The initial situation

EUROBAUSTOFF Handelsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG 's top priority is to ensure that the 492 member companies of Europe's largest specialist trade cooperation are always up to date. An extranet therefore serves as a central communication platform for the member companies at all 1,250 locations. Over 16,000 users can find up-to-date information on conditions, products and marketing activities there. On the one hand, the platform replaces internal paper mailings - in analog times, the cooperation between the member companies generated around six to eight million paper pages per year - on the other hand, the head office can make information available quickly and easily via the extranet.

The challenge

Various other applications ran on the same technical basis as the extranet. However, the entire system had to be replaced for a relaunch of the information platform. In addition, EUROBAUSTOFF secured its confidential content with the help of a complex three-layer access and authorization concept, which was to remain available in its previous function even after the relaunch. Another requirement was a specific type of user administration: based on the respective region and partnership status, specialist dealers were to be able to assign user rights to their employees independently. User administration by the head office was a solution that was out of the question. It was also necessary to migrate the supplier information system. As this was a proprietary solution, it did not provide access for the necessary migration. The entire supplier information system therefore had to be redeveloped.

The solution

Punkt.de has connected more than five different databases, including DB2, Oracle and Progress, to the new extranet based on TYPO3. The administration of users is - as desired - decentralized by the respective shareholder in the password-protected administration area of the extranet. Each member company can independently assign user rights to its employees via the master data, while the master data of shareholders, employees and suppliers is dynamically synchronized with other systems. In addition, the shareholder information system enables all shareholder contact data to be made available centrally within the specialist dealer network. These applications are connected to the extranet via a single sign-on process so that users can access external applications such as credit checks or a dangerous goods database without having to log in again. In order to present product and marketing information transparently, punkt.de has automatically migrated more than 15,000 individual pages from the previous extranet to the new platform. Following the relaunch, the 25 or so editors can publish new articles directly in the system on the basis of a defined workflow. Last but not least, an event and purchasing calendar displays all relevant dates and events: Trade fairs, regional events, annual general meetings and purchasing campaigns can be displayed depending on a shareholder's access rights. For Thorsten Göth, project manager at EUROBAUSTOFF, this is a result that meets all expectations: "With punkt.de, we have succeeded in converting the heart of our entire cooperation communication to a new, future-proof platform within a very short space of time."