Sarens, a global leader in crane rental and heavy transport, is active in numerous complex industrial projects worldwide. As the holder of the world record for the largest crane in the world, Sarens is a well-established name in the industry. As part of their digitalisation strategy, they sought a way to optimise the planning of rented equipment within their cloud platform, Sarplan. Due to time constraints and the complexity of their operations, they were looking for a partner to help them with an efficient and visual solution.
While Sarplan already had basic functionalities for material planning, it proved difficult to maintain an overview when managing large numbers of projects and materials. The existing list view provided insight but fell short when users wanted to quickly get a complete picture of the items loaned out across multiple projects and time periods. Sarens needed an intuitive, visual planning tool that was scalable and flexible.
We developed a powerful timeline module integrated into Sarplan. This interactive timeline allows users to visualise borrowed materials for each project in a single overview. Users can easily zoom in and out at different levels (day, week, month, year), with the display automatically adjusting to the chosen scale.
Additionally, we implemented a second timeline that shows the totals of borrowed materials per day across all projects. Both timelines are perfectly synchronised: actions such as scrolling or zooming on one timeline are automatically mirrored on the other, providing a consistent and efficient user experience.
Thoughtful Visualisation: Together with Sarens, we explored the needs of their users to create a visualisation that remained relevant and clear, even with hundreds of ongoing projects.
Flexibility as Key: The timelines were designed to adapt to any situation, allowing for smooth interaction and detailed display at any desired level.
Close Collaboration: During the development, we maintained close contact with Sarens through regular demos and feedback sessions. This allowed us to make swift adjustments and ensure the final result was perfectly aligned with their operational reality.
The result is a user-friendly, scalable planning tool that provides a clear overview and helps Sarens further digitalise and streamline their equipment management.
