DT-ITS Internal meetup #1
The very first DT-ITS internal meetup was in May at the Telekom Campus. The meetups series was launched to create opportunities for the colleagues at DT-ITS to talk about interesting projects and use cases while building a community in the process. On this first occasion, participants were able to listen to presentations on different topics.
1. This is Sparta! – Entity standardisation and onboarding
A migration project that ensured business continuity for over 1400 colleagues relocated across Europe
Speakers: Krisztina Bojtos-Károlyi, Katalin Nicholls-Karácsonyi and Lajos S.
They work in the Workplace Experience Hub. This hub provides various products like one’s user ID, email address, laptops, etc. to enable colleagues to work for Deutsche Telekom worldwide. Krisztina and Katalin are Service Delivery Managers, Lajos is the Solution Manager in the team.
They introduced the relocation project, which began two years ago and involved moving 1,400 people, along with their families and pets, from Russia to six European countries. This complex project had three main aspects: human, business, and technical. The human aspect included obtaining visas, work permits, and new homes. The business aspect ensured uninterrupted work during the transition, while the technical aspect involved providing necessary work tools and infrastructure. A significant challenge arose when they decided to relocate 400 people to Greece, which lacked the necessary infrastructure. The team humorously named the project “This is Sparta!” and worked under high pressure to create a temporary solution within three months and a permanent solution within a year. The project involved over 100 people working together to ensure a smooth transition, culminating in a successful migration by mid-December, allowing everyone to enjoy a stress-free Christmas.
2. How modern pipeline looks like and why
Strategies to prevent automatic pipeline triggers on push and optimize GitLab CI/CD pipelines for various applications
Speaker: Daniil Kirillov, Java Developer
Daniil, a Java developer, explained the importance and functionality of pipelines in software development, specifically through GitLab. Pipelines automate tasks such as testing, security checks, and code coverage, reducing manual work for developers. Daniil highlighted the inefficiency of running pipelines on every code push, which wastes resources and suggested using GitLab’s merge request pipelines and merge train pipelines instead. These methods ensure code is tested against the most current target branch before merging, avoiding untested code deployment. He also emphasized the benefit of creating reusable default pipelines for new microservices, saving time and effort. Additionally, he recommended using slimmed-down Docker images to optimize application performance and deployment speed.
3. Your customer is also your competitor – Challenges of steering a novated contract
Best practices for managing a novated contract, focusing on transitioning services, exit management, and maintaining profitability when the customer is also a competitor
Speaker: Anna Kovács-Bauer, CS Germany & Industries / Vertical Automotive / Tribe Mercedes Benz & Daimler Truck Role: Lead SDM
Anna described her experience managing a complex contract with Daimler for NWP services. Initially, she faced unexpected challenges with the transition of services to Infosys, leading to delays in service migration. Despite planning issues and constantly changing of requirements, she maintained service delivery and even generated additional revenue through support services. Key strategies included understanding and managing the evolving contract, effective communication with stakeholders, and leveraging internal expertise and collaboration tools like M365 Teams. She emphasized continuous learning and adaptation, particularly through training and best practice workshops.