Customer Solution Case Study
/ / New Intranet Generation Increases Access Rates and Simplifies Content Management
Overview
Country:Germany
Industry:Automotive
Customer Profile
Siemens VDO Automotive AG is a leading
worldwide automotive subcontractor
for electronics, electrics, and mechatronics. Held by Siemens AG, the companyis internationally represented at
130 locations.
Business Situation
The file-based intranet system was
no longer state-of-the-art. It was lacking
uniform structures, information was
difficult to locate using the navigation
system, and the generation of articles
was inefficient.
Solution
With the aid of Microsoft® Content
Management Server (MCMS) 2002 and the editingcomponent Typegate from Microsoft partner Querplex, structured
information (XML) is managed and edited
by means of WYSIWYG editing before
being published according to the
corporate style guide.
Benefits
Clear design of pages
Improved navigation in the intranet
ROI within 20 months
ROI within 20 months / “In the end, the high performance, excellent
price/performance ratio, and convincing realization
concept tipped the scales in favor of the Microsoft technology.”
Hans-Jürgen Sonnleitner, Project Manager Intranet, Siemens VDO Automotive AG
Siemens VDO Automotive AG has reorganized the intranet for
32,000 employees. The information pool had grown to 270,000
pages, and the system no longer fulfilled many requirements. It
lacked a uniform design, a large portion of the informationcould not be located via navigation, and the approximately 1,000 authorswere lacking an efficient content management system.
Microsoft® Content Management Server (MCMS) 2002 made it possibleto install a database-oriented intranet system (Web ContentManagement System) complete with migration of the existinginformation within seven months. Using XML-based
Typegate software, authors can edit content and follow the corporatestyle guide in WYSIWYG mode. The acceptance level of
the solution is high; only shortly after going live, access rates
among employees increased, and since then, the intranet is presentingitself as a uniform medium.
Situation
Siemens VDO Automotive AG is a leading
worldwide automotive subcontractor for
electrics and mechatronics. As
a development partner in the automotiveindustry, the company manufactures drive,
engine control, and injection technology
products. Information and car communication
systems, audio and navigation equipment,
telematics, and multimedia applications
improve ride comfort and user-friendliness.
Siemens VDO products such as
airbag, ABS, and access control systems providevehicle safety. Siemens VDO Automotiverecorded a turnover of €9 billion in the2004 financial year.
“We are drowning in information but
starved for knowledge” is a popular quote
by the U.S. futurologist John Naisbitt. Using
content management systems, companies
attempt to manage of the rising flood
of data, while simultaneously satisfying the
information and communications needs of
their customers and employees. This involves
automating time-consuming administrative
processes via IT systems andsimultaneously ensuring that the informationis user-friendly and retrievable.
The Siemens VDO Automotive AG intranethas grown to more than 270,000 pages accessed
by 32,000 employees daily around
the world. Without efficient software support,
an information pool of this size is almost
unmanageable. The approximately
1,000 authors of the Siemens VDO global
intranet community play a key role here.
They supply the up-to-date input, while at
the same time being the critical point in the
system. After release, they must be able to
publish their articles quickly and effectivelywithout great effort.
Previously, authors entered their articlesand graphics using the Microsoft®
FrontPage® Web site creation and management tool. The articles were saved on a test system,then copied to and published on the productionserver. With the swelling numberof pages, the disadvantage of the file-basedsystem became increasingly apparent: Itwas lacking a central concept with contentand creative specifications. Hans-JürgenSonnleitner, Project Manager Intranet atSiemens VDO in Regensburg says: “It did happenthat many different solutions were developed,for example for team templates.” The intranet users were also overwhelmedby varying page structures with no clearlines or consistent layout. Even more serious,some of the information was never retrievedbecause it was not accessible vianavigation. Many pages only containedimages and, therefore, could not be locatedusing the keyword search. Access was alsomade more difficult due to the lacking updateof links following content relocation.
In order to both prepare the intranet forthe ever-increasing need for informationand also to rectify existing weaknesses,Siemens VDO initiated an ambitious projectin February 2004 with the working title“Intranet Next Generation”:
Structuring of the pages according touniform templates and central layout specifications
Separation of layout and content
Introduction of a corporate style guide
Access to the information via different information channels
Absorption of already existing pages, anduniform implementation of menu andnavigation for all pages
Integration into the SAP portal
The new concept also set a further
goal—keeping the information highly
up-to-date through rapid adaptation to
organizational changes in the company.
