Cologne Intelligence

Postbank is a branch of Deutsche Bank AG. It offers simple and inexpensive banking products and postal services to around 12.5 million private, business and corporate customers.

In the course of its mobile-first strategy, Postbank wants to offer its customers the most important mobile banking services via app. This will be offered for the iOS and Android platforms and will be available to users on their smartphones and tablets.

We conceived, designed and developed the Postbank Finance Assistant from scratch for iOS and Android. In the conception phase, we were able to define the essential parameters and functions through comprehensive user research. After fine-tuning the user experience with the client, we aligned the visual design of the app with Postbank's corporate design. Our design services ranged from the graphics to the interaction to the animation of the content.

On the technical side, we linked the financial assistant with the backend of Postbank. In addition, we ensured the development and operation of the user reporting and implemented an optional manual and automatic quality assurance. In compliance with high security requirements in the processing of customer and payment data, we now operate the interface to Postbank together with a hosting service provider.

With the financial assistant, Postbank can offer its customers a user-friendly, intuitive and secure mobile banking app.

Tech, Tools & Methods: Agile project management, iOS, Android, Java in the backend

With the meincongstar app for iOS and Android, you always have your personal customer area with you. As a congstar customer, you always have everything under control.

Customised and fast - the meincongstar app is a real must-have for all congstar customers. Once logged in, the clear menu structure makes it easy to navigate to the desired action. Quickly adjust your desired tariff, top up your prepaid credit, view your current consumption or take a look at your bills for the last 12 months - the meincongstar app makes it all possible.

Cologne Intelligence supported the congstar team with the technical conception and development for the iOS and Android platforms.

Initial situation: 

The customer has acquired numerous companies over the past decades. This has resulted in various solutions for reporting key figures worldwide. As a result, a large corporate division faced the following challenges: in order to be able to compare the necessary key figures for the business of the various national companies, the management had to look at the individual reporting solutions of the national companies individually. 

The aim of the project is to migrate the existing key figures of the various national companies into a dashboard for the respective use case (quality, HR, finance, etc.) in a simple and comprehensible way in order to support management in decision-making. 

Approach and solution: 

Data from over 15 different data sources is migrated and consolidated on the basis of an infrastructure based on the Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principle. The data is stored in Azure Data Lake Gen2 and an SQL DB. The ETL pipelines are developed and coordinated with the help of Databricks and Data Factory v2. Based on this, a tabular model is developed, which serves as the basis for creating the dashboards with PowerBI. The work packages are implemented as part of a Scrum-based development process. 

Several dashboards have already been implemented for the customer, including for areas such as delivery quality, HR and finance. Further dashboards are being planned and will be implemented accordingly in the future. 

Added value for the customer 

The customer receives a dashboard according to their use cases, in which the key figures from the various national companies are compared. For example, analyses at product level can be carried out at a central location between the national companies. The report is continuously updated with current data using automated workflows for data migration. 

CI's main services are in the following areas:

Analysis 

• Analysing the data and mapping the technical requirements 
• Coordination of the BI interfaces 
• Requirements engineering in the form of user stories and EPICS 
• Creation and coordination of the roadmap 

Backend development: 

• Design and implementation of data flows in the AZURE environment (use case layer) 
• Development of Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) 
• Setting up the data model in the SQL server 
• Preparation and tests for service connections, service principles, connection to key safe 
• Documentation and instructions for operation and maintenance 
• Support enablement for operations 
• Data provider customisation and documentation 

Frontend development: 

• Design and development of DataFlow and datasets in PowerBI Premium 
• Design and development of dashboards in PowerBI Premium 
• Further development of the management dashboard based on the composite model 
• Carrying out user reviews 
• Testing integration and user acceptance 
• Documentation and instructions for operation and maintenance 
• Support enablement for the contact partners on the customer side    

In addition, CI also develops solutions for use cases that include trends, patterns and forecasts.

Initial situation

When operating e-commerce solutions, the cost factor of different payment methods must always be considered. Traditional payment methods such as direct debit and invoices are very cost-effective, but credit card payments or payment service providers such as PayPal have the advantage that payment defaults cannot occur as the service provider integrates this risk into the costs.

