WUR reinvents research management with Flexso: 7 learnings

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is the world’s top-ranked research institute in the field of food, agriculture, climate and biodiversity. While it’s small by student numbers (14,000), it is unequalled in research. 7,000 staff members run research projects of all sizes: from advisory work to multi-million programs.

The average researcher juggles six to seven projects at once. More than that, many of those projects combine different funding sources, which makes the administration anything but straightforward. Managing all that complexity required some research of its own.

The research topic: one central research management solution

WUR had been running a patchwork of systems: a tool built in-house in 2014 for capacity management, project budgeting and time registration, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for pre-award, and a separate system for program management – topped off with the inevitable spreadsheets. It worked, but the organization had outgrown it.

They needed one central platform to manage all research projects. That would ensure a better overview, smoother timesheets and approvals, and solid budget and forecast capabilities. And, above all, proper capacity planning. When your average employee works on six to seven projects at once, that’s a must-have.

Sometimes the best fit comes from where you don’t expect it

Project owner Menno van Manen and his team had been looking for a new administration system for a while. Yet no platform truly fit the scale and complexity of their research landscape. Then Flexso came into view, via Maastricht University. “We were surprised to discover there was a solution that covered most of what we needed,” says Menno. “After years of looking, that was new. Flexso really understood what we were talking about. They thought with us, from the very first instance.”

Out-of-the-box always beats customization

Why usability won over price

WUR ran a two-stage selection process: first a shortlist based on functional fits, then live demos scored by actual end users. The availability of standard functionality weighed heavily in phase one. “We wanted to avoid customization,” Menno highlights. “The more a solution could do out of the box, the higher it scored.”

Flexso ticked all the boxes, yet it was mainly the live demos that won WUR over. Menno: “They weren’t the cheapest, but usability was the decisive factor. They work with cloud-based apps, for example, which we found very intuitive. Alternatives rely on forms you have to click through, that didn’t land.”

One is better than three

Our Research Management Package replaces WUR’s three-system patchwork with a single cloud-based platform: pre-award, post-award and program management, all in one place. “When I tell people we’re going from three systems to one, everyone understands why we’re doing this,” Menno says.

A few highlights of what the full platform will bring:

• One project repository as the single source of truth – from proposal to closure.
• Head and sub-project structures.
• Mixed-funding management that handles EU grants, ministry money, and co-financing uniformly.
• Timesheets and approvals for 7,000 users, with a clever twist: one login, and hours are automatically routed to the right cost centers – even for staff seconded across units.
• Real-time capacity management, so that WUR always works with one version of the truth.

Build it in Lego before you build it for real

WUR’s pragmatic approach to implementation and prototyping

The current systems have to be replaced with a big-bang: no migration of the old system, just a fresh start with our Research Management Package. It started with a proof of concept and then moved to what Flexso calls ‘the Lego version’: a blueprint prototype, assembled from building blocks, tested and validated with the broader organization. Now, the team is building the real thing sprint by sprint.

WUR’s approach is really pragmatic. Menno deliberately chose a very compact project team, fully dedicated: “I’d rather have a few people fully focused than a lot of people partially involved. They work closely with a group of experts across the organization."

You don’t need a full SAP landscape to benefit from Flexso’s Research Management Platform

How WUR connects a non-SAP infrastructure to the Flexso Research Management Package

Because our package can be set up in any ecosystem, it didn’t matter that WUR doesn’t run SAP for finance or HR. It has to talk to everything. The solution will run as a full ABAP Cloud project on SAP Business Technology Platform. Integrations will flow through WUR’s own data integration platform. Finance data, HR data and documents from SharePoint will all come together in the Flexso platform.

“There are many integrations, and that makes it challenging,” acknowledges Zjef Mallaerts, who leads the Flexso team. “This is one of our flagship projects right now: a fully-fledged research management platform connected to an entirely non-SAP back office. But we have the team to make it work, on both sides.”

Great teams wear the same sweater

Inside the partnership between WUR and Flexso

Menno is equally enthusiastic about the whole team. At the kickoff, he warmly welcomed the Flexso consultants, handing each of them a Wageningen University sweater. It set the tone. “I appreciate them coming to work on our Campus. We sit in one big room, side by side. Being able to walk up to someone is essential for a project like this.” He appreciates how Flexo doesn’t just deliver what’s been specified, but challenges assumptions, brings new ideas to the table, and pushes the team to think bigger.

“We feel like a genuine part of the team,” Zjef confirms. “It’s a pleasure to work with Menno and his colleagues. Candid, typically Dutch. They know the terminology, carry the content, and keep it simple. It’s the key to making this work. After all this isn’t just a software project, it’s a real business transformation.”

Clean up the attic before you move house

Preparing 7,000 users for a new research management platform

“Until now, the team has been working in the attic,” Menno continues. “But now the organization needs to start moving too. We’ve got 13,000 projects in the system, some researchers keep projects open just in case. That needs tidying before we go live with the first module. I also insisted on the finance team harmonizing their ways of working. That will help us move forward.”

The full solution is scheduled to go live on 1 January 2027. The program management, however, should be up and running by September 2026. “It’s not common to start with program management, but as the planning cycle for 2027 projects starts in 2026, it was smart to do so. That advice and flexibility is what we expected from Flexso.”