NEW DESIGN, MODERN ARCHITECTURE AND OPTIMIZED PROCESSES –THE EWB WEB PORTAL
A completely new solution was ought to replace the existing ewb web portal for private customers and small SMEs. It was essential to map the comprehensive range of services of Energie Wasser Bern (electricity, gas, telecommunication, district heat, mobility, water) in a clear and user-friendly manner. The focus was clearly set on self-service ensuring the customer to check bills or energy consumption, to contact customer services and to change payment options, product or address.
In order to enable a smooth and trouble-free transfer from old to new, the first agile software project was brought into being. Therefore, an interdisciplinary Scrum team consisting of ewb and inpeek employees was established.
THE CHALLENGES
Customer focus is paramount to Energie Wasser Bern: their wish to replace the existing web portal without significant service interruptions.
It was necessary to develop a comprehensive and modern web portal which needed to be connected to the existing systems as well as additional solutions, established by other service providers. This was a multifariously project with different contact partners.
Energie Wasser Bern had to jump into technological new ground, inter alia, coming to a decision whether to go with on-premises or cloud architecture, and laying the foundation to automate deployments. During the entire project, it was obligatory to consider the requirements of various stakeholders concerning design, user experience, customer support process and architecture.
ABOUT EWB
Über ewb
Energie Wasser Bern is an independent, public enterprise of the city of Bern and one of the five biggest municipal energy suppliers in Switzerland employing over 600 people.
Customers include around 70.000 households, 8.000 small to medium-sized enterprises and 100 major customers. ewb ensures the supply of electricity, district heat, natural gas, biogas, water and transforms waste into energy for the city of Bern. ewb also offers services for e-mobility and gas-fueled mobility and constructs the municipal fiber-optic network.
OUR APPROACH
To ensure fast and practical progress, we relied on a sustainable solution: First, we created a stable foundation via an MVP approach. This foundation incorporated the most important functions. Then we implemented further functionalities bit by bit. This reflected an agile procurement model – Starting point was a master agreement with sprint-based single procurement.
The redesign was realized via a Mobile-First approach and modern web standards (Angular Framework). Understanding customer- and support personnel-needs was always in focus. Support staff was integrated into Scrum meetings and all results were based on persona analyses that were developed in a preliminary project. Bern-based company edorex supported us with their expertise in user experience and design.
The use of a modern architecture and utilization of Azure Cloud Hosting and automation of deployments (DevOps) gave us the appropriate technological foundation. Integration into the existing system environment was realized with the connection to the already established single sign-on (SSO) solution, the business process management engine and SAP.
During the whole project cycle, we ensured the successful utilization of Scrum methods via agile coaching. And we assisted the ewb product owner with prioritization of activities and the determination of structures within the Scrum framework. Coordination and handling of processes – from requirement definition to testing – we documented and realized with existing ewb systems (JIra and Confluence).
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THE RESULT
The new web portal went live as planned on December 8th of 2020. The high-quality expectations were met: Up to today, no productivity errors have occurred.
As soon as the first quarter of 2021, we could notice an increase of user numbers and switch processes in the web portal. Routine customer service requests decreased resulting in a more focused support structure. The portal is easy to use and intuitive for daily routines: ewb-employees can apply editorial changes for articles and product descriptions without the help of external support. The future-proof cloud architecture allows to apply updates quickly and comfortably including prior testing in secure environments.
Detailed analytics ensure transparency of user metrics. Further advancements and future investments can be applied optimally in accordance with customer needs. The success of this project is the basis for further collaboration between ewb and inpeek.
