A successtory in complex datamanagement for Librius

Librius is the management company for Flemish book publishers. They collect and distribute fees paid by individuals, firms, educational institutions, and government bodies to the central management organisations Reprobel & Auvibel. 

Their mission is clear: to distribute the collective copyright fees they collect as quickly, objectively, transparently, and fairly as possible amongst their members. How do they achieve this: through a user-friendly client portal. 

In short: Librius was looking for – and found – and all-round digital partner in Codana to completely reinvent their management system. 

The existing (and outdated) system was limiting the client. The lack of options for direct actions and the excessive complexity of underlying calculations led to an impossibly unworkable system. The client needed a data management system they could rely on, one that allowed them to handle tasks independently, without requiring technical expertise. 

We saw those challenges as opportunities for innovation and improvement. Our goal wasn’t just to meet Librius’ initial needs but to exceed them by developing a DMS that would be both user-friendly and capable of handling the most complex tasks with ease and efficiency. 

We chose to build our application in Symfony. It’s an open-source PHP framework that is typically used to build robust and advanced web applications, APIs, and web services.  

Speed and user experience were our top priorities, so we built the front-end using React. In order to establish smooth communication between React and the Symfony backend, we decided to implement an API platform. It provides an additional layer on top of Symfony, making it easier to set up and document APIs consistently. 

Alongside a standard MySQL database for daily operations, we integrated Redis to manage queues and background processes. 

The development process followed a test-driven approach, which delivered the code’s robustness, reliability and scalability.  

If you want to learn more about test-driven development, we heartily recommend this case study of ours: https://www.codana.be/nl/test-driven-development-toepassing-op-een-project.  

This project involved numerous optimisations that were aimed at improving overall user experience, streamlining processes and guaranteeing seamless data management within Librius’ organisation. 

We developed a new brand identity for Librius and provided visual support for their end-users. A simplified registration process lowered the entry barrier, while administrators could automate registration tracking with high-end dashboarding and real-time notifications. 

The tool had to remain functional, even under heavy use. To achieve this, we moved intensive tasks to the background, allowing them to be processed there, without influencing the overall performance of the tool. 

Additionally, we introduced several extras, such as: 

• Simplified distribution processes, 
• Detailed roles and licenses, 
• Automated setup for new financial years, 
• Improved search and export functionalities, 
• Bulk actions for administrators, 
• List export options, and 
• Automated invoicing. 

Finally, we established an automatic connection with Boekenbank, enabling swift data exchanges between both platforms. 

In case you’d like to learn more about Boekenbank, we refer you to our case study: https://www.codana.be/nl/cases/boekenbank. 

Look, choosing innovation doesn’t have to mean discarding the past. That’s why Codana carefully migrated all existing content into the new system, guaranteeing a smooth transition from the old to the upgraded data management system. 

Our optimisations didn’t just free Librius from the limits of their outdated system but also ushered in a new era of efficiency, user-friendliness and more precise data management. 

This advanced and powerful DMS now forms the foundation for Librius’ future growth, providing them the tools they need to scale and thrive.