Finance and Corporate Control

German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR)
Finance and Corporate Control
Linder Höhe
51147 Cologne

Human Resources and Legal Department

German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR)
Human Resources and Legal Department
Linder Höhe
51147 Cologne

DLR Administrative Infrastructure

The task of the DLR Administrative Infrastructure is to support both management processes and core processes. These include the support processes for Contract Management, Procurement, Human Resources Management, Resource Planning and Control, as well as the Legal Department and the Business Informatics and Organisation Department, which provide cross-functional processes. DLR's core processes are its primary business activities in research and development as well as the execution of its official tasks.

'Contract Management' supports the implementation of those DLR research projects funded by third parties. This support covers the entire process chain beginning with the preparation of proposals and ending with the project/order closeout.  In accordance with the 'one interface with the customer' principle, the legal and business management of the projects is decentralised and carried out by staff located in the research institutes and/or local Contract Administration Departments at the various DLR sites.

The support process 'Procurement' is responsible for the professional conduct of all procurement activities of DLR. This support covers the entire process from the purchase requisition to the release of payment. This process is also decentralised and carried out by staff located at the various DLR sites.

The activities of 'Human Resource Management' focus on advice and support in human resources planning, recruitment and employee services, with an emphasis on human resource development. The associated consulting and support activities are performed through an integrated process by both centralised and decentralised human resource units in interaction with the Site Management at the various DLR sites.

'Resource Planning and Control' is both a management and support process, and constitutes DLR's management accounting system. Its main task is to ensure the timely provision as well as the preparation analysis and assessment of all relevant business management information, focused on specific target groups. In the process, 'Resource Planning and Control' provides mandatory procedures and methods for all processes and organisational units of DLR.

The cross-functional department 'Business Informatics and Organisation Department' designs and is responsible for the development and maintenance of DLR's business information system under federal IT governance. In the area of corporate organisation, it advises on the design of processes and structural organisation and provides the required tools and methods.

The cross-functional 'Legal Department' is DLR’s legal service unit. It covers all internal and external legal matters up to final judicial resolution, unless appropriate specialist lawyers from the support processes and other cross-functional units are in charge of them.

The Administrative Infrastructure of DLR is certified in accordance with DIN ISO 9001. It uses the EFQM Excellence Model as a framework to help coordinate the implementation of its strategies, to measure their impact, to drive improvement and, ultimately, to strive for sustainable business excellence.

In November 2010, the Administrative Infrastructure of DLR was proposed as a candidate for the Ludwig-Erhard-Prize, a German award for business excellence, and achieved the status of finalist; with 557 points it was awarded five stars. The jury identified DLR as an organisation with excellent and sustainable results in most assessed managerial areas, which demonstrates an effective, efficient and continually improved management system.

In order to continue developing the Administrative Infrastructure, a network of experts from business, universities, public administration and government agencies and management consulting is maintained. Since 1995, the Administrative Infrastructure has been evaluated every four to five years by a systematic and continuous external evaluation (quality and performance monitoring). External experts assess the developments over the past five years and the strategy for the next five years.

Additionally, the EFQM Excellence Model is used for a regular bi-annual self-assessment to identify current strengths and potentials in regard to strategic goals. Based on this gap analysis, improvement plans are made to achieve sustainable growth and enhanced performance.