Europcar Austria, ARAC GmbH, is a subsidiary of Porsche Bank AG and thus part of Porsche Holding Salzburg. ARAC GmbH manages car rental locations throughout Austria as a franchisee of the Europcar Mobility Group and employs around 100 people.
Bump in the road
Europcar Austria faced the challenge of optimizing their trip management. The company manages approximately 15,000 pickup and delivery services annually, along with more than 800 transfer services as part of their car rental mobility services. Until now, these data were recorded via SharePoint lists, which led to dissatisfaction and data inconsistencies due to technical limitations. The existing solution could no longer meet the recent requirements regarding data volumes and filtering options.
To improve the user-friendliness and transparency of the application and to avoid future limitations, it was necessary to implement a new, scalable solution with more automation and optimized usability.
We are excited about the new, scalable solution that perfectly meets our requirements.” – Josef Herzog, IT Manager at Europcar Austria, ARAC GmbH
Power Platform to the rescue
For this challenge, Macaw utilized components of the Microsoft Power Platform. The process began with workshops to define the requirements, design and plan the user experience, and create prototypes to ensure the solution met the users’ needs.
The technical implementation focused on three main areas:
Backend
- Database solution: Microsoft Dataverse was chosen as the database solution due to its extensive functionality and native integration with the Power Platform.
- Entities and views: Twelve entities were created and supplemented with custom views and business rules to ensure a robust data structure.
- Security concept: Security requirements were ensured by a detailed security concept and the creation of detailed security roles and column security profiles.
Frontend
- Model-driven app: The application was developed as a model-driven app, consisting of various sections, levels, and forms for data entry and management.
- Business rules and JavaScript: Business rules and JavaScript control the forms and their fields, while security roles restrict visibility to specific sections.
- Visualization: PCF components enhance the visual presentation of various datasets, and the command bar was streamlined by removing unnecessary actions and supplemented with JS web resources for billing logic.
Automations
- Power Automate: Power Automate was used to implement notifications and exports.
- Notifications and exports: Reminders for pending tasks and personalized exports were developed, focusing on the generation and sending of billing documents.
- FetchXML transformations: Complex FetchXML transformations bundle the data, which is then inserted into custom document templates and sent to the responsible departments.
“The collaboration with the project team was excellent and significantly contributed to the successful implementation of the Power Platform. The efficiency improvement and automation have resulted in a significant optimization of processes and maximum user-friendliness. We are excited about the new, scalable solution that perfectly meets our requirements.” – Josef Herzog, IT Manager at Europcar Austria, ARAC GmbH
Full throttle towards efficiency
The result of these efforts is a robust, future-proof, model-driven application that stands out for its ease of use and the significant reduction in manual work. The use of Dataverse eliminates storage limits and allows large amounts of data to be managed seamlessly. Clear and customizable views provide an improved user experience, and structured forms make data entry and management easier. Business rules guide user interaction and reduce errors in data entry, ensuring an audit-proof billing process.
Due to the intuitive setup of views, tables, and forms, time-consuming manual processes have been reduced to 1-click actions. The previously manual billing process has been reduced to interaction with a few UI elements, leading to a significant reduction in manual labor and approval processes. Custom security roles ensure data protection, and features such as exports or automated notifications complete the solution.
The implementation led to significant cost reductions, uniform availability of the application at the point of sale (POS), and automation of billing processes, connecting all stakeholders directly.
Discover how Macaw can help you optimize your business processes with custom-made solutions based on Microsoft Power Platform. Contact us and start your digital transformation!