In order to minimise the impact of payment defaults and thus allow more payment volumes to be processed via more cost-effective payment methods, a solution is to be developed that will detect fraudulent activities before the payment is processed.

Approach & solution

A system is being developed that determines the risk of payment default based on a user's purchasing and payment behaviour. For this purpose, a data collection process is being developed that takes historical data points from the production system, pseudonymises them and makes them available in a data lake. With the help of Kubeflow pipelines, these data sets are processed fully automatically and used for model training. The model updates are regularly transferred to operations after a thorough quality analysis to ensure that emerging fraud patterns are always recognised.

Added value for the customer

Not only can the customer react more quickly to new fraud patterns and user-specific payment behaviour, but the internal fraud detection departments are also massively relieved. The development work involved in maintaining the existing set of rules is largely eliminated.

Mubea is a global partner to the automotive industry and an innovative lightweight construction specialist for heavy-duty spring components and related products, as well as the world market leader in the field of sophisticated disc springs. Mubea's disc springs are used, for example, in the suspensions of suspended power station boilers. In large projects, there are up to 300 disc spring cages that anchor the power plant boiler in the supporting structure and transfer the load evenly into the supporting structure, even with different filling levels and thermal expansions. Until now, the spring force of these disc spring cages could only be determined manually using a tape measure, pin and block. Mubea has now digitised the products for measuring spring force. The new Smart Cages application aims to simplify the adjustment and testing process using a laser measuring system. The measuring system has already been developed. What was missing, however, was a smart software solution to make force measurement on the construction site convenient for users and give them a good overview of the project. CI was able to deliver exactly this with a native mobile app.  

We took a very flexible approach to the project and put together a small cross-functional team of UX designers and Android developers without much lead time. Our team was international and despite a slight time difference, we worked together in a lightweight and agile manner. Meanwhile, the customer was able to monitor the development status at all times. We were able to provide the customer with a fully functional MVP version of the Smart Cages application in a short space of time.  

The Mubea Smart Cages product is a set consisting of a Google Pixel smartphone, a compact laser measurement system and the app developed by us. The measuring system is based on an industrial laser, which Mubea has converted into a mobile measuring system using a battery and charging electronics as well as a communication board developed in-house. A housing, also developed in-house, accommodates and protects all components, even under the harsh conditions on the construction site. The Google Pixel is mounted on the housing and is connected to the circuit board via USB-C. The individual disc spring cages are equipped with NFC tags, which are scanned by the users of the smart cages to identify the disc spring column to be measured within the app. In addition to the advantage of a significant increase in productivity for fitters and inspectors on the construction site, the use of the measuring system also significantly increases the accuracy of the force measurement. In addition, the system supports users in almost all work steps, from identifying and measuring the disc spring cages to calculating the preload force and providing a live overview of the entire project, significantly reducing the risk of human error. 

"Dedalus Healthcare is one of the leading providers of hospital and diagnostic information systems in DACH, Italy and France with headquarters in Bonn. The pan-European company employs more than 3500 people and holds a significant position in over 30 countries around the world.

The treating and caring users of Dedalus hospital information systems (HIS) increasingly need information directly at the patient. For this, grown structures in the HIS must be transferred to a modern architecture for display on mobile devices.

We supported Dedalus in the transformation of outdated client-server systems and created modern, Angular 8 (JavaScript) based componentised web front-ends for display in the browser and on mobile devices.

By using modern front-end technologies, the treating and nursing staff can work more efficiently on the patient using mobile devices. The strong componentisation enables a high degree of reuse of individual components.

Scope: 5 FTE continuously per year, 3 frontend developers, 1 app developer, 1 backend developer, security consultant as needed

DEVK serves around four million customers with over 14.6 million risks in all insurance lines. In terms of the number of policies, DEVK is Germany's third-largest household insurance company, fifth-largest car insurer and sixth-largest liability insurer. DEVK currently employs around 6,000 office and field staff and offers 1,200 branch offices.

DEVK wants to position itself much more strongly in the online business. The main goals are to increase the number of online contracts and to achieve a high quality of service and customer satisfaction by offering intuitive and easy-to-use services. To this end, DEVK wants to develop and operate the new self-service portal "meineDEVK". The new services will also be available for mobile use.

