The ACO digitisation project for ACO Ahlmann SE & Co. KG
we care for water
ACO is an international company in the construction industry that manufactures and distributes its own products for numerous fields of application. These include building services, structural engineering, civil engineering, tunnelling, gardening and landscaping. The ACO Group is one of the world market leaders in drainage technology and takes a holistic approach to professional drainage, economical cleaning and controlled drainage or reuse of water.
As a global company, the ACO Group currently operates over 100 different websites. Operating these sites, keeping them technically up to date and at the same time developing them efficiently is our task and presents many challenges.
By skilfully selecting suitable components and making targeted use of TYPO3's strengths, we were able to work with ACO to develop a setup that makes this task manageable on a day-to-day basis. In doing so, we placed particular emphasis on the following aspects:
Efficiency:
When operating over 100 websites, synergies between the individual websites are not only desirable, but absolutely essential. For example, if a security update only has to be installed once rather than 100 times, the advantage of efficient planning and organisation quickly becomes clear. Most ACO websites use the same code base and can therefore share important core functionalities. This is not only cost-efficient in terms of development, but also in day-to-day operations.
Automation:
Repeatedly performing the same tasks is prone to errors. Therefore, tasks and processes that are performed repeatedly should be automated. At ACO, this is achieved through a complete continuous delivery setup.
Interfaces:
The ACO websites contain thousands of content pages. Filling these pages and keeping them up to date is a demanding task – especially in areas where product details, images, technical data, certificates and much more must be displayed correctly. That is why dkd has developed interfaces between TYPO3 and the third-party systems used at ACO. This means, for example, that all product data can be updated daily at the touch of a button without a product manager even needing access to the website's CMS.
Over the years, ACO has developed a highly efficient setup that meets the requirements of a global market leader.
Scope of servicesResponsive design, consulting, product search, product data import |
The technology behind itTYPO3 8.7 LTS, TYPO3 database, EPIM-Exports, HTML5, CSS, PHP |
ACO Building Services: Relaunch
Requirement:
For the building services relaunch, a new layout was to be integrated and optimised based on the existing technical foundation of the projects ACO Building Construction and ACO Civil Engineering projects. In addition, a product area was to be created with XML-based technology for product import. Further requirements included upgrading TYPO3 to 8.7 LTS and a number of technical and usability improvements.
Solution:
The layouts supplied by a third-party agency were integrated into the existing technical basis, supplemented in small parts and optimised.
Particular attention was paid to the integrated product area, which is supported by an XML-based product import technology so that all product data originates from the ACO PIM and is available on the website via a PIM export and TYPO3 import process.
As part of the relaunch, TYPO3 was upgraded to version 8.7 LTS and the existing wish list function was made dynamic, flexible and expandable. In addition, all kinds of technical and usability improvements were made.
https://www.aco-haustechnik.de
ACO Building Construction: Relaunch with EPIM product importer connection
Requirement:
The requirements for the relaunch of the website ACO Hochbau included not only new technical functions but also the transfer of functions that other ACO companies were already able to use. The basic technology and website layout of the relaunch is largely based on the ACO Tiefbau Gesellschaft website. In addition, the integration of further contact search extensions and all kinds of minor technical and usability improvements were required.
Solution:
The layout adjustments provided by a third-party agency were integrated into the existing technical basis, supplemented and optimised.
The most striking innovation is the product area, which will now be supplemented by an XML-based product import, so that all product data can be obtained directly from the ACO PIM.
This makes Hochbau the first of the ACO companies to take this major technical step and actively and productively use the previously developed XML importer technology. The Golden Master system used enables a centralised but content-independent view of the layouts, content elements and usability elements.
ACO Civil Engineering: Relaunch and product data import
Requirement:
Since all ACO civil engineering product data is maintained in a central product information system (PIM), this should be planned for and reused in the development of the website to avoid duplicating product maintenance efforts.
In addition, it was also desired to transfer the functionality from the previous website and to technically refactor and improve it for reuse in a modern TYPO3 system.
Solution:
The website was designed to be responsive based on TYPO3 8.7 LTS. A standardisation of ACO content elements and page templates was carried out, which will serve as the basis for future websites of other ACO companies. Appropriate consulting and provision of a domain model for product data in the TYPO3 CMS was also carried out. With the help of product data records from the TYPO3 database, TYPO3 pages and content elements can now be provided automatically. The integrated automatic product search function appears in a hierarchical display and includes extensive filter functions.
Product data was imported on the basis of EPIM exports and stored as TYPO3 data records. Throughout the entire project, the customer controlled the setup and management of the infrastructure as well as all deployment processes themselves.
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