Successful digital transformations depend not only on technology but also on visionaries, strategists, and determined leaders who actively drive change. Ultimately, it is people who play the decisive role in making a difference.
Successful digital transformations rely on more than just technology — they are powered by the synergy of structured data, innovative tools, and the vision, strategy, and determination of forward-thinking leaders.
Structr Use Case
Successful digital transformations depend not only on technology but also on visionaries, strategists, and determined leaders who actively drive change. Ultimately, it is people who play the decisive role in making a difference.
We make up to 20,000 decisions each day, ranging from trivial to life-altering. Strategic business decisions, in particular, can lead to significant transformations. In an era of rapidly growing data volumes and complexity, many companies struggle to effectively utilize information and foster data-driven decision-making cultures. An IDC study reveals that 70% of modernization initiatives fail because the focus is too heavily on technology rather than on building a strong decision-making culture.
The Harvard Business Review highlights that the key to success in digital transformations lies not just in technology, but in adopting the right approach and fostering a human-centered decision-making culture. Structuring tools can be invaluable in this process, offering clear presentations of options, aiding in criteria evaluation, and facilitating analyses. However, these tools cannot replace the essential roles of intuition, emotion, and experience.
Key Highlights
Therefore, it is crucial that these technologies enhance human judgment rather than replace it. A human-centered approach, where people serve as the critical link between problems and solutions, is essential. The Ahorn tool, developed by Amprion and Structr, exemplifies how technology and human judgment can be seamlessly integrated to support effective decision-making.
Near and Far: The impact of decisions becomes clearer with a structured overview of the individual elements, while maintaining the flexibility to adjust and refine understanding as connections between those elements emerge.
Structr and Amprion have created Ahorn, a tool that combines agility and speed within a web-based graph approach. This solution was born from the close collaboration between both teams. The capabilities of Structr and the Structr team’s ability to understand and immediately implement the complex challenges and TAM methodology were crucial to the progress and success of the project.
Key Highlights
Before making decisions, it’s crucial to thoroughly analyze the situation, filter out irrelevant information, and define clear courses of action. Decisions are often influenced by unsuitable questions or incomplete data that do not meet specific requirements. In a dynamic environment, it’s essential to continuously reassess and adjust our perspectives and the underlying data.
While databases provide an abundance of information, they often lack specific focus and the crucial implicit knowledge based on personal experience and intuition, which is vital for well-informed decisions.
Ahorn addresses this challenge by encouraging employees to actively contribute their knowledge and identify key information. Ahorn highlights this implicit knowledge, integrating it into the decision-making process to support well-founded decisions. Structr’s speed and flexibility enable the digital implementation and dynamic adaptation of relevant features based on criteria analyzed by the employees, especially as questions or criteria evolve through feedback loops.
Ahorn as a tool is excellent in bringing order and agility to data structures. This approach offers comprehensive benefits that are essential in today’s business environment:
Before gathering information, evaluating alternatives, and making a final decision, it is essential to reach a consensus on the relevant question. Determining which information is relevant and should be integrated into the decision-making process—and thus into Ahorn—is achieved using the TAM (Tree Attribute Matrix) method. This process involves input from all team members.
TAM reflects all elements in Ahorn through attribute-based linkages. The combination of TAM and Ahorn in the decision-making process is highly efficient.
The TAM methodology is essentially built on a graph structure—comprising Tree, Attribute, and Matrix—which makes it perfectly suited for representation within this framework. Structr provides all the necessary tools to efficiently create the required data model and associated application logic. These tools include the Schema Editor, which is used to develop the technical data model, as well as low-code features that enabled the implementation of all Ahorn functionalities, including versioning, historization, customizable attribute-value pairs, and a user-friendly interface with graph visualization and matrix displays.
Implementing the TAM methodology with Structr was a logical choice, as Structr’s native support for graph technology allows for the seamless handling of multidimensional challenges without the need to translate TAM data into other formats, such as relational representations.
By multidimensionality, we refer to the interconnection of multiple trees, which enables the identification of indirect or implicit relationships.
The Structr platform provides a set of tools optimized for use cases like Ahorn, supporting multidimensional data models, streamlining development of business logic and integrated sophisticated user interfaces.
Schema EditorThe Ahorn-specific metadata model was created using low-code in the Schema Editor.
Schema Editor in Detail
Code EditorThe backend business logic was integrated in the Code Editor, utilizing a combination of low-code and pro-code.
More Details about Code Editor
Page EditorThe frontend, featuring graph visualization, was implemented using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS in the Page Editor.
