With Smartsheet, Eurus Energy enabled data visualization and sharing, significantly streamlining project management

Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation (Eurus Energy) is expanding its wind and solar power generation business globally while forstering relationships with local communities. They are actively promoting and expanding renewable energies. The Eurus Energy Group manages various power plants that are currently operational in 15 countries and regions worldwide. In Japan, Eurus Energy boasts the largest development scale among domestic wind power generation companies, with wind and solar power plants constructed in 16 prefectures nationwide, starting from Hokkaido.

The company started using Smartsheet for its construction projects in Japan around February 2023. Atsushi Kitami from its engineering department explained the background of the adoption:

"Our department is responsible for project management in the construction of wind power plants in Hokkaido. Personnel from various domestic construction companies, business partners, and overseas wind turbine manufacturers are involved in the project. In the past, we used spreadsheets to manage data and shared files via email or cloud servers, which often resulted in poorly aggregated and dispersed information. Furthermore, each company's staff would independently modify file version names or dates or create new files. As a result, similar files were everywhere and the latest files were not always shared with all stakeholders. We adopted Smartsheet to address these challenges. ” 

Kitami decided to adopt Smartsheet after a particular event:

"In my case, I learned about Smartsheet through an overseas wind turbine manufacturer I worked with. It seemed like a very user-friendly tool. Upon a research, I quickly learned how useful it could be for project management. That's why I adopted it for a wind power plant construction project in Hokkaido, which started in 2022. What we wanted to achieve first was to visualize and centrally manage information using Smartsheet's dashboard feature, and ensure that all stakeholders could easily share the latest information. Currently, nearly 50 staff members from construction companies, business partners, and wind turbine manufacturers, among others, are using Smartsheet. We are getting the exact results we aimed for. ”

Regular meetings are reduced to 1/3 of the time by consolidating information

Through daily tasks, Kitami further experienced the unique user-friendliness of Smartsheet.

"Besides the centralization and visualization of information, Smartsheet had other appealing features that traditional spreadsheet software lacked. One of the notable features was the ability to attach photos to the sheet directly. At the construction sites we are involved in, recording the construction progress, on-site issues, and before-and-after photos as data is often necessary. In this regard, Smartsheet allows anyone to easily upload site photos taken with smartphones or cameras and share with everyone. PDFs, reports, and documents can also be attached, allowing you to see the summary of project-related information and create meeting minutes if necessary. This also significantly impvoed our operations efficiency. ”

According to Momoka Inoue, also a member of the Engineering Department at Eurus Energy, the advanced functionalities of Smartsheet have helped them greatly improve efficiency, even for office work away from construction sites.

"With Smartsheet, our weekly regular meetings have been significantly streamlined. In our regular meetings, we typically spend a lot of time preparing and reviewing detailed documents to check the progress of each project. Previously, it used to take about an hour and a half to complete a single meeting. However, with Smartsheet, we can grasp all the information at a glance and update the project status on the spot. As a result, meeting times have been shortened to about half. Furthermore, we were also able to reduce document preparation time, reducing the total meeting time by about 1/3. This also exceeded our expectations in terms of its effectiveness. ”

Communication became more active through the automatic notification features

The positive benefits of Smartsheet were not just improved workflow efficiency.

For example, the company uses Smartsheet's form feature to set up question fields. When a comment is added to the answer field, it is immediately communicated to the stakeholders via email, prompting them to review the content and further exchange information. Kitami explains that such approach has also enabled seamless communication within the entire project.

"We are constantly constructing power plants in collaboration with multiple companies, but communication between these companies has been a challenge. There was a sense of hesitation regarding inquiring or sending emails each time, perhaps to avoid increasing the other party's workload. Because of this, we even went to the extent of arranging face-to-face meetings in order to ensure effective communication. However, by creating question lists and reply sections in Smartsheet, everyone can communicate freely without hesitation, leading to smoother and more natural communication. ”

"When it comes to Smartsheet, the ability to fix formats is incredibly helpful. When we used traditional spreadsheet software, the format often needed to be fixed because someone would add rows, columns, or items without permission. Smartsheet allows administrators to control the format so we can maintain the readability of data while facilitating communication. ”

Kitami is also considering using Smartsheet for schedule and task management in new business ventures. He concluded by expressing his desire to promote the implementation of Smartsheet among group companies in the future.

"We are responsible for building wind power stations, but once they are complete, our group companies will operate them. Our group companies also intend to reducing paper usage and streamlining their work processes with Smartsheet. We recently received a consultation from them regarding this matter. Smartsheet offers a wide range of convenient features, so while some use it for project management, others may position it as a worksheet for visualizing, centralizing, and sharing data. Regardless of how it's used, I believe Smartsheet is the ideal tool for companies in the construction industry or construction managing companies like ours. ”