CI provided the following services in the role of general contractor:

• Concept (UI, UX)
• Design (graphics, interaction, animation)
• Frontend and backend development
• Building the necessary infrastructure
• Connection to various DEVK core systems
• Quality Assurance
• Advice regarding security
• Project Management
• Support for agile working methods by Scrum Master

With the new portal, customers, interested parties and claimants of the insurance can online and intuitively

communicate with it and take their affairs into their own hands. They can, for example, manage their

View contracts & documents, make changes to their data, optimise contracts and find the best

Find the product at the best price. The "mobile first" approach is followed in all implementations.

Tech, Tools & Methods:

Agile project management, frontend as mobilefirst

SPA with React, delivered via AWS

S3/CloudFront, KeyCloak as CIM, Backend

with REST APIs based on SpringBoot with Java

11, Delivery and IaC via GitlabCI into the

Kubernetes, data in AWS Aurora, connectivity

of the on-premise core systems via SOAP &

REST

"Carglass repairs, Carglass replaces" - this slogan succinctly sums up the core competencies of Carglass. In addition to repair and replacement, the experts also take care of the settlement with the relevant insurance company. Carglass has 270 locations in Germany.

If Carglass has to replace a defective car windscreen, there is a complex ordering process behind it: There are several thousand different car windscreens in various designs and different delivery times that have to be provided at the right time at the right location. Different, not interconnected IT island solutions, many manual steps and entries - the complex business process was not sufficiently digitally mapped and resulted in a lack of data quality. Carglass' service, however, requires flexibility, speed and precision; the company has already been working according to agile principles for years. The inadequate allocation via vehicle identification number also complicated the process, which is why this indicator was to be replaced by the vehicle registration number.

Cologne Intelligence supported the Carglass IT team in developing, securing and implementing the required services. The new software is based on a scalable microservice architecture and works in a modern cloud environment that allows software updates to be delivered automatically and quickly. Existing and new data sources have been linked, untouched third-party systems fully integrated. These will be gradually replaced later. The user interface of the booking system was given a new user-friendly design. The agile working method with short feedback cycles and transparency ensured a smooth process.

With the new solution, the processes run smoothly: now, when a customer makes an appointment for a replacement, all the special features of the required glazing, such as equipment with sensors or similar, can be taken into account immediately with the help of the vehicle registration number. Any queries from the customer can be answered via the Customer Contact Centre's inventory systems. In short: Carglass is digitally closer to the customer today.

Tech, Tools & Methods: Java, Kubernetes, AWS

Deutsche Post DHL Group is the world's leading logistics provider with 550,000 employees in over 220 countries. Its international service portfolio includes letter/parcel/express delivery, freight transport, supply chain management and e-commerce solutions.

Post & Paket Deutschland is the market leader in Germany in the field of logistics and parcel services. Parcel delivery services that are as fast and efficient as possible with seamless tracking and tracing make a significant contribution to business success. For the IT systems, the integration of mobile delivery devices into Deutsche Post's back-end systems is one of the greatest challenges in this process.

Over a period of two years, we have changed the existing software development cycles to an agile approach with faster pacing. The migration of back-end services to a cloud environment is now the next challenge towards a competitive and future-oriented IT.

The degree of digitalisation in the delivery processes has increased enormously, leading to a measurable increase in efficiency and customer satisfaction. Deutsche Post's delivery customer services can now be described as market-leading and "leading edge".

Tech, Tools & Methods: Kubernetes, Rancher, Docker, Jenkins, Java/Spring Boot, Akka, Kafka, Microservices, EJB, Apache Active MQ, REST/http, SFTP, Oracle DB, JIRA, Bitbucket

Search, filter, view, zoom, share, sort! The Grohe Media App provides perfect access to the Grohe product world. Fast, clear and equipped with convenient offline availability and synchronisation function.

The app was rolled out in time for the ISH (International Sanitary and Heating Trade Fair) and can now be used as a personal Grohe media library.

We conceptualised the app, are responsible for the UX design, programming the UI, connecting the interfaces and quality assurance of the app. All of this was delivered on time for ISH on the iOS and Android platforms.

Postbank is a branch of Deutsche Bank AG. It offers simple and inexpensive banking products and postal services to around 12.5 million private, business and corporate customers.

