The customer:

The Vienna international School (VIS) is the largest and most important international school School in Austria. It was founded as part of the settlement of the UN affiliated organizations in Vienna and has been the preferred international school for UN employees since 1984.

The school educates students across 12 grades (primary and secondary). A kindergarten and a preschool are also operated. A total of around 1,400 pupils and students are enrolled at the school.

The school is organized as a non-profit company, the turnover is approximately € 36 million, and there are about 270 employees (teachers and administration staff).

The project:

• Due to the sudden absence of the business manager, Management Factory took over the commercial management of the company as part of an interim management mandate and provided the interim business manager for almost two full school years.
• The main task was the overall commercial management of the school, with the business manager having direct responsibility for finance, accounting, invoicing, procurement, maintenance and facility management. Furthermore, the business manager directly and indirectly took over project management for various projects as well as contract management and acted as the responsible manager for tenders, contract negotiations and regulatory matters.
• Close cooperation with the Director & Board of Governors (BoG): The business manager was also the primary contact person for the Director and the BoG in all commercial questions. In particular, the creation and adherence to balanced budgets in connection with the necessary investments in the infrastructure of a 40-year-old building were central in the collaboration with the BoG and the Board’s Finance Committee.
• In addition to the ongoing facility management projects, the business manager was also responsible for implementing an ERP system (BMD) and a new payroll system (SAGE DWP), an order tool with workflow functionality, and most recently the implementation of a new registration/ payment platform for the sports and after-school programme.