Case Study: Rohde & Schwarz
Complexity of evolved structures
"We were working with an evolved PHP structure on the Internet, where the information was being fed from many heterogeneous sources such as SAP and Lotus Notes databases", says Michaela Knie, project manager at Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, describing the initial position before the relaunch of the Rohde & Schwarz website.
"As a result, we reached a point at which clarity was lost, making programming difficult." In order to be prepared for the future, a central content management system needed to be introduced, for which a new web frontend had to be developed. To ensure the best possible support, the specialists from thePHP.cc were brought in to incorporate their expertise into the process.
Sustainable, secure, and structured
Stefan Priebsch of thePHP.cc explains the approach to this project: "Not only did we analyze the code in a comprehensive code review, but we also grappled intensively with the established information paths and the perspectives that we were aiming for, as Rohde & Schwarz wants to be able to go live with large amounts of content and more frequent changes. To achieve this, we designed an architecture for the entire system and developed paths, together with the customer, in order to expand the CMS contents with program logic."
By converting to distributed version control (Git) and continuous integration, even greater flexibility was achieved, with a view toward decentralized development work. The development team members were trained in interactive workshops in OOP, clean code, and unit testing, running though proof-of-concept implementations for different solution approaches.
Strategically manageable information flows
"Sustainability and sound economic judgment were the guidelines specified by our business when starting the workshops with thePHP.cc", reports Michaela Knie, describing the prerequisites for the current status. These include a deployment concept that allows the publication of flexible content and new versions of software for the web frontend on both staging and live systems, with a high degree of automation.
"As we operate internationally, it is enormously important for us to ensure high performance worldwide. We will therefore install mirrored servers, distributing them globally. Thanks to the software architecture proposed by thePHP.cc, our solution has become much simpler technically, while at the same time giving higher performance." In the next expansion stage, a strategic concept that was worked out with thePHP.cc will provide for the integration of numerous existing intranet and Internet applications into the websites.
Not only did we analyze the code in a comprehensive code review, but we also grappled intensively with the established information paths and the perspectives that we were aiming for, as Rohde & Schwarz wants to be able to go live with large amounts of content and more frequent changes. To achieve this, we designed an architecture for the entire system and developed paths, together with the customer, in order to expand the CMS contents with program logic.
Stefan Priebsch, thePHP.cc
Thanks to the training and the knowledge transfer via the specialists from thePHP.cc, the development team at Rohde & Schwarz is now in a position to independently further develop and use the solution. With their support, we were able to achieve our goals.
Michaela Knie, Project Manager, Rohde & Schwarz
About Rohde & Schwarz
Electronics group Rohde & Schwarz is a leading solution provider in the fields of measurement technology, wireless communications, radio monitoring technology, radio location technology, and secure communications. The independent company was founded almost 80 years ago, currently providing its services through a closely meshed service network in more than 70 countries worldwide. In the 2011-2012 fiscal year (July to June), approximately 8,700 employees generated revenue of EUR 1.8 billion. The company headquarters are in Munich, Germany.