Project goals

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is the leading global organisation which provides professional consulting and fiscal services. PwC clients include many global leaders, also dynamic companies which operate in local markets. In 2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers launched taxonline.pl website for Polish and international managers of companies which operate in Poland.

taxonline.pl is a premium tax website developed by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Advice Department. It is mainly designed for tax professionals and accounting employees of medium-sized and large corporations. taxonline.pl is currently used by several hundreds enterprises.

Content management mechanisms on the first taxonline website were implemented with Lotus Notes, while content was transferred to the site at the next step. Since the number of documents on the site exceeded 50,000 in eight years, the original system model would not work any longer.

The basic goals for the new taxonline.pl site were to:

• create flexible content management mechanisms within taxonlinepl system, and to replace Lotus Notes;
• provide users with an easy access and navigation through the vast information database;
• develop taxonline.pl business model as a premium site.

The new version of the site went live in mid-November 2008.

 

System description

The main project challenge was to design and create from scratch the dedicated content management system (CMS). Originally we planned to use our proprietary Active Content platform. However, after an in-depth analysis, we decided that application of a classic CMS based on the tree structure of documents would be a mistake.

The document management system proposed by us is based on tag mechanisms. All the documents were described with a proper set of parameters (tags), which determine where the given document is displayed. System administrators can create tags on their own and define tag types. Some tags may be used for navigation, while others group documents into hot topics, while yet others index documents. We can even define which tags are displayed as options on the advanced search screen.

There are two document versions: abbreviated, available on the public site, and the full version, available to the subscribers. The abbreviated version works as an incentive to use the premium site. In addition, the abbreviated version is used by the mass mailing system to send free and premium newsletters to the registered users. The system offers several types of mailing, and the user may choose the type of news received (e.g. news on tax seminars, financial services or tax abolition). In addition, when the week summary option is selected, the user may specify the subject of received content (e.g. customs duty, VAT, CIT or PIT news). With mass mailing, users may check whether there are any new, interesting articles on the site.

taxonline.pl is a premium site. This means that only selected employees of companies which purchased site subscription may access the site. The subscription may be purchased for a number of employees. Each company receives a master account as part of its subscription. The master account is used for assignment of access accounts (subordinated users). The client’s administrator may change mailing preferences, open, close or block the account or change the subordinated user password at any time; the administrator may also apply for subscription renewal. With this approach, PwC administration duties related to taxonline.pl site maintenance have been greatly reduced.

The new taxonline.pl site offers a wide array of additional features, such as comments for selected documents by logged users, publication of announcements of PwC tax seminars and registration of users for selected seminars. The tax calendar presents major events and reminds the users of tax deadlines.

The site is available in three language versions: Polish, English and German. Other language options can be introduced as well.

 

Technology

taxonline.pl was based on e-point SA programming environment – OneWeb – which is fully compliant with Java 2 Enterprise Edition architecture. OneWeb has yet again proven its value as the platform for fast deployment of dedicated solutions for our clients. With our own programming environment, we succeeded in handling the project challenges and replacing planned implementation of an off-the-shelf CMS with a system built from scratch, which is well suited to user and client needs.

 

The site is available at www.taxonline.pl.