Oberberg Clinics cut staff scheduling time in half

Oberberg Clinics is the leading network of private specialist clinics for psychiatry, psychosomatics and psychotherapy in the German-speaking region of Europe. By implementing 4PLAN, the organisation has modernised its staff scheduling processes and significantly improved data quality.

About Oberberg Clinics

Across several locations in Germany, Oberberg Clinics offers open, individual and intensive treatment programmes for children, young people and adults. With around 1,600 employees, the network combines modern psychiatric and psychological treatment with evidence-based methods in an exclusive clinical environment.

"With the implementation of 4PLAN, we have been able to make our processes more efficient. The quality and availability of personnel data has improved significantly. The tool is now indispensable in our daily operations.”

- Jutta Heitchen-Pabst, HR-controller

Challenges of a growing organisation

As Oberberg Clinics grew rapidly, its Excel-based scheduling reached its limits. The result was high administrative workload, greater risk of errors, and increasing frustration within the controlling team.

Key challenges included:

• Highly qualified staff spending excessive time on manual administrative tasks
• Unreliable data quality spread across multiple Excel sheets
• Lack of transparency for accurate decision-making
• A need for a scalable, database-driven solution

Implementing a scalable solution with 4PLAN

Following a detailed analysis, the choice fell on 4PLAN – a system that met both the technical and operational requirements of Oberberg Clinics.

Key features:

• Import of actual data from the payroll system (CSV / integration)
• Support for specific needs such as cost allocation, bonus planning and internal settlements
• Customisable dashboards
• Independent system administration by the controlling team
• Position management, simulations and group-wide analysis
• Handling of collective agreement logic and reporting across selected or all clinics

Implementation was carried out in close collaboration with S4U, starting with joint workshops to define requirements. Looking back, dashboards were introduced relatively late – a challenge since resolved with standardised solutions.

50% less time spent – better data and clearer processes

With 4PLAN, Oberberg Clinics has reduced time spent on staff scheduling by 50%, while at the same time achieving a significant improvement in data quality.

Improvements at a glance:

• 50% time and cost savings in the scheduling process
• Considerably higher data quality and faster analysis
• Faster ad hoc analysis and standardised reporting
• Clearer division of responsibilities between HR controlling and financial controlling
• Higher employee satisfaction by removing repetitive manual tasks
• Optimised processes, for example in payroll approval workflows

The future for Oberberg Clinics

The implementation of 4PLAN also lays the foundation for further HR digitalisation. The roadmap includes:

• Integration of position planning
• Extension of approval workflows (multi-level approvals)
• Historical tracking of entries for greater audit security