Concise.pdf - Brugge Plus

Introduction
Global strategy
The commercial management of BRUGGE 2002 was based on a strategy with four
main themes:
1. Constant monitoring of the financial situation to allow immediate adjustments
where necessary.
2. Risk management through legally underpinned and fiscally sound agreements.
3. Effective and cost-conscious staff policy.
4. Clear internal and external communication of financial policy.
This strategy had to be implemented in an extremely complex context, given the
scope of the project, the time restrictions and the number of employees and partners.
Concrete interpretation of commercial policy
Financial component
When Katrien Van Eeckhoutte became Financial and HR manager of BRUGGE 2002
in February 2000, BRUGGE 2002 vzw had contracted its bookkeeping out to the firm
Fisko Data, which conducted financial policy remotely. From March 2000 the bookkeeping
was monitored internally by an administrative employee. During this period the
budgetary plan was refined. Each activity and head of department was given a part-budget.
Because of the limitations of the bookkeeping system at the time it was decided to
organise the monitoring of the budget on a statistical basis. In the spring of 2000 the
organisation pressed on with the development of a Project Management Information
System (Promis) that allowed the most important practical and budgetary information
to be centralised for each project.
In summer 2001, three more members were added to the financial team.
Every two months a financial report was submitted to the Board of Directors. After
being externally audited by the company auditor the annual accounts were submitted
to the General Meeting for approval before the end of March.
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CONCISE
From October 2001 BRUGGE 2002 began advance sales of tickets for the various cultural
events. Tickets were sold using the TicketTinck system, a new IT development for the
Province of West Flanders, for which BRUGGE 2002 acted as pilot project. In September
2001 a ticket co-ordinator started, who was responsible for organising the efficient and
reliable sale of tickets. He was assisted by a team of enthusiastic ticket sellers.
Legal component
Because of BRUGGE 2002’s extensive interaction with a large number of external partners,
clear agreements are essential. Therefore in January 2001 a legal expert joined the
organisation. She drafted hundreds of contracts with cultural partners, artists, companies,
staff, sponsors and letters. Many fiscal and socio-legal matters were also dealt with.
Staff component
The non-profit organisation BRUGGE 2002 was established in 1999 and during its peak
period developed into a medium-sized company with more than 100 employees, which
implied an appropriate and labour-intensive staff policy. External partners were brought
in, more specifically a social secretariat (ADMB) and a temp agency (chief sponsor
Randstad). From September 2001 the temp agency took on an in-house consultant. In
2002 the organisation was able to count on a full-time employee from the temp agency
for temporary jobs on an interim basis and for the practical co-ordination of voluntary
work. In December 2001 a staff co-ordinator was brought into the administration team.