BASF.net

Global intranet for over 97,000 users within the BASF Group

Comments

"Publishing and updating content within the intranet is part of our daily business. It cannot be a kind of secret science that requires endless training and reading countless pages of software manuals.

Therefore, the usability factor not only needs to be taken into consideration when designing websites, but also needs to be an integral part in developing editing systems. So the objective was to select a software that any employee could use, even when under time constraints and in crisis situations.

The editing system from btexx fully satisfies this requirement. Creating news articles or teaser boxes is convenient, even for non-technical users, and does not require any specialized knowledge of IT. Operation is intuitive and the user interface has an attractive design."
Dr. Jasmin Top, Senior Manager Corporate Communications Europe. BASF SE.

Project Description

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. The company’s portfolio ranges from oil and gas to chemicals, plastics and performance products to agricultural products and fine chemicals. BASF is a reliable partner whose aim is to help customers in nearly every industry be more successful. Its high-quality products and intelligent solutions enable BASF to find answers to global challenges such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility.

The global intranet project BASF.net was launched amid high demands on state-of-the-art technology and CI-oriented design. For the core team at BASF, the main priority was to provide a platform designed to serve the global exchange of knowledge and information among close to 97,000 users within the BASF Group.

Technical Highlights

A team comprising specialists from the BASF subsidiary BASF IT Services and btexx consulting was responsible for the technical implementation of BASF.net based on SAP NetWeaver. SAP software offers all of the functionality required for designing modern portals: The SAP portal features a search engine (SAP NetWeaver TREX), a web application server and offers content personalization capability via the SAP role and authorization system. Linking the comprehensive portal statistics tool WebTrends to the SAP NetWeaver Portal was yet another aim of the project.

The btexx easyWCM Portal Content Management solution was chosen to enter editorial content into the SAP NetWeaver Portal, as it is fully integrated into the SAP platform and eliminates the need for an additional CMS solution. Using the software is convenient and simple, even for non-technical users: Editors navigate to the portal page of their choice. A click on the pencil icon opens the selected portal page with btexx easyWCM. The page is displayed as a WYSIWYG template that allows users to directly enter text, images, links, etc. Entries or text modifications are saved as XML files and published automatically – e.g. via Time-Based Publishing.

Conceptual Highlights

BASF.net offers a wide range of possibilities for customizing portal content. Not all content is of interest to or suitable for every employee. For example, to address information requirements that vary from region to region, portal users can chose which region (Asia/Pacific, Europe, South America, etc.) they want to receive news and information from.

Beyond this, portal users can create their own link lists that simplify their work and the navigation to specific portal pages (My Links content box): A simple click on the edit symbol of their “My Links” box opens up a dialog screen in which users can position links to other portal pages and websites. This link list can be modified, adapted or deleted at any time.

Design Highlights

Individual content modules were developed for BASF.net, including article pages with and without context areas, various teaser elements or context boxes – all on the basis of existing btexx easyWCM forms. The design for these content modules was implemented based on the BASF.net Intranet Style Guide. Special about this project: BASF intranet editors can work with the pre-existing templates without worrying about BASF Corporate Design requirements.

BASF.net was recognized by the Normal Nielsen Group as one of the ten best intranets worldwide for its efficient usability and innovative design.