With 248 modern container ships, a transport volume of 1.8 million TEU (standard containers) per year and around 14,000 employees in 137 countries, Hapag-Lloyd AG is one of the largest liner shipping companies in international container transport. With their modern ships, they transport food, textiles, high-tech, vital medicines, as well as machinery and spare parts. They also transport goods that do not fit into conventional containers. These include trains and large machines, for example. The liner shipping company, with its headquarters in Hamburg, connects the entire world with its extensive liner network. The fleet operates around the clock and serves all major world ports.
At Hapag-Lloyd, cloud-based products are in demand from different departments - with an increasing trend. According to a defined structure and fixed standards, a new cloud-based system is brought from the first step to live operation. The variety of cloud providers on the market is extremely large. To ensure compliance with legal requirements, internal policies and data protection guidelines, etc., a number of internal company stakeholders are involved in the cloud governance process. Prior to the implementation of the project, applications for a new cloud product were regulated via e-mail traffic and the necessary documents were regulated on a document filing system for review. To simplify the process and reporting, a regulated Jira process with a suitable knowledge base was to provide relief.
Two employees of neusta enterprise services have taken over the process coordination for this project. The activities include the definition of use cases and processes, the formulation of requirements for the implementation and the subsequent testing of the functions. The technical implementation and introduction of Jira and Confluence was carried out by the sister company neusta inspire.
A Jira workflow was set up for the application of cloud services and the associated approval workflows. The developers at neusta inspire were also able to automate some workflow steps in Jira, which simplified the process. The close cooperation between the colleagues of the team-neusta companies led to quick results, as test results and further change requests were responded to promptly.
Parallel to this, a Confluence knowledge base was set up in which all content, instructions and checklists were documented. This ensured optimal access for employees. The Jira processes and tickets were also mapped to Confluence.
In order to increase the acceptance of the system among the users, regular coordination rounds were convened with the stakeholders and feedback was obtained. With the help of workshops, users were familiarized with the system, which increased acceptance and ensured safe use.
The Jira process enables cloud deployments to be better managed. Automated processes ensure faster processing of requests and guarantee a smooth workflow as well as the integration of all necessary stakeholders in the process. Monitoring and reporting of current requests, processing status, and all cloud solutions already deployed is automated and near real-time with the introduction of Jira and Confluence.
After the introduction, the process continued to be supported by neusta and expanded with new functions and process steps. New process participants were also integrated. In the next step, further plans will be made to further automate the process and to couple it with other tools.
Cover photo: Hapag-Lloyd AG
