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Case Study

Digital Customer Portal for Energy Trading: Efficient Management & Onboarding

Manage your products, data and memberships in just a few clicks – fully digital and fully traceable at any time.

The Starting Situation

You're already a customer of a large energy and commodities exchange and need access to their trading platform, let's call it "MarketAccessDesk". You have an account, but want to trade new products or change some company data. You might even want to exit trading entirely and terminate certain markets.

Until recently, this was an involved process – lots of emails, phone calls and documents going every which way. Now, however, there's a central customer portal that simplifies all requests around onboarding, trading and administrative processes. In this use case, you'll learn what problem the portal solves, exactly how it improves the situation, and what results come out of it.

The Challenge

Fragmented Processes and Lack of Transparency

  • Multiple contact channels: communication previously happened via email, phone or various forms on the website. This led to gaps in the flow of information.
  • Manual workarounds: every department had its own tools, spreadsheets and documents. Customers had to provide the same data multiple times.
  • Lack of overview: a customer who wanted to trade new products didn't know exactly what status their request had, or who to contact with questions.

High Time and Resource Demands

  • Long processing times: coordination between different teams (e.g. credit department, compliance, sales) slowed down the process.
  • Unclear responsibilities: customers often had to follow up because no one felt clearly responsible.
  • Error-proneness: manually gathering information sometimes meant important documents got lost, leading to delays or even wrong decisions.

Limited Options for Existing Customers

  • Only partial processes digitized: existing customers could already trade, but there was no end-to-end digital solution for changes like adding new products or changing company data.
  • No direct control: customers had no easy way to check whether, for example, new board members had already been registered or new bank details had been entered correctly.

In short: what was missing was a central, user-friendly portal that digitized, automated and made transparently viewable at any time all the important steps.

The Solution

The Customer Portal as a Central Point of Contact

The customer portal bundles all relevant functions and lets existing customers manage all onboarding and trading requests in one place.

  • Access for existing customers only: currently, the portal is only accessible to already registered customers who have an account with MarketAccessDesk. In the future, the entire initial onboarding process is also meant to be integrated.
  • Login and identification process: via single sign-on or a secure login method, the customer can log in and immediately view their requests, documents and current processing status.

Example: Trading a New Product

An existing customer wants to trade not only existing energy products but also new derivatives at MarketAccessDesk. Through the portal, they apply for the product extension in a few clicks. They upload the necessary documents (such as financial data or risk assessments) directly. They then keep an eye on the activation status, without having to send extra emails to various departments.

A Portal That Explains Itself

From selection to completed application: the customer portal guides you step by step through the process.

Customer portal home page with three cards: product extension, company data changes, and termination
Completed application form in the portal with fields for company, market, product and two uploaded PDF documents

Automated Backend Processes Thanks to OneAdmission

As soon as a customer starts a request in the portal, tickets are automatically generated in the OneAdmission project. This project serves as central control for all internal teams.

  • Assignment to responsible teams: depending on the topic (e.g. creditworthiness, compliance, clearing), OneAdmission creates separate sub-tickets and assigns them to the right specialist departments.
  • Clear workflows: every process goes through firmly defined phases. This minimizes errors and increases processing speed.
  • Clear history: all changes and comments are documented in the OneAdmission project, so every employee can fully trace the processes.

Examples of Sub-Tickets in OneAdmission

  • Onboarding Closure: relates to closing or terminating an account.
  • Onboarding: for adding new products or terminating a membership.
  • Onboarding: controls the admission of markets.
  • Admission: specific membership process for certain clearing requirements.
  • Credit Analysis: automatic forwarding to the finance department to check creditworthiness.

The wide range of workflow options covers every scenario, whether it's a complete membership change, an address change, or the admission of new board members.

Three Main Processes for the Customer

In the portal, you can currently trigger three main processes:

1. Product Extension

  • Add new products or markets to expand the trading portfolio.
  • Extend existing products to new exchanges, provided these are technically and regulatorily available.

2. Changing Company Data

  • Address change: office moved? Simply enter the new address and upload documents.
  • Board change: new members on the board? Enter them and let the compliance department carry out the necessary checks.
  • Clearing member: change your bank details or add a new clearing house.

3. Terminating Markets or Products (Termination Requests)

  • Partial termination: close trading for specific products or specific markets only.
  • Full termination: end your membership and dissolve all trading relationships.

All of the requests above are mirrored directly into the service portal. There, staff check whether the uploaded documents are complete. As soon as everything checks out, the corresponding workflows are triggered in OneAdmission.

A self-service approval process in the customer portal: a single request to modify a product access, with company, market and product details.

Step-by-Step Process

1
Step 1

Customer logs in

Through a central dashboard, they have access to requests already submitted or new ones to be made.

2
Step 2

Customer selects the desired process

Click on "Add product", "Make a change" or "Terminate".

3
Step 3

Upload of relevant documents

Forms, proof of identity, financial documents, etc.

4
Step 4

Initial review by the service team

Completeness of the documents is checked. Additional documents may be requested if needed.

5
Step 5

Automatic ticket creation in OneAdmission

The respective workflows start and distribute the tasks to the responsible departments.

6
Step 6

Feedback and tracking

The customer can see the current status in the portal at any time. They may be asked to submit further information if needed.

7
Step 7

Final approval

Once all steps are completed and checked, the customer receives confirmation and can access the new product, or the changes officially take effect.

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The Results

Significant Time Savings

  • Faster processing: thanks to automated workflows, the process from application to approval is noticeably shortened.
  • Fewer manual interventions: standardized processes reduce the need for follow-up questions.

Maximum Transparency

  • Real-time status: you can see at any time which phase your application is in and which department is currently reviewing it.
  • Centralized communication tool: instead of sending countless emails, you communicate directly in the portal.

Simplified Collaboration Between Departments

  • Standardized processes: every department works according to the same principle and knows its tasks precisely.
  • Clear responsibilities: employees can see at a glance which tickets they currently need to work on and what deadlines apply.

Minimized Error Rate and Increased Compliance

  • Automatic checks: the system ensures all required documents are uploaded.
  • Documentation: every change is logged in OneAdmission. Should audit requests arise, all data is fully retrievable.

Future-Proof Scalability

  • Extendable: new exchanges, products or onboarding steps can easily be integrated into the existing system.
  • Outlook for new customers: the plan is to also map the entire initial onboarding process in the portal.

Practical Examples and Highlights

Example 1: Address Change Without Wait Times

Situation:

Your company is moving and you need to update the new contact details in all relevant systems.

Approach:

You select "Address change" in the portal, enter the new data and upload the confirmation from the residents' registration office or commercial register extract.

Result:

The service team checks completeness in the shortest possible time. Tickets are then automatically sent to the compliance and IT departments so everything is updated in the system.

Example 2: Expanding Your Trading Portfolio

Situation:

You want to trade new energy markets to diversify your portfolio.

Approach:

You click "Add product" in the portal. A form asks you about the type of product and the planned trading volumes.

Result:

The relevant department receives an automated message. The credit risk is checked (credit analysis), trading is set up and you get the green light.

Example 3: Partial Termination of Individual Products

Situation:

You determine that a certain product is no longer profitable.

Approach:

Using the "Terminate" button, you can specifically deselect this product. A brief reason is requested, documents are uploaded.

Result:

The termination is reported system-wide to all relevant teams, so the connection to this market is cleanly severed.

Self-Service for Business Teams

Automate recurring tasks and boost your teams' productivity by up to 50%

Boost team productivity by 50%