{"id":15503,"date":"2024-09-02T18:35:12","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T16:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opensource-experience.com\/?p=15503"},"modified":"2024-09-02T18:35:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T16:35:13","slug":"use-case-xwiki-x-the-karlsruhe-institute-of-technology-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opensource-experience.com\/en\/2024\/09\/02\/use-case-xwiki-x-the-karlsruhe-institute-of-technology-kit\/","title":{"rendered":"Use Case : XWiki x The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past 15 years, KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) has seen a significant increase in the costs associated with its existing documentation management solution. They have also encountered maintenance difficulties. The problem worsened with the announcement of a compulsory migration to another cloud platform incompatible with KIT’s local integration needs.
\nFaced with maintenance costs becoming unsustainable, KIT explored alternatives and chose XWiki<\/a> for its open source nature, efficient migration tools, and the technical support provided, enabling a smooth and successful transition. Discover this exciting case study from XWiki, Silver Sponsor of the Open Source Experience 2024.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

About The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)<\/a> is one of the largest research centers in Europe, being the only German university that combines a long university tradition with large-scale national research. The institution has a strong focus on energy system transformation, climate and resource protection, mobility and transportation, as well as data and information.<\/strong><\/p>\n

KIT is renowned for its numerous inventors and entrepreneurs who studied or taught there: Karl Benz, the inventor of the first self-propelled automobile, Heinrich Hertz,\u00a0who first conclusively proved the existence of the\u00a0electromagnetic waves,\u00a0<\/strong>Emil von \u0160koda,\u00a0founder of\u00a0\u0160koda Works, the predecessor of today’s\u00a0\u0160koda Auto\u00a0and\u00a0\u0160koda Transportation, and many more. Professors and alumni have received 6 Nobel Prizes and 10 Leibniz Prizes, the latter being Europe’s most prestigious and well-funded award.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Context of the project<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Over the past 15 years, KIT faced escalating costs and maintenance challenges with Confluence. The critical turning point came when Atlassian announced the mandatory migration to their cloud platform, which was incompatible with KIT’s extensive on-premises integrations needs, including their local databases like Jira for IT system insights and GIT repositories. These integrations were crucial for maintaining a single source of truth, preventing documentation discrepancies that could arise from data being stored in multiple, potentially unsynchronized systems.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the price for maintaining their Confluence instance became financially unfeasible, leading KIT to explore alternative tools. After a thorough evaluation of options on the market, which included a detailed analysis of macros compatibility and integrations through APIs, XWiki was chosen as the optimal solution. XWiki’s open-source nature, combined with its ready-to-use Confluence Migrator (Pro)<\/a>,\u00a0and the technical consulting offered by\u00a0XWiki’s highly competent Client team, enabled KIT to migrate and transition to the new solution in a seamless and timely manner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What were KIT’s Needs?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The KIT team required a solution that could provide a robust Data Management System (DMS) that integrates seamlessly with their existing infrastructure while offering granular access controls. The new solution had to be able to:<\/p>\n