Postbank wants to offer its new and existing customers a series of browser-based and media-interruption-free end-customer applications for the online sale of its banking products. These are to be connected to the Postbank backend systems and VideoIdent service providers so that customers can conveniently prove their identity via video chat from home.

For Postbank, we designed and implemented a platform for the case-closing online conclusion of products for new and existing customers. The focus was on the simple reuse of components. In the context of maintenance work, we can thus provide a new product with little effort within a few days.

The new platform integrates the Postbank backend systems and VideoIdent service providers so that some product transactions are possible for the customer directly online and without media disruption. Thanks to the interfaces to comparison portals, search engine marketing and affiliate networks, Postbank was able to build up high-reach performance marketing for its products.

Tech, Tools & Methods: Agile project management, JavaScript in the frontend, Java in the backend

fraenk is the new digital tariff that is offered exclusively via an app. We support the technical realisation of the app.

fraenk offers calling & surfing and has been available since April 2020. The special thing about fraenk: as a digital tariff, fraenk is offered exclusively via app.

Our iOS and Android developers supported the realisation of the app. It was a really good, intensive project in a great agile team and a super result! We look forward to the next releases!

Initial situation

The customer, a credit institution, would like to better measure the depreciation of leased vehicles in relation to the new car price for the used car market. The previous procedure required a great deal of manual effort and individual expertise. A new solution aims to automate, flexibilise and speed up the process as much as possible using AI and data science methods. The solution will also be constantly updated with new market data in the future. 

Approach and solution

The theoretical basis for the solution is the CRISP-ML model, which is to be mapped as completely as possible. An AI solution is being trained, further developed and operated to optimise and automate the loss of value calculation. The AI is trained with market data in order to achieve the best possible results. Prior to this, data is validated using newly developed, automated test processes. The entire solution is cloud-based and uses Azure Databricks Services. 

Added value for the customer

The new AI solution achieves better predictions about the depreciation of leased vehicles. In addition, the overall solution can be scaled significantly better, particularly in terms of the training and adaptability of the AI. The high degree of automation enables leaner, more efficient processes in determining the residual value of the vehicles and a significantly lower use of resources. 

In close cooperation with the IT department at TX Logistik, the system landscape was expanded to future-proof it by setting up a cloud-based data lake and successfully "put on the rails". The aim of the data lake is to quickly, flexibly and efficiently serve the business areas with high-quality data for analyses and reports. The data lake also serves as a database for new use cases in the field of advanced analytics.

On the one hand, the large number of source systems presents the specialist departments at TX Logistik with the challenge of creating suitable data models for the department-specific requirements. On the other hand, there is insufficient documentation available. Continuous documentation of data creation rules and standardisation of naming conventions are intended to expand the self-service options of the departments and prevent incorrect data usage.

As part of the project, Cologne Intelligence was commissioned to set up a cloud-based data lake in order to prepare the existing BI landscape for future requirements through the architecture change. The data lake is positioned as a central database to supply company-wide use cases with structured and unstructured data.

The infrastructure created on Azure was created according to the IaC principle (Infrastructure as Code). The services used are Azure Data Lake Gen2, Data Factory v2, Databricks and Azure SQL Database. Existing reporting was migrated to PowerBI and expanded with new requirements. An important success factor was the training of TX Logistik employees, who will be able to carry out data integrations independently in future.

In close cooperation with the IT department at TX Logistik, the system landscape was expanded to future-proof it by setting up a cloud-based data lake and successfully "put on the rails". The aim of the data lake is to quickly, flexibly and efficiently serve the business areas with high-quality data for analyses and reports. The data lake also serves as a database for new use cases in the field of advanced analytics.

Together with the IT department, Cologne Intelligence set up a cloud-based data lake in a 3.5-month project. The project was implemented in an agile manner. To this end, the project team was integrated into the SAFe framework and was able to plan the individual sprints in detail, clarify dependencies in advance and present the results at the end of each sprint. In one of the first sprints, once the infrastructure had been set up, its integration into the existing network infrastructure of TX Logistik was ensured - the most important basis for the project's continued success.

Another success factor for the project will be the introduction of a data governance board, which will define and monitor the data governance process and thus ensure standardised documentation, continuous improvement of data quality and compliance with security requirements.