A big deal

The Initial Situation

Ensuring that all 492 member companies of Europe’s largest specialty retail cooperative are always up to date is a top priority for EUROBAUSTOFF Handelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. An extranet therefore serves as the central communication platform for member companies at all 1,250 locations. Over 16,000 users can find up-to-date information there regarding terms and conditions, products, and marketing activities. On the one hand, the platform replaces internal paper mailings—in the pre-digital era, communication between member companies generated approximately six to eight million pages of paper per year—and on the other hand, it allows headquarters to make information available quickly and easily via the extranet.

The Challenge

Various other applications ran on the same technical platform as the extranet. However, the entire system had to be replaced in order to relaunch the information platform. In addition, EUROBAUSTOFF secured its confidential content using a complex three-tier access and authorization concept, which was to remain available as usual even after the relaunch. Another requirement was a specific type of user management: Based on their respective region and partnership status, specialty dealers were to be able to independently assign user rights to their employees. User management by headquarters was not a viable solution. In addition, it was necessary to migrate the supplier information system as well. Since this was a proprietary solution, it did not provide the access required for the migration. Therefore, the entire supplier information system had to be redeveloped.

The Solution

punkt.de has connected more than five different databases—including DB2, Oracle, and Progress—to the new TYPO3-based extranet. As requested, user management is handled decentrally by the respective shareholders in the extranet’s password-protected administration area. Using the master data, each member company can independently assign user rights to its employees, while the master data for shareholders, employees, and suppliers is dynamically synchronized with other systems. In addition, the Partner Information System makes all contact information for partners within the specialty retailer network centrally available. To allow users to access external applications—such as credit checks or a hazardous materials database—without having to log in again, these applications are integrated with the extranet via a single sign-on process. To present product and marketing information transparently, punkt.de automatically migrated more than 15,000 individual pages from the previous extranet to the new platform. Following the relaunch, the approximately 25 editors can publish new articles directly in the system based on a defined workflow. Last but not least, an events and purchasing calendar displays all relevant dates and promotions: trade shows, regional events, annual general meetings, and purchasing promotions can be displayed based on a shareholder’s access rights. For Thorsten Göth, project manager at EUROBAUSTOFF, this is exactly the result he was hoping for: “With punkt.de, we’ve succeeded in migrating the core of our entire collaborative communication to a new, future-proof platform in a very short time.”