Workforce scheduling that drives sustainable impact
Every workshop starts with the right expert in the right place. Discover how GoodPlanet Belgium streamlined project and workforce scheduling with Planpoint.
Inspiring tomorrow’s decision-makers
GoodPlanet Belgium helps young people build a more sustainable future through education and positive action. The organisation delivers educational workshops, projects and programmes covering topics such as climate, biodiversity, waste reduction and sustainable mobility.
“Our primary audience is young people – the decision-makers of tomorrow. We want to inspire them with a message of hope,” says Peter Hulpiau, CRM & ICT Manager at GoodPlanet Belgium. “They are not responsible for the mistakes of the past. Through education, we want to give them the knowledge and tools to create a better future, because they are our future.”
To make that impact possible, a multidisciplinary team of specialists is on the road every day. Teachers, scientists and sustainability experts deliver interactive workshops in schools, businesses and community initiatives across Belgium, bringing sustainability to life in a practical and engaging way.
The challenge: managing complex project scheduling
GoodPlanet’s scale creates a unique scheduling challenge. With around 70 projects running simultaneously, ranging from one-off school workshops to long-term corporate programmes, coordinating the right people at the right time is a constant balancing act.
Peter explains: “The sheer number of projects and people makes scheduling incredibly complex. Every project has its own objectives, duration and required expertise. We used to manage everything through a combination of Excel spreadsheets, Access databases and scattered cloud folders. Eventually, you simply reach the limits of what is manageable. You lose visibility and spend more time on administration than on the work that really matters.”
Managing seventy different projects at the same time is a huge scheduling puzzle. Every project has its own character, its own timeline and requires specific expertise.
A scheduling platform that supports a sustainable mission
For GoodPlanet, choosing new scheduling software was about much more than operational efficiency. Workforce scheduling needed to support the organisation’s sustainability values.
“As a sustainability organisation, we want to keep travel to a minimum,” Peter explains. “Whenever possible, we schedule people close to where they live. That’s more efficient, better for our employees and fully aligned with our mission. We weren’t looking for software that simply fills empty slots. We needed a platform that helps us match the right expert with the right group while maintaining that strong local connection.”
Planpoint proved to be the right fit because it combines expertise, language skills, location and availability within one flexible workforce management platform.
A seamless workflow between CRM and Planpoint
Today, employee scheduling is fully integrated with GoodPlanet’s existing CRM system.
Requests from teachers and programme coordinators are entered into the CRM. Once they are ready for scheduling, they are automatically transferred to Planpoint, allowing planners to quickly assign the most suitable expert.
A key part of the solution is the Outlook integration.
“We’re particularly proud of that integration,” Peter says. “As soon as an assignment is scheduled, it automatically appears in the employee’s Outlook calendar together with every practical detail they need, from group size to emergency contact numbers.”
In the past, employees had to search through multiple files to find out where they needed to be. Today, everything appears automatically in their Outlook calendar, including all the practical information.
Looking ahead
While the first phase focused on employee scheduling, GoodPlanet is now expanding the platform by implementing Employee Self Service (ESS).
People are at the heart of the organisation. Giving employees greater autonomy was therefore an important objective from the outset. Through the ESS module, field experts can manage their own time registration, supporting GoodPlanet’s open culture where professionals take ownership of their work.
We’ve gone from solving a manual scheduling puzzle every day to working with a structured, streamlined operation. Planpoint gives us the confidence to look ahead.
A partnership built for the future
Choosing Planpoint also meant choosing a partner that could evolve alongside GoodPlanet’s ambitions. Peter especially values the collaborative approach and the willingness to tailor the solution to the organisation’s unique way of working.
“This has truly been a collaborative journey. Our project structure and Outlook integration are anything but standard. We were looking for a partner who would work with us to solve that complexity. You can genuinely see that our ideas and feedback are taken seriously. Together, we’re building a foundation that reduces administrative work so our people can focus on inspiring the next generation.”
Results at a glance
- Integrated workflow – Seamless integration between the CRM system, Planpoint and employees’ Outlook calendars.
- Complex project scheduling – One central scheduling platform supporting more than 70 projects, each with its own characteristics and requirements.
- Smarter, data-driven scheduling – Reduced travel time by assigning employees closer to home, fully aligned with GoodPlanet’s sustainability mission.
- Future-ready workforce management – Expanding towards fully digital time tracking and payroll processes through Employee Self Service.
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