DEVWARE developed a digital member portal as a PWA for Sternenzauber & Frühchenwunder e.V. to optimize communication, task management, and association processes.
Sternenzauber & Frühchenwunder e.V. supports parents and other family members. When a pregnancy doesn't last 40 weeks, but the little miracle sets out on its journey into life far too early, or when that journey ends before it has even begun, the volunteer work of Sternenzauber & Frühchenwunder e.V. begins. The association now supplies around 400 hospitals, midwives, bereavement photographers, gynecologists, and funeral directors across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Luxembourg, which calls for a fair amount of organization. From warehousing to donation management to marketing, volunteers dedicate countless hours to this project.
Since the registered association Sternenzauber & Frühchenwunder e.V. had previously organized its communication and administration through Facebook groups, the decision was made to develop a digital member portal for association digitalization that centrally bundles processes, communication, and tasks. This platform was designed primarily to collect and store all information, as well as to clearly present the results of meetings and other discussions. A Kanban board for task management was also to be developed. An integrated chat function allows members to quickly and easily exchange initial information. To ensure users could make optimal use of the platform on all devices, the decision was made to implement it as a PWA.
During the requirements phase, the relevant functional and non-functional requirements were discussed in several sessions, and initial ideas were exchanged. DEVWARE GmbH documented and structured this gathered information, resulting in the first version of a high-level concept covering the core functions of the application to be developed.
A test environment was set up for the PWA, and the association's project members were given access to the DevOps project. In parallel with the initial development steps, the high-level concept was progressively refined and iteratively aligned. Thanks to the previously agreed sprint meetings held every 14 days, feedback from the client could be gathered and implemented directly.
The application went through an iterative unit testing phase. In addition, test plans were created for each iteration, written by DEVWARE GmbH, used for testing, and communicated to the client along with their results. Thanks to extensive testing, the error rate was kept low, which in turn allowed the project to progress significantly faster than planned.
Thanks to agile project management, the project was completed faster than agreed. The web application was hosted on Microsoft Azure, with DEVWARE also carrying out the deployment process. In parallel, documentation was handed over to the client, covering the following documents:
• Source code documentation
• User documentation
• Administration documentation
• .NET Core
• C#
• ASP.NET Blazor: Frontend
• ASP.NET WebAPI
• SQL database
• Hosting via Microsoft Azure
The new member portal is now available to Sternenzauber & Frühchenwunder e.V. and meets all the requirements set out for it. Members have embraced the portal, leading to further phases with new features being commissioned and already implemented.
„How do you build a web app when the client, meaning me, opens the conversation with:
„We'd like a really great car. But it's fine as long as it gets finished, it doesn't need a high-end trim.“
We got our perfect car.
„There were a few challenging moments along the way, but by now I know what a frontend or backend is.“
We always felt well taken care of by Mr. Walter, who knew how to give us advice without promising us flying unicorns.
Open, honest, always friendly, and above all customer-oriented communication defined our collaboration.
„Thank you so much for that.“
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