The chemistry is right. And has been for over 130 years: BÜFA is an independent chemical company that manufactures over 1000 different chemical products. In addition to the production of innovative chemicals of the highest quality standards, there is also the “just-in-time” delivery for customers. Therefore, reliable tools for internal processes are essential. The Application Technology team realized that Excel alone could neither adequately map nor improve internal processes. The solution to their problem is called Report Builder.

The challenge for BÜFA

Environmental requirements, numerous regulations and technical possibilities make the daily work with chemicals a challenge. Therefore, every chemical company needs mechanisms that make work as efficient and pleasant as possible. BÜFA is no exception. Particularly in Application Technology, where external customer inquiries are made and forwarded internally, tools for self-optimization are in demand.

And here was the problem: Excel. To track their own progress, the Application Technology team mainly used Confluence with a workflow plugin. Here they could display which work package was currently located where, but a target-actual comparison was not available. In addition, there was an Excel spreadsheet that had to be updated manually on a daily basis. This additional work without any added value was no longer acceptable for Kristof Männel, the team lead for Application Technology. He sought advice from Lars Brozinski of BÜFA IT management. After a joint requirements analysis, a goal was quickly defined: to flexibly display and optimize internal processes without Excel.

With a customized Jira report to success

The two relocated the mapping of internal processes to Jira, which the company was already using somewhere else. They soon came up with the idea of using Report Builder from Actonic, an extremely versatile Jira app with numerous pre-built report templates to optimize their own processes.

BÜFA had the specific requirement to accurately visualize and track the desired date as well as the workload and goal of an order. It should be possible to precisely display at which point in time an issue changes status and enters the completion phase. Without further ado, Mr. Brozinski sat down at the computer, opened the backend and wanted to see for himself what he could do to support his colleagues. That’s when he suddenly noticed the built-in support for custom reports through the button:

With a simple click, he contacted Actonic and left the coding and testing of a customized Jira report to experienced developers – and could fully concentrate on his own core tasks.

This is what the customized Jira report looks like

BÜFA wanted a bar chart of delivery date accuracy that always updates automatically. A realistic end date of an issue is defined in the Jira ticket as a target value and compared with the actual value. If the implementation of an issue is faster than the realistic end date, the bar is displayed in green, if it takes longer, in red.

Using sample data from Actonic’s developer team, the Jira report looks like this:

The blue line at 75 percent marks the on-time delivery target set by BÜFA.

The time period can be selected individually with complete flexibility:

What is also an absolute added value for BÜFA: When clicking on the bars, the team is directed to the linked Jira tickets. Here they can see in detail what took how long for an issue:

“Truly outstanding”: Report Building Service from Actonic

The Report Building Service Jira report has been used at BÜFA for several months. The team around Mr. Männel started with a target of 75 percent on-time delivery. And despite environmental resource deficiencies, the Application Technology team was able to raise the bar by quite a bit thanks to the process revolution provided by its own Report Builder report. Now, 80 percent on-time delivery is considered the standard.

“Truly outstanding,” says Mr. Männel about the solution Actonics Report Building Service delivered him. “This report updates itself. We were able to throw the Excel spreadsheet overboard and all of our colleagues are happy.”

The interview with Mr. Männel and Mr. Brozinski emphasizes how much time the BÜFA team saves thanks to the new Jira report. Communication with Actonic throughout the project was also fast and transparent. After the first customer testing of the report, further feedback loops followed. That’s because the Actonic team creates any report a customer wants and doesn’t consider the work done until the customer is absolutely satisfied with the result.

Good chemistry with Actonic

BÜFA stands for “good chemistry”. And not only with its end products, but also with the corporate atmosphere. This thought can also be applied to the work with the Actonic Report Building Service. In close consultation with the customer BÜFA, exactly the individual Jira report was developed that revolutionizes the internal processes of the chemical company’s Application Technology. Daily updated data, transparent visualizations and the link to Jira issues are a “win win win” for the satisfied team. Now, capacities can be managed much better in comparison to the “out of the box” Jira reports alone (and we don’t even want to mention Excel at this point). The whole team benefits from the visual overview of the achieved performance. But also the team lead sees an incredible benefit in the quick analysis.

You can also benefit from the Report Building Service

You can also benefit from the Report Building Service

A Jira report that can solve all your problems? Report Builder makes it possible. As you just read, thanks to the Report Building Service, specific customer requests can be tackled.

Whatever your team is missing to unfold its full potential, with Actonic you will find the solution.

Just contact us and we’ll work together to achieve success!

“Truly outstanding [….] all colleagues are happy.”

About the customer

BÜFA – New Chemistry

BÜFA is the world’s first online wholesaler for chemicals and was founded in 1883 as a family business. The company now manufactures over 1000 different chemical products at facilities in Germany and the Netherlands – and it’s all climate-neutral! Wind energy, railroad industry or even boat building and sanitary markets worldwide use products from BÜFA.

Interview partners

Lars Brozinski, IT management

For more than seven years, Lars Brozinski has been working in IT management at BÜFA. As an administrator for Jira and Confluence, he is responsible for problem analyses and is always looking for technical opportunities to further develop. In addition, website design and web-based systems are also among his areas of expertise.

Kristof Männel, Team Lead Application Technology

Kristof Männel has been working at BÜFA for 15 years. Starting out in application management, he is now head of Application Technology. Here, external customer inquiries are answered quickly and carefully. His daily work also includes looking for ways to optimize team processes.

The problem

How can internal key indicators for process optimization be better presented than in Excel? The Application Technology team wanted to display the target and actual values of their own delivery time visually and with daily updated data in order to increase their own performance.

The solution to the problem

Report Builder is a Jira reporting tool that already provides a variety of predefined reports such as Velocity Chart or Flow Time. Whenever customers have special requirements for report creation, they can turn to the Report Building Service. In this service, after a detailed requirements analysis, an individual report is created that is exactly the solution to your specific problem!

The solution in numbers

Currently, BÜFA is also affected by environmental resource shortages. Nevertheless, with the help of Actonic’s customized Jira report, the application engineering department has already been able to increase its own delivery time. From 75 to 80 percent. And the trend is upwards.