Artifex Mundi increases accuracy, gains real-time visibility into project costing
Artifex Mundi is one of the world’s best developers of casual adventure games. The company’s game portfolio has more than 20 titles, which are available on several platforms, including PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 or Blackberry. Since 2011, Artifex Mundi’s games have been downloaded more than 25 million times. The company is headquartered in Katowice, Poland and employs more than 100 people.
Challenge
Manual processes cut into development time
According to Robert Mikuszewski, Vice President of Production and Development, the company had been using manual timesheets created in Excel, which was becoming unmanageable and cumbersome. Accurate forecasting of time spent on various projects was challenging.
“We needed a new web-based solution that was easy to use and centralized,“ he said. “We wanted real-time visibility into our game projects, so we could review costs and forecast more accurately.”
Requirements for the new solution included an intuitive interface for smart phones and tablets, so the entire workforce could log time, wherever they were. They also needed robust, flexible reporting features to enable measurement of all aspects of project time and costs.
“Our admins were wasting hours processing, collating and entering data into timesheets,“ said Mikuszewski. “And, we had no visibility into project costs due to the delay in reporting. Without the data, it was difficult to plan for future projects.“
Although the team considered developing a custom solution in-house, they realized anything they developed would not be comparable to Replicon, which is a 17-year mature application. “We needed to roll something out quickly, and we were impressed that Replicon could achieve this with such a comprehensive solution,“ he said. “Because the solution is modular, we could start with the essentials and roll out additional functionality, as required.“
“We needed to roll something out quickly, and we were impressed that Replicon could achieve this with such a comprehensive solution. Because the solution is modular, we could start with the essentials and roll out additional functionality, as required. ”
Solution
Ease of use encourages fast adoption
Artifex Mundi purchased over 100 licenses of Replicon TimeCost to be used in two major departments: publishing and production. Designed to integrate seamlessly with any project management or financial solution, TimeCost provides Mikuszewski’s team with real-time insight into project time and costs, robust, flexible reporting features and the ease of use employees need.
“Replicon TimeCost makes it easy to capture project time and cost data quickly, giving us much better insight into workforce productivity,“ he said.
According to Mikuszewski, implementation was painless and fast, taking place in under three weeks. Employees have mobile access to the solution, which encourages accurate and timely data entry, regardless of the employee’s location.
“Because of its extreme ease-of-use, we had 100-percent adoption of the Replicon solution in both departments within the first few weeks,“ said Mikuszewski.
Streamlined time entry and reporting saves 10-12 hours per week
Since implementing Replicon, Mikuszewski’s team uses the solution’s flexible reporting features to measure all aspects of time, attendance and cost by game project. “We can do all this at twice the speed we did it before,“ he said. “We are saving at least 10-12 hours per week.”
Reporting is also much faster. “It used to take us a few days to prepare a single report,“ he said. “With Replicon, we click a button and run a report instantly. This gives us real-time visibility into project costing that we never had before.“
Mikuszewski has also seen greater data accuracy, as a result of eliminating manual entry and associated human error. “Because our employees have cloud-based access to Replicon, they are more likely to report time as it accrues, rather than trying to remember when they worked at a later date,“ he said. “This increases accuracy of the data and enables us to more precisely measure estimated versus actual costs. This information helps us with planning for future game projects.”
According to Mikuszewski, the ability to forecast time spent on projects and estimated versus actual costs is the real benefit. “Time is an important resource in our business,“ he said. “With Replicon helping us be more efficient in our time reporting and project planning, we have more time to spend creating new, exciting games our audience loves.“
“Reporting is also much faster. It used to take us a few days to prepare a single report. With Replicon, we click a button and run a report instantly. This gives us real-time visibility into project costing that we never had before. ”
The Results
- Eliminated manual time tracking and reporting, saving 10-12 hours per week
- Provided easy-to-use, cloud-based solution, achieving 100% adoption within the first two weeks
- Increased data accuracy for more accurate measurement of estimated versus actual project costs
"With Replicon helping us be more efficient in our time reporting and project planning, we have more time to spend creating new, exciting games our audience loves."
Robert Mikuszewski
Vice President of Production and Development
