Simple, fast, convenient: online payments in the BKW customer portal

The aim of the new solution was to generate relevant added value for BKW customers: The payment of open invoices was to be made easier and faster, thus making the online self-service offering more attractive. At the same time, the requirement was that the new function should not cause any additional expense – such as payment provider fees, administrative activities, corrections/refunds, etc. – for the portal operator or biller.

Paying an invoice online is child's play. However, the system architecture behind it is often all the more complex, in which various interfaces must communicate with each other seamlessly and without errors. The following diagram shows the stakeholders and processes behind such a solution:

Thanks to the connection of a payment service provider PSP (Payrexx), we were able to massively reduce complexity and focus on the core functionality, namely booking a payment in the SAP IS-U system.

 

We integrated the solution seamlessly into the existing my.bkw customer portal with one or two interface extensions in the SAP system. In order for the customer to be able to process payments from the front end (Angular Framework), the Payrexx Payment Service Provider (PSP) connection had to be embedded and extended in our already established e.tility middleware landscape.

 

It was important to us not to temporarily store a state, e.g. "transaction ID", in our "stateless" architecture at any time. Therefore, when instantiating a new payment, it was essential to select the parameters in such a way that the payment could always be recognized and forwarded to the SAP system for posting during Payrexx feedback via a so-called "web hook" – and thus the transaction security remained guaranteed.

 

In concrete terms, this meant that between Friday morning and Saturday night, 34 people with migration responsibility (often supported by an entire team) worked to execute 87 previously agreed migration steps correctly and on time. The correctness of the migration was then validated by 24 testers using a total of 158 visual and process tests and documented for a later audit. An exemplary team performance!

With the launch of the new my.bkw online payment solution, customers can now settle their BKW bills easily and conveniently. The new payment function was already in high use on the day of release. After the monthly billing run at the latest, the curve of payments made online rose sharply. The posting in SAP is running smoothly. Against this background, the feedback from CCE/BKW is positive all round.