On 9 July 2020, following an extensive relaunch, the Saarland’s new portal went live with just under 70,000 pieces of content spread across a total of around 135 individual portals. The IT service provider Materna, acting as the main contractor, implemented the modern and user-centred website at www.saarland.de quickly and agilely. The website for the Saarland state administration is based on the new open-source system from Government Site Builders (GSB 10).
Following the migration of the Schleswig-Holstein state portal, Materna has now successfully launched its second state portal on GSB 10 with the Saarland. Within just twelve months, the IT service provider carried out the design and technical implementation of the web project, which had previously been put out to tender across Europe. Even before the full relaunch went live on 9 July, Materna had already implemented the Saarland State Government’s special COVID-19 page – which had been added to the project – on GSB 10.1 by the end of March.
Structured and valuable content for website visitors and GSB editors
The Saarland State Portal offers cross-departmental information about the state and its people, an overview of politics and administration, and access to the extensive range of services provided by all Saarland ministries and subordinate authorities. Numerous thematic portals, as well as a total of 46 government agency portals – including eight ministries – are now all brought together under one roof. Many useful applications have been seamlessly integrated into the state portal, such as the online police station, the school database and the search for participating organisations for the Saarland Volunteer Card. External links, such as timetable enquiries and a calendar of events for the entire region, the careers portal featuring public sector job vacancies in Saarland, and RSS feeds from the police and Saar University, round off the online offering. Over the coming years, the website will be gradually further developed whilst remaining live.
Thanks to a new version of the GSB Editor, GSB 10.1 also simplifies the work of editors. Among other things, the editor includes keyboard shortcuts, multi-select, enhanced drag-and-drop functionality and convenient provision of all relevant image sizes. A dedicated image search function ensures that images can be easily managed and retrieved. Furthermore, Materna has provided additional helpful tools as part of the project. Wizards can be used to create new navigation points or image galleries, populate pages with various modules, or set up new government and topic-based portals in a matter of minutes.
Data protection-compliant social media wall and push notifications
For the first time, site visitors can use a personal user account to subscribe not only to media updates and newsletters, but also to push notifications relating to their areas of interest. Furthermore, the Saarland’s social media channels have been integrated in accordance with the highest data protection standards. Materna has developed its own solution which enables most social media content to be accessed via the portal without establishing a connection between users and the social media platforms.
Materna managed the web project as the main contractor
The implementation of the new state portal involved drawing up a concept, developing modern, target-group-oriented overall structures, linking modern distribution channels, and ensuring a multilingual, accessible design. Materna took on the overall management and technical design of the project. The website’s design and layout were created by the FBO agency in Saarbrücken.
In addition to implementing the web project, Materna was responsible for system roll-out, training over 200 users across the departments, operation and hosting, as well as support. Furthermore, the IT service provider operates a service desk for the continuous monitoring of the system. Hosting takes place in the BSI-certified data centre of noris network AG, which specialises in the operation of high-performance, scalable and fail-safe web solutions.
Open Source GSB 10 for regional and local authorities
Materna has developed the new website based on the latest GSB version 10.1. GSB 10 is the first product line of the federal government’s CMS solution to be based entirely on open-source components. Since June 2018, public authorities and federal administration bodies have been able to use GSB 10 free of licence fees. Just over a year ago, Materna implemented the first public sector websites using GSB 10 for the German Science Council and the German Pension Insurance (DRV). Under the so-called ‘Kiel Resolutions’, GSB 10 can also be used by federal states and local authorities. With experience gained from over 200 successfully implemented GSB projects in the public sector and comparable references, Materna is a qualified IT service provider for the implementation of large and complex public sector websites.
