SokoPro’s project bank secures Parmaco’s unique design, construction and renting methods – with a side of international aspirations

Parmaco, a company that designs, builds and rents movable buildings, is frequently working on dozens of concurrent projects in Finland and Sweden. This is why an efficient project bank is an absolute necessity for its operations.

Imagine a loanable building that has been designed for your specific needs. This is the basis for the business concept of Parmaco, which designs, constructs and rents movable buildings. The concept is primarily aimed at providing municipalities, cities and state organisations with operating premises. For example, a day care centre, school, care home or office building can be designed to meet specific requirements and loaned to the customer for as long as is needed.

According to Parmaco’s Design Manager Jari Palonen, there is a substantial need for temporary premises due to renovations and indoor air problems, for example. In addition to serving as temporary substitutes for buildings that have been banned or deemed to require renovations, they can also be used to provide extra space for the long term. Since Parmaco’s operations are based on multiple simultaneous projects, their successful coordination and completion requires an effective project bank.

– “We always have, at the very least, dozens of projects running at once, so an effective project bank is an absolute necessity for us. We would not be able to operate at this level without one. This is what we have been using SokoPro for since early 2016,” Palonen says.

Customised folder structure and flexible user rights

For Parmaco, the construction project starts from the moment a customer orders a building. This also kicks off the management and distribution of project files and their revisions in SokoPro. This ensures that the information stays in one place where it is available to everyone.

– “When the project is established, our administrator sends a project creation request and the initial data to the SokoPro Helpdesk. Our folder structure is always very specific. We also provide standard pre-designed buildings that can be copied to new projects in their entirety,” Palonen describes.

He estimates that a single project normally stays active from six months to a year, until the project manager deems it complete. All the data is then collected and stored, and the project is removed from the folder structure.

There are quite a few parties involved in Parmaco projects since nearly a hundred of the company’s own people alone have access rights to the system. On a project-specific basis, rights can also be provided to designers and contractors as well as their interest groups.

– “Our customer is also often one of the parties that needs access. The system enables us to determine which access rights are provided to each party on a case-by-case basis,” Palonen says.

International collaboration through project bank tabs

Parmaco has also taken the project bank with it to international markets, namely for use in the context of construction projects in Sweden. New language versions ensured that the familiar software and folder structure could be used abroad.

– “Today, it is an absolute requirement for the project bank to enable real-time operations around the world. In our case, the designers can use the software in both countries at the same time.”

For Grano’s Key Account Manager Jouni Laivonen, it has been a great pleasure to witness how well SokoPro suits the Swedish market. The collaboration with Parmaco has been very important in terms of SokoPro’s international aspirations. Based on the sparsity of feedback, Laivonen has concluded that everything is working as intended. Palonen confirms this by stating that SokoPro is just the thing for storing and distributing documents.

– “We naturally provide development suggestions as needed. We sit down around a table with SokoPro a couple of times a year and talk about our user experiences,” Palonen says

The framework and foundation for a unique methodology

Palonen has only good things to say about SokoPro’s response time. The Helpdesk works swiftly, and access rights of all levels are easy to assign. This makes hassle-free information distribution to a large group of people much easier. Over time, SokoPro’s folder structure has been refined to meet Parmaco’s specific needs, and it has gradually formed a foundation for the company’s work methods.

– “We know where and when things happen and can apply this knowledge to all projects. In this sense, the clear folder structure creates a framework for reliable and forward-moving operations,” Palonen says.

That said, Palonen also finds that a project bank works well when you barely even notice it – when it has become an organic part of day-to-day activities. Laivonen, in turn, believes that the new SokoPro that is currently under development will further deepen the collaboration with Parmaco.

– “We are extremely proud to have the opportunity to cooperate with Parmaco and hope to be able to meet their needs even better in the future,” Laivonen says.