Case Study:
Ranking-Wiki.de

Customer

The Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK) is a prestigious organization representing the state and state-recognized universities in Germany. It plays a pivotal role in shaping higher education policy and serves as a platform for exchange between member universities. With 268 member institutions, accounting for over 92 percent of all students in Germany, the HRK occupies a central leadership position in the discussion and development of strategies affecting higher education and research at the tertiary level. It represents the interests of its member institutions on both national and international stages, advocating for the advancement of higher education in areas such as internationalization, research funding, and educational innovation.

Project

The Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK) faced the challenge of creating an effective medium for collaboratively collecting and distributing information as well as best practice examples for participation in international university rankings. This platform aimed to assist HRK members in strategically improving their positions in global rankings, a complex task given the diversity and varying levels of ranking experience among the institutions represented.

The primary goal of the project was to develop a user-friendly, centralized, and interactive tool that facilitates the exchange of insights and strategies among member universities. Challenges included managing the volume and diversity of data, and designing an intuitive and easily accessible platform that even less tech-savvy users could navigate. Additionally, the new platform needed to offer efficient planning for events and meetings, and keep members informed about important updates and best practices.

Implementation

For the HRK project, CosmoCode developed a solution based on DokuWiki, a flexible and adaptable open-source wiki system. DokuWiki allows for easy creation, editing, and organizing of content, making it easier for HRK members to share and find information. The platform was specially tailored to the HRK's requirements, with additional features to maximize user-friendliness and value for members.

A notable feature of this solution is the customized design template, aligned with the HRK's visual identity in close consultation with the organization. This ensures a consistent user experience and reinforces the HRK’s brand identity in the digital space.

Structured pre-planning of page content and navigation makes the wiki more user-friendly, which is crucial for efficient information sharing and retrieval. Additional functionalities, such as a simple calendar with notification mechanisms, were implemented to ease the planning and participation in relevant events. This feature allows members to set, edit, and track appointments, and receive reminder emails enabled by the Struct Notification Plugin.

Challenges such as seamless integration of the event calendar and the creation of new appointments were addressed with the Bureaucracy Plugin. This plugin simplifies administrative data management through user-friendly, form-based entries and management options.

An additional plugin was developed to ensure data protection compliance when analyzing usage. This plugin includes a cookie banner to actively obtain user consent for data collection, thus ensuring the HRK wiki complies with data privacy regulations and collects data only after explicit user consent.

CosmoCode not only developed and customized the DokuWiki for the German Rectors' Conference but also provides hosting services for the platform. This includes regular backups and updates to ensure data security and the system's stability and currency. This comprehensive support ensures reliable and performant use of the wiki by members.

With these technical solutions and customizations, CosmoCode was able to create a robust, user-friendly, and compliance-secure platform for the HRK and its members.