttic serves as the agile visual scheduling layer that a traditional enterprise resource planning system often lacks. By adopting a dedicated resource planner, businesses of all sizes can easily allocate personnel, physical assets, and facilities on a single centralized timeline. 

Scaling an organization means scaling how you manage your time, people, and physical assets. This article explores how three very different organizations use Ganttic to bring clarity to their daily operations.

While the Laboratory of Applied Thermodynamics (LAT) at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece uses Ganttic to track research equipment, Peab uses it to manage heavy construction machinery. Meanwhile, Ganttic acts as an agile visual layer for EDAG.

Here is a look at how three different organizations scaled their operations by moving from simple spreadsheets to a dedicated scheduling platform.

The Research Level: Coordinating Equipment at LAT

At the university level and research in particular, scheduling revolves around shared specialized equipment. The Laboratory of Applied Thermodynamics (LAT) at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece faced this exact challenge. Their research teams conduct advanced automotive emissions testing and require access to specific test beds, measurement instruments, and vehicle dynamometers.

Relying on basic spreadsheets meant tracking which researcher had which instrument became a logistical headache. It was difficult to ensure equipment was properly calibrated and available for the next project.

By moving their equipment tracking to a centralized visual timeline with Ganttic, researchers can now log in and instantly see when a specific sensor or test bed is booked. This transparency prevents double bookings, ensures expensive equipment does not sit idle, and eliminates the endless email chains previously required to reserve a tool.

For example, it was important to know if the planner had allocated the same instrument to be in two different testing sites at the same time. As we want to avoid this, the planner should alert us. That way, we can adjust the planning so that the daily utilization of equipment does not exceed 100%. It certainly saves us from a lot of email messages and phone calls.

Dimitris Katsaounis, Technical Manager at LAT

The Mid-Market: Managing Heavy Machinery at Peab

As operations scale into large commercial projects, the cost of a scheduling error multiplies. Peab Grundläggning is a major foundation engineering and construction company operating across the Nordics. In their industry, delays cost serious money.

Peab is not just managing people. They deploy massive piling rigs, drill rigs, and the specialized operators required to run them across multiple active construction sites. Before adopting dedicated software, managing this moving puzzle was incredibly difficult.

By bringing their workforce and heavy machinery into one visual planner, Peab gained the ability to match the right machine with the right operator at the right site. Managers can filter their schedule by equipment type or location. This allows them to adjust plans on the fly when a machine requires maintenance or a project timeline shifts.

With a customizable coloring scheme, they could clearly indicate for themselves which people were working with which machines that day. For example if there is a machine and a person with the ability to operate it, then they would both get the same color. This made it easy to spot at a glance, who and what, were doing the job.

Johan, Chief Project Manager, Peab Grundläggning

Why an Enterprise Resource Planning System Needs a Visual Scheduling Layer

Is Ganttic an ERP?

First things first: Ganttic is not an enterprise resource planning system.

Traditional ERPs are software platforms built to handle overarching business data like finance, HR, billing, and supply chain logistics. While these systems are excellent for storing historical data, global companies quickly realize they are notoriously bulky. They lack the agility and intuitive visual interface required for dynamic daily scheduling.

This is exactly why an enterprise resource planning system needs a dedicated visual layer

How a visual planner complements your enterprise software

Many companies try to force their daily scheduling into their main database. This usually results in planners exporting data from their enterprise resource planning system into a spreadsheet just to build a readable schedule. A dedicated visual planner eliminates this extra step.

Instead of fighting against a rigid database, organizations use Ganttic to complement it. The ERP acts as the master record for project budgets, employee payroll, and client contracts. Ganttic then serves as the operational whiteboard. Managers can take the project codes and resource lists from their main database and drop them into a flexible visual timeline.

This dual approach gives executives the financial reporting they need while giving project managers the drag-and-drop freedom they require to get the actual work done.

How did EDAG integrate Ganttic to their system?

EDAG Group is a massive independent engineering partner to the global automotive industry. They manage the development of complete vehicles and production plants. This means they must coordinate test cars, prototypes, and specialized testing equipment across multiple international facilities.

When a company reaches the enterprise level, they typically implement an enterprise resource planning system to handle company-wide data like finance, HR, and supply chain logistics. Global companies quickly realize that while these massive platforms are excellent for storing historical data, they often lack the agility required for dynamic daily scheduling.

A standard enterprise resource planning system handles their overarching business data. EDAG then uses Ganttic as their agile scheduling layer.

• The platform gives their test managers a clear drag-and-drop interface to book test vehicles and equipment.
• It provides the enterprise-grade security and custom permissions required by a global corporation but maintains the speed and flexibility that a traditional database-driven platform lacks.
• By adopting a dedicated visual planner, EDAG ensures their highly valuable testing assets are utilized efficiently across their global network.

Moving away from rigid spreadsheets and unintuitive software gave the team visual clarity, cut planning time by at least 25 percent, and let them build a system shaped around how their test center actually works. The schedule no longer acts as an administrative hurdle.

EDAG Group

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