BVG, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, is Germany’s largest municipal transport company, serving the 3.2 million people who live in the city. Its 16,000 employees carry 1.1 billion journeys a year across underground railway, tram lines, and a bus network of 1,800 kilometres in Berlin and its periphery.
Volker Sparmann is a member of BVG’s supervisory board and chairs its audit committee, which prepares all technical and operational projects for the board. He describes the role of Sherpany plainly: “Sherpany is, as intended, a meeting system for us, which we use as a management system for our members, the 16 members of the supervisory board, but also for the two preparatory committees. This gives us a significant advantage in being able to harmonise and coordinate all the documents submitted to these three bodies via the system.”
The challenge: A paper tiger across three governance bodies
Before Sherpany, every meeting meant paper. A complete file folder was sent to each member of the Supervisory Board for every meeting, and the volume accumulated quickly across an annual cycle of committee and board meetings. Sparmann explains, “At every meeting you received a whole binder full of paperwork. And if you have five committee meetings a year and five supervisory board meetings, you end up with ten thick binders by the end of the year, and after a five-year term, during which you have to keep all of that, you have at least 50 binders in your cupboard.”
For BVG, preparing meetings was a highly time-consuming process, requiring extensive coordination before decisions could even be discussed. As Sparmann notes, “With an old system and such a paper tiger, you have the problem that you waste enormous amounts of time reading, compiling, and also making phone calls to coordinate with others.”
The solution: One system, one current version for everyone
BVG had trialled another system before and Sparmann describes the organisation as committed to a learning-by-doing approach. As Sparmann confirms, “We had already tried another system before, which we weren’t satisfied with, and that’s how we came to Sherpany.”
The audit committee took on the pilot, with its first six members testing Sherpany over the course of a year before recommending it to the wider board. Sparmann explains how the varying degrees of digital fluency posed a risk, commenting, “We also have older members, like myself, who aren’t so up-to-date, and it’s important to convince them of what makes working with it better. And that’s how we came to Sherpany, and I have to say, to this day, we haven’t had a single complaint.”
Winning over a supervisory board that included less digitally-inclined members mattered, and the pilot did that work. The board, sceptical beforehand, adopted Sherpany unanimously.
With Sherpany in place, the immediate gain was a single current version of every document available to all 16 board members, replacing the patchwork of paper. “With Sherpany, we’ve now consolidated everything, and, most importantly, which is great with 16 members on the supervisory board, we’ve updated everything. So everyone has a current version,” notes Sparmann.
Sparmann works through the platform methodically, using agenda items to follow each matter from initial information through to the decision proposal, and drawing on the system’s library to keep the committee’s remit in view. He comments, “I think it’s fantastic that we have our own library within the system. This allows us to see, alongside entire meetings, the rules of procedure, what each committee is allowed to do, and what our responsibilities are.”
I think it’s fantastic that we have our own library within the system. This allows us to see, alongside entire meetings, the rules of procedure, what each committee is allowed to do, and what our responsibilities are.
The results: Harmonised decisions and shorter meetings
Because every member opens a meeting with the same current documents, the board starts from a shared basis of fact. This shortens the process, the decision-making paths, and above all, it helps us to carry the processes from the preliminary discussions and committees into the Supervisory Board, thereby achieving harmonisation among all parties involved."
Matters that once took four or five meetings to track can now be followed through the system from first information to decision proposal. Preparation does the work that the meeting used to. "I use Sherpany in a very traditional way, preparing point by point and identifying during the preparation phase where I need clarification or where I want additional input from the board, so that all points are clear during the meeting itself," Sparmann explains. "Since all participants do this, we are always in agreement and aligned when it comes to decisions."
The audit committee also triages the agenda, separating items the full board must consider individually from those it can approve as a group. Over the first year of this practice, the board has consistently approved the grouped items. "The supervisory board has always approved this group voting approach, which has had the advantage of giving us a tremendous amount of time for the less prioritised items and allowing us to discuss the important ones in much greater detail," Sparmann says.
The effect shows up in the clock. "We used to have supervisory board meetings lasting five or six hours, we now accomplish the same thing in three to four hours," Sparmann notes.
Why BVG would recommend Sherpany
For BVG, the case rests on the content-level alignment, the time saved, and the personal coordination between the parties that the platform now underpins.
As Sparmann highlights, “I would strongly recommend Sherpany because it would be better for all of us. As a leading example, we would also recommend it, and others would naturally take advantage of the benefits I’ve described.”
If you would like to follow BVG’s example and save vital board meeting time, book a free consultation today and discuss Sherpany in the context of your organisation.
