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Amnesty International Germany

Tailored and flexible intranet and knowledge base for Amnesty International Germany, integrated with SSO and Salesforce

XWiki
Client Amnesty International logo featuring its name and a candle wrapped in barbed wire on yellow. Visit their website
Location
GermanyGlobal
Size
10000 users
Hosting Cloud

Industries

Public Sector

Usecases

Knowledge Base, Intranet

Services

Custom development

Requirements

Interactive intranet integrated with an external identity provider to manage access & permissions

With over 60 years of advocacy for human rights, Amnesty International is a global organization committed to upholding and defending the rights of individuals worldwide with a presence in over 150 countries. It focuses on a broad range of critical human rights issues, including freedom of expression, protection against torture, abolition of the death penalty, and the rights of refugees aacnd migrants. Through passionate work and the involvement of millions of members and volunteers, Amnesty International has played a vital role in freeing prisoners of conscience, shaping international legislation, and mobilizing global action for justice and equality.

KnowledgeBase Consulting, in collaboration with XWiki SAS, is honored to support Amnesty International Germany by providing the technical solution needed so that its members can further advance their mission.

The context

As an organization deeply rooted in volunteer-driven collaboration, Amnesty International Germany sought a collaborative knowledge management solution that reflected their values of openness, adaptability, and shared ownership. They were familiar with tools like Typo3 but were actively looking for more suitable alternatives that could also serve a large user base, offer flexibility, and remain affordable.

They considered multiple options and were ultimately drawn to XWiki after comparing options online and testing the tool easily through a local installation. The flexibility, cost-efficiency, and open-source community support made XWiki stand out. Their confidence in the solution grew when KnowledgeBase Consulting demonstrated how the solution could meet their evolving technical and organizational requirements. This made it the clear choice for building a dynamic, volunteer-driven intranet.

KnowledgeBase Consulting (KBC) is a trusted XWiki SAS Premium Partner that specializes in consulting and supporting German organizations leveraging XWiki. They assist clients with selecting the best wiki solution, handling installation, administration, and employee training, whether on premises or in the cloud. Furthermore, they also offer customized development to meet specific needs and long-term technical support. Given KBC’s proven reliability and expertise, XWiki SAS entrusted them with the lead on this project, confident that the collaboration would be in capable and reliable hands.

Needs

Amnesty International Germany had a specific set of needs from the new knowledge base and intranet tool, namely:

  • Creating an interactive knowledge base for the members of Amnesty International Germany

  • Providing a toolbox that allows the organization to build the intranet according to specific and evolving needs

  • Implementing a knowledge management system for numerous users, enabling fast and easy access to information

  • Integrating with an external identity provider to manage access and permissions

  • Facilitating a process-based interface to Salesforce CRM, critical for organizational workflows

  • Allowing users to edit their own profiles and search for other users

  • Including features to inform users about updates to blogs, news channels, and newsletters

  • Presenting a clear overview of planned events and custom forms for registration and participation

The solution

The solution proposed by XWiki's Premium Partner, KBC, was designed to be flexible, collaborative, and technically robust and consisted of:

  1. Deployment of a cloud-hosted XWiki instance, managed and supported by XWiki SAS

  2. Monthly alignment meetings between KBC and Amnesty International Germany to clarify requirements, adjust priorities, review progress, and plan next steps

  3. Training the client's Project Manager, equipping them with the technical skills and tools needed to work independently and further customize and maintain the wiki

  4. Development of a process-dependent interface to Salesforce CRM

  5. Implementation of a playground subwiki, where KBC and Amnesty International Germany could iteratively co-develop and test features before deployment in production

  6. Coordinated integration into the client's Single Sign-On (SSO) solution, done in collaboration with their SSO software provider

Each partner played a distinct and complementary role throughout the project.

  • KnowledgeBase Consulting

    Technical consulting, training, co-development of features with the client, and technical support when issues arise

  • Amnesty International Germany

    Requirements definition, maintenance of the instance, project management, co-development and quality assurance

  • XWiki SAS

    Hosting, server setup, domain configuration, and diagnosis when the need arises

The Amnesty International Germany technical team, already experienced in web technologies, quickly embraced XWiki’s extensibility. Following training from KBC, they began independently maintaining and evolving key components of their platform, including those initially developed by KBC or XWiki SAS.

“The overall support is excellent — both quick and reliable. We especially appreciate that it lets us view our intranet as a continuous development project. This approach brings together our community’s needs, volunteer enthusiasm, and programmers’ expertise to build functionalities tailored to us.”
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The results

The collaboration between Amnesty International Germany, KBC, and XWiki SAS provided timely and well-allocated resources for the delivery of the project. Also, for Amnesty International Germany it was important to have a direct German-speaking contact person to discuss any questions or issues.

Similarly, for XWiki SAS and KBC, it is a shared priority to ensure that our clients have reliable partners they can depend on for support, particularly when addressing complex or critical issues.

Amnesty International Germany now benefits from:

  • A growing number of engaged intranet users

  • A flexible, evolving platform aligned with their needs

  • An internal team capable of driving future enhancements

  • A clear structure for managing knowledge and community participation

“The tool has quickly become a cornerstone of our knowledge management strategy, embraced across the organization and reflected in a growing and engaged intranet user base.”
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