Custom Software Development for the Public Administration

Many government agencies still manage licenses, personnel data, or assets manually using Access or Excel. This works fine until requirements grow or the person who developed the system leaves. soxes migrates these solutions to secure, web-based platforms while retaining what has proven effective.

Switzerland lags behind internationally in the digital transformation of its public administration, and resources are scarce. Nearly 90 percent of municipalities describe their staffing levels as somewhat insufficient, and 40 percent lack clear cybersecurity guidelines. At the same time, citizens and employees expect the same level of digital convenience they are accustomed to in the private sector. There is a great need for action, and that is precisely where the opportunity lies.

The challenges we repeatedly face in cantons, municipalities, and government offices:

• Legacy siloed solutions:Central data resides in an Access or Excel database, built for a purpose that has long since been outgrown.
• Knowledge disappears with the staff:The person who built the solution is gone, documentation is missing, and no one dares to make changes.
• Scarce resources:There is a lack of time, budget, and IT specialists to handle digitization on our own.
• Data protection and compliance:Personal data in an outdated solution is difficult to properly protect, manage, and verify in accordance with the revised Data Protection Act (revDSG).
• Siloed departments:Each department maintains its own data, and there is no shared database.

Digitization offers the administration three concrete opportunities:

• Greater efficiency: Recurring processes run faster, freeing up time for more demanding tasks.
• Better service: Citizens and employees handle matters digitally instead of via forms and phone.
• Greater trust: Secure, documented systems meet data protection and audit trail requirements.

Strikingly often, the solution starts at the same point: with a legacy system that needs to be modernized.

We have firsthand experience with government agencies through real-world projects, ranging from cantonal offices to industry associations and public schools.

Civil Engineering Office of the Canton of Zug: Mobile App

The Electrical Engineering Division of the Civil Engineering Office plans, builds, and maintains the operational and safety equipment (BSA) for the canton’s roads.

Challenge: All OSE elements on cantonal roads and in technical rooms should be identifiable via a unique asset identification system (AKS), smarter, and better connected.

Solution: soxes developed the smartBSAzg solution, including a mobile app, based on React Native. Employees retrieve data on an element directly on-site by scanning the data matrix on the attached BSA label.

Result: Each element is uniquely identified and accessible on-site. Scattered information was transformed into a traceable, interconnected database.

Swiss Builders’ Association (SBV): From Access to the Cloud

The SBV managed company and user licenses via a custom-developed solution on Access (the DARI app), which no longer met the requirements for scalability, cloud readiness, and maintainability.

Solution: As part of an application modernization project, soxes completely migrated the application to a cloud-based architecture using .NET, C#, and Angular, with centralized login via Azure Entra ID and operation on a Managed Kubernetes Service. Existing systems such as CRM, Abacus, and Business Intelligence are directly integrated.

Result: A maintainable, scalable platform that can be used decentrally and lays the foundation for extensions such as a customer portal.

BWS Limmattal: One School, One Platform

For years, the Limmattal Vocational School managed student, parent, class, and course data using an Access-based solution. Due to staff turnover, maintenance was neglected, and requirements grew.

soxes analyzed the legacy system in detail and developed a central web platform where students, teachers, and administrators can manage themselves. Automated schedules and optimized absence management reduce administrative effort. By using the KUBE-X development platform, soxes saved approximately 30 percent of development time and was able to focus on the specific requirements.

Diocese of St. Gallen: A New Approach to Personnel Data

The Diocese of St. Gallen also managed its personnel data using an Access-based solution. soxes developed a web-based application based on ASP.NET that allows internal, external, and freelance employees to be centrally recorded and managed. Individuals can be assigned to roles and organizational units, user rights control access, and a printable personnel directory is generated with minimal effort.

Other clients: ETH Zurich (security and alarm solution), the Swiss Association for Municipal Technology (SIK) (re-engineering of a tool for tenders), and the cantons of Aargau and Solothurn (digitization and process optimization).

Off-the-shelf software like ERP is effective as long as it fulfills its intended purpose. It often provides the right foundation for finance, orders, master data, inventory, purchasing, or sales processing. Things get complicated when the central system is suddenly expected to do everything.

Many organizations are gradually offloading more and more specialized processes into the ERP. What seems practical in the short term becomes expensive in the long term. Because not every process is a standard process, and not every requirement belongs in the ERP. Every piece of custom logic that is added to the ERP is a modification that must be retested, maintained, and paid for with every update. Thus, the desired flexibility turns into an expensive dependency.

That’s why the best solution is often a combination: standard where it fits, and a custom application for the specialized processes that only complicate the ERP. Especially in administration, with its specific workflows and legal requirements, this keeps costs manageable and sensitive data where it can be specifically controlled.