Case Study | Reference | Flexible Shift Scheduling

Since 2015, starting from the campus, shift scheduling at SUMMACOM has been continuously evolving. Today, 10 years later, it’s digital, flexible, and future-oriented – powered by plano.

When Shift Scheduling Just Works

The communications provider SUMMACOM from St. Ingbert has been ensuring smooth customer communication for over 25 years, and thanks to plano, their shift scheduling runs just as smoothly.

Dynamic Scheduling for a Dynamic Environment

At SUMMACOM, around 370 employees work in shifts so scheduling needs to be flexible enough to respond to changing demands while avoiding both understaffing and overstaffing. In the past, scheduling was done with the RichClient, but today it’s much more efficient: with plano Roster and the plano Optimizer, shift schedules can be created quickly, variants calculated automatically, and last-minute changes easily implemented.

plano is a real asset for us. The tools are user-friendly, flexible, and save us an enormous amount of time. Without plano, we couldn’t meet the demands of modern shift scheduling.

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Daniela Gard, Head of Workforce Management, SUMMACOM GmbH & Co. KG

More Transparency and Employee Empowerment

Another advantage is the plano ESS employee portal. Here, employees can view and manage their schedules, timesheets, and vacation requests themselves. This not only increases transparency but also strengthens the sense of community, as everyone knows what’s going on and can actively participate.

From On-Premise to Cloud Solution

Since April 2025, SUMMACOM has been using plano’s cloud solution. With this migration, SUMMACOM is now technically well-positioned: the solution is flexible, secure, and opens the door for further steps toward modern, digital workforce management.

Looking Ahead

In the future, SUMMACOM wants to put even more scheduling control in the hands of employees – through self-rostering, ideally combined with the myplano app. This is a topic that is especially important to the management team.

A Strong Partnership

For a decade, SUMMACOM and plano have worked successfully together – supported by close collaboration with plano’s contacts, who make daily software use even easier. The result: more transparency, less effort, and noticeable time and cost savings.

Learn more about SUMMACOM at: www.summacom.de

Read the full case study here: SUMMACOM Case Study