Major upgrade of e-procurement system of the University of Saarbrücken
The University of Saarbrücken has employed an internal e-procurement system based on Plone since the early 2010s. The most significant upgrade occurred approximately in 2015, involving a reimplementation utilizing Plone 4 and Dexterity. The system was initially planned for phased retirement in the mid-2020s, with a replacement proposed in the form of a SAP-based shop solution. However, due to various delays encountered during the SAP project, it has been decided to retain the current solution for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, in light of compliance requirements and the advanced age of the existing system, a substantial update to the latest Plone 6.1 version, running on Python 3.12, became imperative.
Goals and requirements
The goal was the modernization of the existing code base for Python 6.1 and Python 3. While the overall functionality of the system remained largely unchanged, numerous details required adjustments to align with the most current business requirements. From a user experience perspective, all views have been modernized and streamlined to provide a satisfactory user experience for both university students and backoffice employees. As part of the university of Saarbrücken’s comprehensive IT strategy, user management and authorization were transitioned from LDAP to Azure AD, in conjunction with SAML. The complete deployment transitioned from on-premise to Azure-based hosting. The cloud configuration and provisioning were accomplished using Terraform and Ansible.
Development process
The core functionality of the original Plone 4.0 portal has been successfully ported and migrated to Python 3 and the latest Plone 6.1 version. A comprehensive theme has been meticulously designed utilizing the capabilities of AI (Claude Code). Additionally, several innovative features have been implemented to adapt the existing implementation to meet the evolving business requirements.
Outcome
The primary objective of this project is the successful delivery of a modernized portal with robust functionality that meets all new business requirements within a timeframe of approximately four months. This is a significant achievement, as it was not feasible to implement such a portal on top of SAP technology within the same timeframe. Furthermore, the project was completed at a fraction of the costs associated with traditional SAP implementations.
The University of Saarbrücken has been a long-standing customer of ZOPYX, and the entire project was planned and implemented without significant obstacles or organizational challenges. This was achieved through an efficient and solution-oriented approach. This Plone project effectively addressed the delayed SAP delivery, ensuring timely and cost-effective implementation. The project also demonstrated the effective utilization of AI and Agentic coding. By leveraging AI, it was possible to deliver an updated and user-friendly experience for all audiences without the need for a dedicated frontend developer or team. AI has enabled the creation of more consistent and feature-rich frontends for the benefit of all university users of the system. Additionally, the deployment and provisioning processes were significantly enhanced by AI support. The project utilized Claude Code for this purpose.
Provider
ZOPYX/Andreas Jung is a solution provider specializing in Python-based applications and solutions for over two decades. With a robust Python experience spanning more than thirty years, Andreas Jung has a proven track record of delivering successful solutions to clients and authoring numerous Python and Plone add-ons. ZOPYX operates on both national and international levels. Notably, Andreas Jung is the architect and visionary behind the medical guideline portal "Onkopedia“ (https://www.onkopedia.com), one of the most prominent medical portals in the oncology and hematology domains within the German-speaking DACH region.
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