Case Study: MOCO optimally complemented – Tools, Slack Commands, Chatbots.

MOCO was introduced by us in 2020 when we were looking for software for project management as well as personnel management. The deciding factors were efficient implementation and intuitive operation of the software. The software now covers our entire project management including time tracking and personnel management. We also use the DATEV interface, through which all invoices are automatically transferred to our tax advisor.

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Slack is the optimal complement for us in terms of our internal communication and collaboration. With Slack Premium and the "Huddle" feature, a virtual communication space is created that comes very close to an office atmosphere.

Miro is used by us for collaborative work on boards. Even before the pandemic, we worked in a hybrid manner – so in the office or remotely. However, for coordination, we mostly preferred presence and intensively used whiteboards. During the pandemic and "remote only," this was no longer possible, and so Miro was chosen as the best alternative.

Commitly became our new financial planning software in 2021. The goal was to be able to steer our company more quickly with a reliable liquidity plan independent of the tax advisor. The tool also retrieves the figures from MOCO.

Gitlab convinced us as task management software. Although some features are missing and the system feels more technical than competitors, Gitlab suited us most as a software company. Not least because the API leaves almost nothing to be desired.
 
Kenjo is our new software for personnel development. The choice fell on Kenjo because, in addition to personnel management in MOCO, it places a clear focus on the further development of our employees. Especially in remote leadership, functioning feedback channels are all the more important.

In addition to using purchased tools, we also do some of our own development. But in a reduced, very clear framework. In-house developments are always maintenance-intensive and must be clearly superior to the purchased ones.

Therefore, we primarily use Slack Commands and chatbots to automate clear workflows. Here is a brief overview of what Slack Commands are and an example of how we use them.

Slack is a great tool for corporate communication and internal collaboration. The software allows individual other software to be integrated via the API interface. Especially Slack Slash Commands is an extremely helpful way to connect your agency management software or your ERP. Slack Slash Commands are shortcuts that you simply type into Slack using a "/" (slash) and can execute. Individual, previously manual processes can thus be automated, thereby increasing the productivity of the entire company.

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Project invoicing is done by typing a short command in the Slack channel. Our bot automatically creates the time sheet for the project, writes the invoice, closes the project in the project management software MOCO, and locks it for further time tracking. This has not only made our work easier but also ensured higher quality, as uniform standards always apply. At the beginning, it is a bit unusual, but in the long term, everyone was happier.

We are always happy about new additions to our team, but more colleagues also mean more birthdays to remember throughout the year. To make sure we don't forget any, we built a bot that uses the employee data maintained in MOCO. For this purpose, it queries the birthdays of all employees daily via the MOCO-API and can thus not overlook anyone. As a result, it is able to open a private Slack channel with all employees except the birthday person three weeks in advance. In a short message, the bot not only informs everyone that the birthday is coming up but also calls on them to think about a gift. On the birthday itself, the bot sends another message reminding everyone to congratulate. One day after the birthday, the Slack channel is automatically archived. Next year, the archived channel is simply reused and reopened. This has the advantage for us that we can read the previous year's communication and discussions again and not come up with the idea of giving the same gift again.

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Jörg Herbst, CEO newcubator
LinkedIn

Newcubator is a constantly growing team of software architects, UX designers, project managers, as well as web, backend, and frontend developers. Together with the customer, individual software solutions based on new technologies are developed at the two locations Dortmund and Hannover.

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