With the old system, the content was often
months out-of-date with links sometimes
no longer working. There were also
difficulties with regard to the relocation,
copying, and deleting of articles.“Switching to a systembuilt on a database withspecifications for layoutand workflow meant agenerational change inthe intranet technologyat Siemens VDO,” says Sonnleitner.
Solution
Convincing Concept
After a very thorough selection process between Microsoft and SAP during which the requirements were tested live and the strategy guidelines werein place,
Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) 2002 was selected. The system is
supported by the Microsoft Windows Server™
2003 operating system and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000, which, with a capacity of 60 gigabytes, is also managed by Windows Server 2003. “Wetook a close look at several systems,” explainsSonnleitner. “In theend, the high performance, excellent price/performance ratio, and convincing realizationconcept tipped the scales in favor ofthe Microsoft technology.”
The greatest hurdle when it came to the
implementation of the project was the conversionof 270,000 intranet pages to the
new concept. Dominik von Poschinger of
Siemens VDO, who played a key role in the
technical implementation of the project,
explains: “The pages had been programmed
with a wide range of technologies
such as Flash, Java plugins, JavaScript,
and ASP, so an automatic migration was
only sporadically possible. Frequently posteditingor redesign was necessary.” Eleven
student trainees and the intranet community
took several weeks to complete this
work-intensive job. “Our motivated team
mastered all problems in a very short time,”
praises Sonnleitner, expressly including the
Microsoft partner Querplex. The specialistsfrom Munich, Germany, developed amigration program in record time. This enabledthe existing pages to be migrated intothe CMS via an HTML-based template.
Key Technology XML
The key technology in the new Siemens
VDO intranet is called XML (Extensible
Markup Language). The global page descriptionlanguage separates content from
layout and is an important standard for the
media-neutral dissemination of information,
such as for the output of intranet
data on CD or retrieval via PDA, for example.
For the authors, the XML-based solution
primarily means simplified work as they no
longer need specialist software for the design
and publication of their articles on the
PC. The Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browseris sufficient—it accesses the XML editingcomponent Typegate,which is integrated into MCMS 2002. Hendrik Simon,CEO of Querplex, explains this function:“Typegate facilitates controlled WYSIWYGediting of the Siemens VDO content structuredon the basis of XML. It generates theWeb pages completely in accordance withthe specifications of the corporate styleguide and makes it simple for authors tochange or expand content on the Web site.”
Benefits
The flexible content management systemmeans that nothing further is required tocarry out subsequent changes or additions
to the design of the intranet pages. Changes to the corporate style guide can be implemented easily, and the existing
content can be adapted accordingly. Moreover, informationexchange with other intranet orInternet pages is very simple to accomplish,for example via Microsoft Web services. This technical option plays an importantrole within the Siemens Group with a multitudeof independent business units.
An additional technical hurdle had to be
overcome with the integration of the new
intranet into the Siemens VDO SAP-based
portal. “No interfaces were available for
this,” explains von Poschinger, “so we had
to develop a solution on our own.”
Navigation in the Microsoft content managementsystem is now executed throughconnection to an iView—the designationfor the SAP software component—for eachuser who is registered in the portal. A furtheriView displays the contents. The perfectintegration of SAP and Microsoft technologywas easily implemented with the assistanceof Web services. Only a short timeafter going live in November 2004, projectmanager Sonnleitner was able to registeran increase in intranet access. “The excellent,uniform layout makes the system’s utilizationattractive and efficient. The home
pages of the divisions feature more up-to-dateinformation, thus making it possible
to access almost all important content in
just three clicks.”
The authors are also ensuring that the intranetremains fresh. Thanks to Typegate,
the highly user-friendly input via the Web
browser has stimulated their motivation
and accelerated the generation of pages,
which has resulted in increasing the currencyof the intranet as a whole. There is also good newsfor the controllers at Siemens VDO—theproject costs of just under €300,000 have
been recouped within 20 months.
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