Innovation and excellent research

Since 1388

The University of Cologne was looking for a central software solution to efficiently manage its diverse range of events and integrate it into its existing IT infrastructure.

© Alexander Savin, de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Pano-unikoeln-magnusplatz.jpg
Project
Converia Framework Contract
Client
University of Cologne
Facts
  • 30+ events
  • 2,500+ participants
  • 1,000+ papers submitted

Challenge

With around 50,000 students, the University of Cologne is the third largest university in Germany. It has also been one of Germany's Universities of Excellence since 2012 and is a leader in science and teaching, strengthened by numerous prestigious awards.

The events organised each year at the six faculties are diverse. They range from small workshops with ten participants to large conferences with four-digit numbers of participants.

The University of Cologne was looking for a centralised software solution to optimally manage all events. On one hand, it should be possible to integrate this into the university's IT infrastructure while also providing the option to centrally collect participation fees.

A customised solution for every requirement.

Tatjana Rahn, Customer & Web Support at the RRZK

Ready to start?

Use Converia to make your event a success!

Solution

Customized Hosting Solution

Converia is hosted within the university on the servers of the Regional Computing Centre of the University of Cologne (RRZK). The university thus retains full control over all stored data and can create events organised by university institutions in Converia at any time if required. Converia manages participant payments, allowing the university to offer credit card and PayPal payments as an option in addition to bank transfer.

Manage Users Easily

Members of the university use their university account to log in to Converia. This is made possible by an LDAP interface that can be used to connect existing user accounts to the system. It is therefore no longer necessary to create a separate Converia user account.

SAP Interface for Booking Data

The university uses the SAP ERP system to plan resources and control all processes in the various university departments. To enable SAP to utilise the booking data from Converia, a module was developed with which it can be easily exported.

Graphical Customization of the Software

Converia was adapted to the university's own corporate design so that the events are immediately recognisable as those of the University of Cologne. The typical colours and fonts of the university can therefore also be found when registering participants and submitting contributions.

Staying Flexible Until the End

Each of the events in the system has a fixed registration period. However, experience has shown that there are sometimes people who only arrive very late. This is not a problem in Converia: b4c & solutions can add participants to an event manually – even if the official deadline has already passed.