Provision of the Service Platform Retail for the VW Group

Client: CARIAD

Project: Provision of the SPR platform for VW Group subsidiaries

Services: Cloud infrastructure, software architecture, platform operation, 24/7 support, consulting

Technologies: Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, GitOps, Jenkins, Docker, terraform, Vault, Grafana, EFK Stack

Methods: Scrum, SAFe

Development period: 2015 - today

Platform engineering becomes increasingly important as companies rely more and more on integrated technology platforms to increase their efficiency and enable seamless interaction between different applications and systems. By using automated processes, specific methods and tools, autonomous teams are enabled to work in an agile way that is both cost-efficient and timesaving.

In cooperation with CARIAD, jambit provides such a technology platform as an internal developer platform with the "Service Platform Retail (SPR)". A wide variety of applications can be developed and operated on this platform. The vision at the start of the project for SPR was to become the exclusive platform for developers in the sales and after-sales domains.

Successes at a glance

Platform development for automated processes

As a software brand of the Volkswagen Group, CARIAD combines cross-brand digital developments across various software platforms. The SPR platform forms the basis for standardizing the developer platforms across the Group in sales and after-sales.

For this, developer teams are provided with an automated, highly available, scalable platform based on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The platform enables the development of business services that offer a more consistent and higher quality client experience. Barriers are removed and networking between different services and participants is strongly simplified.

To make it easier for developer teams to get started in AWS, sample applications, a self-service portal for developers, automatically generated build pipelines and examples of automated tests are developed.

Tools for deployment, monitoring and logging are provided to enable the subsequent operation of the applications. Thanks to the high degree of automation and the use of suitable open-source tools such as Kubernetes, the resulting platform now serves as a basis for several hundred developers without much additional effort.

The platform always stays up to date through the help of modern technologies

The development of the open cloud platform SPR represents a major milestone in the area of platform engineering. An open platform means that users can select the right cloud solution for their use case from the range provided and implement their own extensions.

Since the start of the project, jambit succeeded in replacing existing, now obsolete technologies with new ones. The best example of this is the replacement of Jenkins with GitHub Actions and GitOps.

In addition, more and more DevOps principles are used and introduced. This introduction is also measured and tracked by using the DORA metrics. jambit didn’t only introduce DevOps in its own team, but also supports and advises the developer teams in this area.

Long history with Audi

The project started over ten years ago at Audi with the intention of improving the time-to-market and total cost of ownership for digital services and applications. At the same time, markets, dealers, clients, and OEMs should be seamlessly connected.

When jambit joined in 2015, the rough process was demonstrated in a one-year pilot phase. Since going live in 2017, the platform has been in continuous operation. The infrastructure developed continuously, iteratively, and gradually.

To this day, jambit is responsible for the continuous operation and further development, including regular updates of the entire platform, and is on hand to advise the client team. Thanks to 24/7 support, jambit ensures smooth operation around the clock. And in the event of an unexpected malfunction, the team can react quickly and resolve the problems.

Over the years, jambit worked with us to develop a group-wide product on which a large number of sales and aftersales services run and of which we can be proud. jambit didn't only advise us with its excellent expertise, but also integrated the joint ideas together with us into a very stable, scalable product."
Andreas Reich, Business Owner Identity Kit und Business Owner Service Platform, CARIAD SE

Successful continuation at CARIAD - a true software powerhouse

In the meantime, sister company CARIAD took over responsibility from Audi. The Volkswagen subsidiary is responsible for the software development of the relevant digitalization topics in the vehicle and its environment within the Group.

Furthermore, CARIAD develops the relevant vehicle-related cloud platforms for the VW Group. Here, SPR on AWS provides the target platform for all sales and aftersales-related applications. Key clients include One.Shop, myAudi, Audi Bordbuch and Function on Demand.

The long-standing cooperation with jambit in this project is a perfect example of how jambit works agile in platform development and supports its clients around the clock.

Successes at a glance:

Successful go live of SPR in 2017 as a part of the IAA.
With the introduction of SPR, a platform has been established that has been running stably for 6 years.
Enables applications to adapt dynamically to the market and therefore very fast time-to-market.
No downtimes despite ongoing conversions.
The agile way of working that jambit uses for this project is very rare and difficult to implement in platform projects.
Automated problem resolution within a very short time.
Our 24/7 service is used a maximum of 1-2 times a year.
Further development and operation by a team of 10 cloud engineers.
Scaling the number of users to several hundred developers without having to expand your own platform team.

Download now: Our jambit Innovation Story "CARIAD"