How Stackfield revolutionized the Classen Group as an All-In-One Tool

About the Classen Group

The Classen Group is one of the worldwide leading producers of laminate floors and design and PVC-free vinyl floors. The family business comprises various companies in Europe, the US, and the middle east – from production to logistics to sales. Katrin Schäfer has been working in Classen Group's Marketing, based at Classen Holz Kontor GmbH in Kaisersesch, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Currently, she is the team leader of the company's corporate marketing team.

The initial situation: sheer communication via email and phone

Before the Classen Group got passionate about Stackfield, the companies were trying to overcome numerous hurdles. No collaboration tool was used yet, thus, collaboration mainly took place in emails, which often meant large file attachments and overflowing mailboxes – everything was very confusing, Katrin Schäfer recounts. Information got lost, mostly because of absences or simple misunderstandings and the large amount of projects was hard to handle without any central overview. Telephone calls lacked documentation and face-to-face meetings were no longer fully possible due to the coronavirus crisis.

Stackfield as an intuitive All-In-One Tool

In the search for a suitable tool, the company came across Stackfield – a tool that surprisingly met all requirements. With Stackfield, the Classen Group was able to

• open an individual room for each topic and map project-based tasks there,
• write messages – most of the time, that's easier than calling somebody,
• keep all team members updated (e. g. via My Week)
• meet all security requirements, and
• be sure they were in good hands.

Stackfield seemed to be the solution for all challenges that the Classen Group was trying to overcome. With a rough plan in mind, they, thus, got started with the tool and began filing and organizing information step by step, which went surprisingly well.

Remote teams and cross-department work: Stackfield's module pool makes collaboration a piece of cake

With Stackfield, all kinds of teamwork – within individual teams as well as across department and corporate boundaries – can be managed digitally, centrally, and in a documented manner. When a new project appears, a room is created with just a few clicks, and all involved users are added. All relevant project information is then collected within the room to allow access to all project participants. For example, the room for the cross-department project Sustainability Report saves all information on sustainability topics including milestones. Files are stored in the file module and can be downloaded and locally edited from everywhere. Communication takes place via the communication stream and the various comment areas. Pages allow team brainstorming, while tasks contain regular updates on their current status. As each team member is assigned their corresponding tasks, it is clear who is responsible for which task, what progress is being made, and where support may be needed, even in the event of absences. The interaction of these components in the room makes day-to-day project work much easier.

Time tracking for analysis purposes and reporting to management

In Stackfield's time tracking, Katrin Schäfer's team found a particularly high added value. With the timer integrated in Stackfield or manually (depending on their preferences) all team members record their work times – not for accounting purposes, but to better understand and evaluate the work invested in the project. An evaluation is carried out quarterly where an overview is created and a report (as PDF or Excel spreadsheet) is generated via the Stackfield reports. The finished report then functions as a basis for reporting to management and helps in estimating future projects.

Website maintenance with recurring tasks and subtasks

To keep websites updated and to ensure their effect Katrin Schäfer places great value on their continuous maintenance. The revision of texts, the exchange of graphics and images, and other recurring work are added to the room as recurring tasks and assigned accordingly. With subtasks, the work is further divided into more specific work steps. Once a task is done, Stackfield automatically creates a new task due to the recurring feature. This way, the website always stays up-to-date.

The "Big Picture"

Katrin Schäfer doesn't have a favorite feature, for her, the interaction of all features is crucial: creating tasks, adding custom fields, files, internal organization via the calendar, time tracking, and more. Today, Stackfield is used in almost all of the Classen Group's divisions. Katrin Schäfer is amazed: For us, Stackfield is the perfect solution.