Developing a Business Portal for WM SE

With 6,000 employees, 230 locations in six countries and a turnover of more than 1.6 billion euros, WM SE is Europe’s No. 1 in the automotive parts trade. Based in Osnabrück, Germany, the company provides its customers with an extensive catalog of over 250,000 items, alongside a broad range of services, solidifying its reputation as a dependable partner for automotive workshops throughout Europe. In 2018, WM SE embarked on a new chapter in its 75-year history by undertaking a comprehensive digital transformation.

WM SE is a prominent mid-market company and a leader in the European automotive parts industry. The company’s primary customers are automotive companies that benefit from WM SE’s extensive delivery network and additional brand partnership services. These services include WM SE’s comprehensive workshop solutions and professional concepts, which provide workshop operators with technical expertise, marketing support, customer loyalty programs and software solutions. To support its growth, advance internationalization and enhance service quality for both partners and end customers, WM SE decided to develop a comprehensive digitization strategy. 

In the fall of 2018, WM SE and basecom initiated discussions to develop a holistic digital solution aimed at merging, restructuring and relaunching the national and international, internal and external online platforms, databases and tools. The goal of this new digital solution was to improve internal and external online communication and to gradually replace existing systems. 

To achieve this, we collaborated with WM SE to design a custom business portal using the Symfony PHP framework. The challenge in this extensive agile project was to ensure a wide range of functionalities. This included the development of a multilingual, customized CMS with high availability and an extensive rights/roles system.

Based on an analysis of the current situation and requirements, a plan was developed and confirmed by a proof of concept. In this phase, we were able to draw on the support of our partner SensioLabs, which allowed us to gain additional Symfony expertise for this large and complex project. After creating the proof of concept, the agile project phase started in the fall of 2018. Between February 18, 2019, and October 20, 2020, the project was implemented in 39 sprints. Our project team consisted of a project manager, a UX engineer and up to six software developers.

Developing the portal with Symfony

In order to digitize the company’s communication and unify different systems, a central platform for all communication channels (internal and external) was developed. On the platform, documents, editorial content and other information can be managed in one place and made available to different user groups.

• Information for employees (documents, cafeteria menus, news, employee directory)
• Information for customers (links to service providers, documents, news, contact persons)
• in different countries (currently Germany, Austria, Netherlands)

SAP interface 

In cooperation with the Osnabrück-based IT company LMIS AG, we developed an interface connecting SAP to the new web portal. WM SE uses KeyCloak to manage accounts and roles. Employee and customer as well as user and account data is transferred to the portal via the LMIS interfaces and then interpreted by the portal.

Connecting third party systems using SSO

One login for multiple systems: Thanks to Single Sign On (SSO), WM customers only have to log in to the portal once and can then jump to third-party systems (service providers for printing, replacement vehicles, advertising materials, etc.) without having to log in again.

The implementation of the business portal for WM SE is one of basecom’s largest projects to date. During the two-year project, we learned a lot from the excellent and reliable cooperation with the WM SE team.

WM SE is one of the most efficient wholesalers of automotive parts, accessories, tires and workshop equipment in Europe. With more than 175,000 cataloged items, the company offers a comprehensive product range for car, commercial vehicle and motorcycle dealerships and workshops at over 90 locations.