Page Editor in Detail
Testimonial Amprion
Reality may be paradox and self-contradictory. In many cases, this impedes the smooth functioning of an organization. Structr's graph approach enabled us to represent ambiguities and paradoxes in the Ahorn data model in a systematic and simple way. The Structr team came up with a data model of Ahorn in an early stage of development, which proved to be very stable later on, when we added more and more tool functionalities. Our implementation with the Structr platform was fast paced from the very beginning, because we were able to focus on tool functionality and usability.
In summary, Ahorn and Structr strengthen decision-making processes by providing an agile and robust foundation that helps companies thrive in a data-driven world. Ahorn particularly excels where other systems reach their limits, offering a user-friendly “wish model” that enables the simulation of various scenarios and their outcomes, allowing for direct and risk-free comparisons. Looking ahead, Ahorn could be further optimized through enhancements in versioning and historization.
This would enable decision-makers to test different strategies in a low-risk environment by simulating and analyzing various business scenarios without affecting existing data sets. Additionally, improved historization would allow for deeper analysis of data from different time periods, facilitating not only the evaluation of past performance but also the creation of well-informed forecasts for future developments. These features expand the capabilities for decision-makers by combining human intuition and experience with precise data analysis.
Furthermore, a repository for data tree exchange is being planned that will allow users to share trees across different Ahorn instances with other users. This will reduce the effort of duplicating data entries that are relevant to various users across the organization.
With these advancements, Ahorn will become an even more powerful tool for strategic planning and adaptation to dynamic market conditions, effectively balancing both the technological and human aspects of the decision-making process.
Key Advantages of Ahorn
In projects where Ahorn and its associated methodologies are employed from the outset, a phenomenon often occurs, known as the “Why Not Just Use Excel?” effect. This effect can be attributed to two key factors:
This leads to a fundamental misunderstanding: Many people fail to see the need for using complementary methods and tools because everything seems straightforward and manageable. However, what is often overlooked is that this simplicity is the result of the deliberate application of these methods. The value of complementary approaches is frequently underappreciated because there is a lack of understanding of their necessity, especially at a high level of granularity. When the importance of a well-thought-out architecture isn’t clear, one might question why they should take the time to consider it, rather than jumping straight into a simple solution to achieve quick results.
This effect highlights the importance of raising awareness about the long-term benefits of structured methodologies, even if they may seem unnecessarily complex in the early stages of a project. Understanding and appreciating these methods can prevent the oversimplification of processes and ensure that the project can scale effectively as complexity increases.
In a world where data fuels business decisions, choosing the right tool is crucial. Ahorn sets new standards, surpassing traditional spreadsheet programs like Excel in many ways. The unique advantage of Ahorn lies in its ability to efficiently manage and vividly visualize complex, multidimensional data structures. While Excel is well-suited for simple tables and basic data analysis, it quickly reaches its limits as complexity increases. In contrast, Ahorn unlocks entirely new possibilities with its native support for graph structures, enabling clear representation of complex relationships and dependencies between data.
One of Ahorn’s greatest strengths is its integrated versioning and historization—features that Excel lacks. These capabilities allow users to simulate different scenarios and make informed decisions based on a flexible and dynamic data foundation. Ahorn truly shines when managing highly granular data or complex dependencies, offering a depth and flexibility that far exceed the capabilities of Excel.
Testimonial Amprion GmbH
Ahorn enables structured, scalable data management, providing clarity even as complexity grows. It enhances agility, allowing us to quickly adapt to changes and simulate scenarios without risk, supporting precise and informed decision-making.
Another significant advantage is the long-term conservation of resources. Ahorn reduces the need for redundant data entry and inefficient workflows, a common issue when using Excel. With its native support for complex data structures and seamless integration of complementary methods, Ahorn helps clients optimize their data strategy and better adapt to dynamic market conditions.
Ultimately, Ahorn empowers companies to sustainably enhance their competitiveness. By providing a solid foundation for growth and innovation, Ahorn ensures that businesses can not only respond to current challenges but also achieve long-term success. Ahorn is more than just a tool—it is the key to a future-proof data strategy.
Amprion GmbH is one of four transmission system operators in Germany. Its 11,000-kilometer high-voltage grid transports electricity across a region stretching from the North Sea to the Alps, where one-third of Germany’s economic output is generated. Our transmission lines are the lifelines of society, securing jobs and the quality of life for 29 million people.
We keep the grid stable and secure while paving the way for a climate-neutral energy system by expanding our network. Around 2,300 employees in Dortmund and at more than 30 other locations ensure that the lights always stay on. Additionally, Amprion takes on overarching responsibilities for interconnected grids in Germany and Europe.
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Axel Morgner
CEO & CTO
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