German State Modernizes Citizen Experience with Open Source Platform
The German state of Baden-Württemberg consolidated its web presence into an innovative open source solution using TYPO3 to better connect with constituents.
German State’s Open Source Transformation Unites Web Presence and Constituents
The German state of Baden-Württemberg had a vision to transform its outdated online presence into an innovative flagship; a model for modern governance in both form and function.
In 2012, the state faced fragmented proprietary systems, soaring licensing costs, and disjointed experiences. Seeking an innovative solution to consolidate systems and better connect with constituents, the Ministry of State issued a competitive bid that same year.
After a thorough review, the state selected agency ressourcenmangel to lead a digital transformation built on TYPO3. The Ministry of State felt that ressourcenmangel best understood the project goals, proposed the optimal solution, and offered the best economic value to achieve their objectives.
Leveraging TYPO3, ressourcenmangel consolidated over a dozen ministry websites into a unified content management system (CMS). This consolidation also involved implementing a completely new visual brand identity and real-time public participation capabilities. The successful new website launched in 2013 and continued to be improved and upgraded over the next decade.
Consolidating Systems and Content for Consistency
The state government previously used a mix of proprietary CMS solutions across its web presence. This fractured landscape made it difficult to share and distribute content, leading to duplicated efforts and inconsistent experiences.
By consolidating all 12 legacy ministry websites and 2 new flagship platforms into a unified TYPO3 instance, ressourcenmangel established a centralized CMS. This enabled simplified administration through reusable components and standardized templates across properties.
Custom integrations bridged website frontends to backend systems, creating a seamless visitor experience regardless of which site users accessed. In addition, the content consolidation involved setting up Solr enterprise search and unified information architecture for improved discoverability.
The consolidated content approach also supported the launch of a centralized state news portal, automatically aggregating articles and press releases published across all agency websites. The portal proved especially useful during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The TYPO3 implementation has expanded over time to now power 16 government websites across shared infrastructure. Updates to the TYPO3 core maintain the ecosystem while intelligent caching and clustered hosting maximize performance and scale. Most recently, in 2022, the TYPO3 core was updated from v9 to v11.
Crafting Modern, Mobile-First Design for Government
In 2012, government sites had a reputation for being outdated, text-heavy, and not optimized for mobile users. For the relaunch, ressourcenmangel focused on contemporary style and visual storytelling that would appeal to constituents across devices.
Magazine-style layouts with large images, white space, immersive visualizations, and responsive templates provided a modern upgrade that ranked Baden-Württemberg among the best online presences in state government.
The new Baden-Württemberg.de also introduced user experience upgrades like in-page navigation, iconography, and entry points to social media. These touches mirrored trends in commercial sector sites for a public-facing experience that set a new bar for German governance.
Enabling Resident and Citizen Engagement
Core to the project was enabling direct public participation channels between constituents and state leadership. Using TYPO3, ressourcenmangel built an integrated civic participation portal from the ground up.
The platform included standard features like comments and surveys, plus integrations for gathering public input. The portal enables citizens to make their voices heard by commenting on proposed legislation and government initiatives. They can also make suggestions directly to state leaders on issues they care about while learning everything they need to know about civic participation and the democratic process.
Since 2012, ressourcenmangel has integrated new features to maintain and improve engagement across Baden-Württemberg's flagship sites, including publishing the law gazette through a custom extension in January 2024.
Building Modern Public Service Platforms for the Future
ressourcenmangel understood the state’s needs and built a custom TYPO3 platform oriented towards scalability and sustainability. The goal was a system poised to evolve with emerging technologies. Now, more than a decade later, TYPO3 remains core to one of Germany’s most innovative and recognizable state government web presences—positioned to expand e-services well into the future.
In 2023, the system was migrated to an even more modern, scalable infrastructure to handle increased traffic and maintain top-notch performance. As the state gears up for a site-wide redesign, the success of the initial 2012 project continues opening possibilities for digital governance.
The project’s success was recognized with prestigious awards including the DMMA Online Star, the Econ Award, and the German Award for Online Communication. TYPO3’s open architecture provides endless possibilities for digital experiences.
TYPO3 for the Public Sector
TYPO3 is a trusted partner of government agencies worldwide. From being the backbone of over 30% of the German government's digital infastructure, to supporting governments in the developing world, public sector partners value TYPO3's security, accessibility, and high-performance. To find out more about how TYPO3 is supporting public sector agencies, be sure to learn more about how TYPO3 can serve your needs.
Are you interested in building your organization's next web project with TYPO3. Working with an Official Partner is the best way to ensure the websites you build deliver their anticipated results, and create a secure, collaborative environment where teams can thrive. Find out more about our partners and their areas of expertise.
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