SavoirsPlus makes its information system more reliable with Blueway

SavoirsPlus is a worker cooperative (Scop) specializing in the distribution of educational supplies to schools, parent-teacher associations, public institutions… For several years, Synolia has supported SavoirsPlus in its digital transformation and the consolidation of its information system. In 2024 alone, the cooperative switched ERPs (Infor M3), launched a new e-commerce site powered by OroCommerce, integrated HubSpot CRM, upgraded its Akeneo PIM… and it didn’t stop there! In this case study, you will see how SavoirsPlus carried out a series of major projects to overhaul the applications in its information system. Against this backdrop, the cooperative wanted to secure its information system and make it more reliable with a new data integration solution. Another project delivered with Synolia x Blueway!

A growing number of business applications and a data security challenge

The SavoirsPlus cooperative has nearly 150 employee-members committed to expanding access to knowledge. Specializing in school supplies (books, stationery, arts and crafts, games and toys…), it serves public institutions (schools and recreation centers) as well as parent-teacher associations and parents through its new site, monkitscolaire.fr.

Beyond its two e-commerce sites, SavoirsPlus runs many business applications in its information system. Starting with a PIM (Akeneo) that we deployed in 2020, along with a new ERP (Infor M3), HubSpot CRM (currently being implemented), and applications for business intelligence, telephony, transportation, accounting, e-commerce, logistics, suppliers… As its information system evolved, and especially with the new ERP connected to HubSpot, SavoirsPlus wanted to build data flows between these two solutions.

Exchanging data between the ERP and the CRM meant upgrading the ETL in place at SavoirsPlus. But since the solution was obsolete and no longer maintained by its vendor, the IT team asked management to implement a new, more modern and secure data integration solution with a service-oriented architecture.

The SavoirsPlus brief

A modern data integration solution to secure the SavoirsPlus information system and make it more reliable.

For Synolia, SavoirsPlus is a special customer. We have supported the cooperative for several years in implementing the many business applications that make up its information system. The cooperative also has an in-house IT team with deep expertise in its system architecture and in security. For years, we have enjoyed working with them to continuously modernize their information system and improve the quality of their services.

After delivering several projects for its business teams, SavoirsPlus now aims to maintain a solid, sustainable information system. At the same time, business teams keep requesting new data and new reliable exchanges between tools.

But how do you guarantee reliable data when the company’s ETL is no longer maintained, cannot communicate with APIs, and data flows are limited?

Synolia x Blueway

In late 2023, David Asseray discovered the Blueway ESB through the Synolia blog. He was interested in the potential of this PaaS solution. The vendor is French, and the solution, built on a service-oriented architecture, had already been proven by many companies. On top of that, SavoirsPlus trusts Synolia and its solution choices, so…

Our services for SavoirsPlus: information system assessment, consulting, specification and versioning workshops, definition of the data flows and target architecture, solution implementation, and technical support in run mode.

An application bus to simplify flow management

For the SavoirsPlus team, the ESB is a small revolution in the information system, since it allows business applications to evolve without impacting every flow in the system. It also makes it easy to handle load increases (by creating new flows) during peak periods.

It took Synolia and the SavoirsPlus IT team just a few months to define the flows, co-design the target architecture, begin phasing out the old ETL, and set up Blueway. This project ran in parallel with the implementation of the new ERP and HubSpot CRM, and the rollout of the monkitscolaire.fr site. Synolia and SavoirsPlus therefore had to be highly adaptable to handle the priority flows around these solutions. After that, further exchanges were set up between the PIM, e-commerce, and all logistics and external supplier applications.

Many flows serving every business team

The SavoirsPlus IT team was eagerly awaiting this data integration project. With Blueway, it works more efficiently when implementing each new business application and is building its skills in designing and managing flows across the information system.

In total, we mapped and qualified 50 flows connecting a dozen solutions in the SavoirsPlus information system.

Today, the SavoirsPlus IT team works hand in hand with the business teams to analyze any anomalies in production and continuously improve data exchanges. Every team benefits from reliable, near real-time data. For example:

• Customer service and sales reps, with data flowing from the ERP and the e-commerce site into the CRM (project in progress)
• Logistics, with the WMS flows
• Etc.

The results…

With Blueway, SavoirsPlus aims to achieve operational excellence, with as few data gaps as possible. The information system built around the ESB follows a continuous improvement approach, with increasingly reliable data.