University of Erfurt
Since 2023, the University of Erfurt has been one of our many customers in the field of colleges and universities. With its diverse range of academic programs and research activities, it is firmly established in the national and international higher education landscape. A robust, structured and accessible website is therefore an important part of providing the various target groups with the best possible information.
Takeover of the project
Many projects start from scratch and are built from the ground up. In this case, we completely took over the client's existing website. It is important to ensure a smooth takeover so that the change is not noticed afterwards. Many functions and features have to be analyzed and, if necessary, adapted to our processes. Once the changeover is complete, support begins. From this point on, the website will be continuously developed and adapted in agile processes. We would like to present a few noteworthy features and core functions here.
Structured data
In order to make the context and meaning of the content of a website more comprehensible, structured data is used across all websites at the University of Erfurt. This helps search engines to better understand content and improve search results. This automatically optimizes user-friendliness by providing users with more relevant and useful information directly in the search results. For example, structured data is used heavily in the degree program pages, the research projects and the personal data records.
Find your dream degree program: With STUDIMAT!
STUDIMAT helps prospective students find the best combination of 25 Bachelor's degree courses to make it easier for them to find their way to a degree course after graduating from high school. In four interactive steps, users are asked about their interests in order to put together the right course of study.
Dedicated SCRUM sprints
We rely on agile methods in our support to make projects efficient and transparent. We work partly according to SCRUM principles, which we have adapted slightly for our workflows.
So-called SCRUM sprints were introduced with the University of Erfurt in order to achieve as many goals as possible in a short space of time. These contain somewhat stricter workflow specifications compared to our regular sprints and were definitely a special feature for us.
In an intensive working environment, four developers and two product owners work together on several parts of the web project. In daily meetings with the university contacts and the university public, the results were reviewed and the efficiency of our development processes increased. With success!
Personal data maintenance with ORCID
ORCID offers an internationally recognized, unique personal identification number for scientists to use free of charge. With the help of this ID, the clear assignment of persons to their scientific achievements is facilitated, especially in the case of name or e-mail changes. Individuals now have full control over their own data and can improve the visibility and findability of their own research. At the University of Erfurt, this is primarily used to read a person's publications from ORCID and automatically output them using an interface developed by us.
Accessibility as a top priority
To ensure that all target groups can use the website to its full extent without any problems, the University of Erfurt has a strong focus on accessibility. The content and web development follows fixed rules to ensure this and to achieve the most accessible result possible. Numerous optimizations have therefore been made to the website in recent months.
To make searching in subsites clearer, for example, there is now a filter function that allows users to restrict their search to the specific area. This means that the results are no longer just pulled across websites and are easier to understand.
The training courses offered by the university also focus strongly on accessibility. This gives editors a basic understanding of the need for accessibility and allows content to be optimized accordingly.
Brand new: first-level support
The additional first-level support for the University of Erfurt is brand new. One of our employees is permanently integrated into the TYPO3 team at the University of Erfurt. On the one hand, support requests from editors at the university are processed via a ticket system. At the same time, the post also serves as an interface for support requests to in2code. This means that requests for the website can be submitted directly to the PO during the team's weekly jour fixes.
"As I am very familiar with TYPO3, it is a pleasure to be able to work in the TYPO3 team at the University of Erfurt. On the one hand, I can pass on my knowledge, but I can also continue to expand it. Especially in the project management area!"
