15 years of innovation – digital process platform with substance and scalability
BITS has been supporting a leading international commercial vehicle manufacturer since 2007 with a company-wide platform for managing prototypes, workshop processes and technical conversions in vehicle development. The application has been continuously developed since then and is now a central component in the customer’s development landscape – with over 5,000 active users worldwide.
The aim was to create a scalable, secure and efficient solution with which complex processes such as the management of test carriers, the handling of conversion orders, the reporting of defects and the planning of workshop capacities could be mapped centrally. In addition, functions for analyzing control units, warehouse management and parts ordering were to be integrated.
Thanks to the expertise of BITS, a highly networked, robust and flexibly expandable system could be realized, which today also works together across locations and groups – for example with sister companies.
In this project, BITS assumed responsibility for the complete technical support of the platform. Starting with the initial implementation, the team continuously developed the platform and ensured its maintenance and operation over the years. In addition, BITS was responsible for the creation of technical and IT concepts, the definition and implementation of interfaces and quality assurance. The development cycles were planned and managed in close coordination with the customer as part of agile processes.
Challenge
The development of the platform began with a customized new development – designed to efficiently support a complex and previously non-digitally mapped process world. The basis for an expandable application was already created in the first project phase. With the successful rollout and increasing use in everyday life, both the requirements and the complexity of the system continued to grow.
Over the years, the original solution developed into a comprehensive platform with numerous functional modules, deep system integration and a growing user base. The aim was to integrate each new requirement in such a way that existing processes remained stable while at the same time creating room for innovation. This further development during ongoing operation – without any loss of functionality or performance – placed high demands on the architecture, quality assurance and project management.
In addition, modern interface standards had to be introduced to enable group-wide data exchange with national and international partners. The platform needed to be able to communicate with different IT systems – both in on-premise environments and in the cloud. The necessary mix of synchronous and asynchronous communication required sophisticated event handling and a high degree of fault tolerance.
At the same time, BITS took on a central role as a technology partner and consultant – from the selection of suitable solutions and interface design to the joint conception of new functions with the specialist departments. The challenge therefore lay not only in the technical implementation, but also in the continuous moderation and coordination of a complex, long-term change process.
Realization
BITS has been supporting this challenging project as a long-term partner for many years and is responsible for the holistic support of a central software platform for the development and testing of new vehicle models. The application is now established throughout the company and is one of the customer’s business-critical systems – with several thousand active users in a wide variety of areas, including workshops, development, logistics, quality assurance and project management.
The solution focuses on the complete digital mapping of numerous processes relating to vehicle development. These include the management and documentation of prototypes and test vehicles, the recording of technical modifications, the planning and coordination of workshop tasks and the processing of symptoms and defects that occur during the test phases. Supporting processes such as parts ordering, warehouse management and reporting are also closely integrated into the platform and enable a holistic view of vehicle testing.
In the backend, a multi-layered system structure ensures clear responsibilities and a clean separation of specialist logic, data access and interface communication. This not only makes maintenance and expansion easier, but also creates the necessary basis for high performance and reliability – even with high system loads and large volumes of data.
The user interface is specifically tailored to the respective roles and tasks of the users. Workshop teams, for example, require different views and functions than project managers or diagnostic specialists. A tidy, high-performance and intuitive user interface ensures a high level of acceptance in daily use – a decisive success factor in the introduction and further development of complex specialist applications.
The system uses a structured, relational SQL database for data storage, which is specially designed for high transaction volumes and complex data links. Over 500 database tables form the extensive database for the entire platform, which is accessed by numerous modules and processes.
Another focus was on the integration of external systems via standardized interfaces. These enable group-wide data exchange, including with international subsidiaries and partner companies. Communication takes place both synchronously and asynchronously, controlled via an event-based interface concept that allows a wide variety of systems to be connected flexibly – regardless of whether they are operated in the cloud or are located locally in the customer’s IT landscape.
In addition to technical development, BITS also assumed responsibility for the complete operation and support of the system – from 1st to 2nd to 3rd level support. In addition, technical and IT concepts were created in close cooperation with the customer, interfaces were specified and all development projects were planned, coordinated and implemented as part of agile sprints. Structured quality and release management ensures that new functions can be reliably integrated into the existing system – without disrupting ongoing operations.
This combination of technical excellence, operational stability and partnership-based cooperation has created a platform that not only meets current requirements, but is also optimally prepared for future developments.
Conclusion
The project illustrates how sustainable technological development and partnership-based collaboration over many years can lead to a powerful, future-proof solution. Over time, an individual application has become a central platform that is now deeply integrated into the customer’s work processes and creates real added value on a daily basis.
The combination of technical expertise, an agile approach and a deep understanding of the business requirements has enabled us to create a system that not only runs stably, but also continues to grow – with a clear focus on scalability, quality and user-friendliness.
For BITS, this project is an example of how complex challenges can be mastered together with the customer in a solution-oriented manner – reliably, pragmatically and with an eye to the future.
Project roles at a glance
BITS experts took on the following roles in this project.
Tools & Technologies
The following tools and technologies were used in this project.
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