TYPO3 Agency for Ingolstadt and Region 10

TYPO3 Agency Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt and Region 10 are strongly shaped by the automotive industry: suppliers, engineering service providers, logistics. These companies usually have system landscapes that have grown over years, and the website is part of that rather than a solitary object. That is where TYPO3 plays to its strengths.

The website as part of the system landscape

In automotive companies the website is rarely the starting point. There is an ERP, often a PIM, sometimes a DAM and a CRM, and the website is meant to show the right thing from all of it without anyone maintaining data twice.

So we begin with the interfaces rather than with the design. Which data comes from where, how often, and what happens when a source goes down? Only after that can the question of appearance be answered sensibly. Details on the implementation under TYPO3 development.

Several locations, one installation

Suppliers with several plants or subsidiaries regularly face the same question: separate websites or a shared one? TYPO3 makes the second answer attractive, because several page trees with their own domains and languages share one installation.

The gain sits in operation: shared content maintained once, updates applied once, one security arrangement rather than five. What needs settling for that is in the glossary under site configuration.

Between Munich and Nuremberg

Ingolstadt lies halfway between two of our other regions. Meetings therefore combine well with other journeys, without a separate trip being necessary. For you that changes nothing about the quality of a meeting; for the planning it makes a lot easier.

Several plants, one upkeep

The gain from a shared installation shows most clearly in maintenance. To stop the configuration drifting apart in five places, Site Sets have existed since v13: named packages a site includes rather than copies.

Keeping things separate stays sensible when the sites are far apart in substance. We look at both before recommending.

Data flows, people do not

In automotive companies the website is a node in a system landscape: ERP, PIM, often a DAM, sometimes a CRM. Most of what it shows comes from somewhere else.

So we begin with the interfaces. Which data comes from where, how often, in which direction, and what happens when something fails? Those questions decide the success of a project more than any design round. Regular imports run through the scheduler, with monitoring that also fires when a task stops starting altogether.

Common questions

Our website has to fit our system landscape. How do you approach that?

We start with the systems, not with the design. Which data sits where, which of it should reach the website, in which direction does it flow, and who is reachable on the other side?

Only once that is settled do we talk about structure and appearance. The other way round you get projects that look good and hang on an interface once they are running.

We have several locations with their own sites. Merge them or keep them separate?

That depends on how much the locations share. If the brand, the structure and most of the content are the same, there is a lot to be said for one installation with several page trees: an update happens once rather than five times, and shared content is maintained once.

If the sites are far apart in substance, keeping them separate can make sense. We look at both before recommending.

How often do you come to Ingolstadt?

For kick-offs, workshops and training; the ongoing work runs remotely. Ingolstadt lies between Munich and Nuremberg, so we are heading that way occasionally anyway and can combine meetings.

We have no office there and do not claim one. Our base is Stuttgart-Feuerbach.