The customer

Endress+Hauser is a leading international supplier of measuring instruments, services and solutions for industrial process engineering.

The "People for Process Automation" offer complete solutions for flow, level, pressure, analysis, temperature, data acquisition and digital communication across all industries and guarantee reliable, safe, economical and environmentally friendly processes.

Headquartered in Reinach near Basel, the Group employs more than 14,000 people worldwide. Its own sales centers and a network of partners ensure competent support worldwide. Product Centers in twelve countries meet customer requirements quickly and flexibly.

The project

The aim of this project was to bring the business processes mapped in IBM Notes into Microsoft SharePoint. innobit supported the Swiss group of companies and helped them to find and implement a suitable platform for creating processes and forms in the Microsoft environment: skybow.

The path to the skybow solution

It was already clear in 2017 that the approximately 1,000 databases contained in IBM Notes would be given a new home. Depending on the process, they were to be transferred to different target platforms. 28 of the databases would find their new home as "SharePoint Solutions" in the Digital Workplace(see reference "Digital Workplace introduction at Endress+Hauser"). Endress+Hauser commissioned innobit AG with the relocation planning and support, relying on an experienced partner with whom the measurement technology specialist had already worked on other IT projects. After an initial joint workshop and a detailed evaluation of different solution variants that enable the mapping of form-based processes, innobit presented its ideas. Endress+Hauser opted for the Swiss provider skybow. The skybow solution impresses with an easy-to-use development interface and a unique versioning and deployment process, making it the ideal framework for building Endress+Hauser's SharePoint solutions.

The implementation

The implementation was carried out in close partnership between innobit and Endress+Hauser - from the conception to the implementation of the skybow platform. The first SharePoint solutions were set up by innobit, while at the same time ensuring a constant transfer of knowledge. In the meantime, the IT specialists at Endress+Hauser have largely taken over the development of new SharePoint solutions themselves. The application development with skybow, the skybow framework and the resulting SharePoint solutions are very well received by the employees: The solution is simple, intuitive and offers a wide range of options. Endress+Hauser IT has even completely implemented the process for managing new requests for additional SharePoint solutions in skybow.

innobit ag is a partner at eye level. We are very satisfied with the professional project management from conception to the final product. We maintain a trusting and cooperative relationship with the innobit consultants, which makes the collaboration very pleasant. With skybow, we also have exactly the right product for our needs: simple, intuitive and versatile. And even after the solution has been implemented, we can count on innobit's support at all times!

Dieter Jauslin

Expert Digital Workplace at Endress+Hauser Flow

innobit Consulting Service

Now that all the old IBM Notes processes have been moved to the Microsoft world and the Notes infrastructure has been shut down, Endress+Hauser continues to expand its SharePoint Solutions offering. The application possibilities of skybow are diverse and the demand is growing. Endress+Hauser now has a toolbox team that is responsible for the skybow environment and is setting up the SharePoint Solutions. Even now, in daily business, the toolbox team is happy to rely on the expert consultants from innobit. In close coordination and with regular exchange meetings, the innobit colleagues also advise the Endress+Hauser Toolbox team on the new SharePoint solutions and provide support with conception and implementation.

skybow - The solution

With the Solution Studio, skybow offers a development environment for power users that makes it possible to implement business applications (at Endress+Hauser the "SharePoint Solutions") quickly and easily in SharePoint Online. With skybow it is possible to configure automatic processes without development know-how. A major advantage of the skybow framework is that later end users do not notice in the interface that they are no longer using the SharePoint functional scope.

This keeps training costs to a minimum, avoids disruptions within the processes and experienced users still have a powerful tool in the background with which they can make adjustments.