Case study/Education
The custom time-tracking tool that got around 40% more project leaders tracking time at RWTH Aachen University
unicrew built a custom time-tracking web app for a research group at RWTH Aachen University, in place of spreadsheets or off-the-shelf software.
RWTH Aachen University needed to know where its research staff time was going, without making the tracking itself a job. unicrew built a custom web tool for one of its research groups, and the share of project leaders tracking their team's time rose by around 40%. The engagement ran in 2017 under our former Artelogic brand.
- Client
- RWTH Aachen University
- Focus
- Education, Productivity
- Market
Germany- Engagement
- Custom web app build
- Stack
- SQL
Outcome at a glance
What this project delivered, in numbers.
- ~40%More project leaders tracking timevs. guessing or delegating the task
The challenge
A research group at RWTH Aachen University (Aachen, Germany) ran many projects at once, and each project leader needed to know how much time colleagues were spending where. Rather than spreadsheets or off-the-shelf software, they wanted a custom, web-based tool, with enough automation that neither the people doing the work nor the people tracking it had to spend real effort on it, built by developers with genuine database and SQL experience.
Our approach
unicrew built the time-tracking web application as the group’s software development partner. Staff log in and, once a month, record how their time was distributed; the tool turns that into reports showing which projects deserve priority. The database and SQL depth the client had asked for sits underneath it, and small requirement changes during the build were turned around quickly.
An internal tool like this one is won or lost on effort rather than on features. If logging the month takes real work, people quietly stop, and the reports stop being true.
Results
- The share of project leaders tracking their team’s time rose by around 40%, replacing guesswork and delegation.
- The reports gave the group ongoing visibility into which projects should take priority.
- unicrew adapted the tool quickly as requirements changed, with a response time the client called fantastic.
Internal tooling of this kind is steady work for us, and not only for universities; there is a second example in our AI-powered automation for project management. Other clients describe what working with us is like on our client reviews page.
“They were organized and provided us with tools to track their progress in a transparent way.”
Jose Dorantes, Research Assistant, RWTH Aachen University
What the client says
We saw around a 40% increase of how many project leaders are tracking the time of their employees instead of making guesses or delegating the task. Their response time was fantastic. They were organized and provided us with tools to track their progress in a transparent way. Every time we needed to add some small things to make it work better, they adapted those requirements very quickly.
04/Technologies
Technologies on this project
AI & Data
- SQL
05/Quick answers
The questions behind the project
What did unicrew build for RWTH Aachen University?
unicrew built a custom, web-based time-tracking application for a research group at RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany, in place of spreadsheets or off-the-shelf software. Staff log in and, once a month, record how their time was distributed, and the tool turns that into reports showing which projects deserve priority. The group ran many projects at once, and each project leader needed to know how much time colleagues were spending where. The engagement ran in 2017 under the former Artelogic brand.
Did people actually use it, or ignore it?
The share of project leaders tracking their team's time rose by around 40%, replacing guesswork and delegation. Low effort was the client's own requirement, not an afterthought: they wanted enough automation that neither the people doing the work nor the people tracking it had to put much into the task. The reports also gave the group ongoing visibility into which projects should take priority.
Does unicrew build other internal productivity or automation tools?
Yes. Building internal tooling like this is ordinary work for us, and it is not specific to universities: see the AI-powered automation for project management we built elsewhere. What carries over between jobs is our people and our methods.