See our response to the dilemma of what suits you best in terms of eMobility software products

After founding Solidstudio, Pawel was an originator in terms of pursuing expertise in eMobility. With the build-up of a solid knowledge-base on industry’s needs & wants, he now keeps a close eye on products’ development. He’s also hugely responsible for the business’ side and designs the business models for our products.

Paweł Małkowiak

There are many classifications on which one may categorize software products and services. From a whole plethora of different aspects, one that seems to be worthy of consideration in the e-Mobility software world is certainly the one taking on how a product is acquired.

Charge Point Operators and e-Mobility Service Providers

 will eventually face the task of choosing appropriate software to run their charging networks (unless they have their own dev team ready to build it from scratch - a fairly rare occurrence).

With a careful selection of the most suitable IT solution, one of the core questions to answer is whether to come down in favor of an off-the-shelf product or to get it customarily developed.

Custom vs ready-made: general breakthrough

Generally speaking, both have a multitude of advantages, much like some drawbacks. It’s crucial to understand what both of the options bring to the table.

, the first thing that comes into play for many companies may be how long it will take before their investment can yield a return and generate profits. As an old saying goes ‘time is money’ and thus, those who care about rather fast implementation and launch, would certainly lean towards ready-made solutions.

Being already on the market and broadly-available, makes the aforementioned option a cheaper one as it does not require hiring a team of devs and putting them to work for what might be a few months. Those who are on tight budgets or simply not willing to spend too much, will certainly look favorably to getting ready products.

Finally, there’s less risk of failure. Off-the-shelf products usually had their fair share of being tested inside out by many. This allowed their developers and manufacturers to implement necessary ameliorations and adjustments.

However it’s not all fun and games… There are some major obstacles in terms of read-made solutions. Missing crucial features is one of them. Broadly-available software products tend to be created in such a way as to suit the basic requirements of many different, potential customers. Unfortunately, there's no one-size fits all solution when it comes to IT. With such an approach, some of the more specific features can be omitted, leaving some gaps in fulfilling all the needs of a certain company - this is where custom development still comes in place even with off-the-shelf software.

, one gains the assurance of getting all the necessary functionalities. There is also guarantee of no need in paying for features which are of no use. Custom development is the best solution if one needs only one or two particular features of an enterprise package, but there are no corresponding ready-made products on the market.

It also allows one to choose the best programming language and be able to work with new technologies while, in some cases, ready-made software is limited to a pre-set list of technologies.

With custom development the product can be adjusted to meet all the latest requirements and security standards which sometimes aren't included in ready-made software products. In addition, some old versions of ready-made software may lose market leadership or be left without support from software vendors.

There isn’t one definite answer here. Again, it all boils down to a well-thought-out choosing of what suits particular needs best. The more CPOs and EMPs are out there, the more different requirements and desires can arise.

Having said that, it must be underlined that eMobility operates as a part of a bigger ecosystem and stays interconnected with other branches, which may lead to eventual tie-ins. For example: the possibility to charge an EV can become an add-on function for a smart-home app, CPO platform may require rearranging tariffs management system or invoicing flow, etc.

The industry is known to evolve quickly. Rapid pace reinforces building innovation on top of 'must-have' functionalities. With Open Standards regularly upgrading to new versions, incoming CPOs and EMPs integrating with charging networks or ever-growing EVSE, one must stay on top of the software game in order to stay afloat in the business. Here’s where custom development may significantly help - but that doesn’t mean it’s the only good option out there.

Once again, it’s all in the careful choosing.

Custom vs off-the-shelf? Solidstudio’s bold response - the best of both worlds.

After years of gaining expertise of developing custom eMobility software, the decision of building our 

 came in rather organically. Knowing all the industry nuances and having a chance to talk to numerous EMPs and CPOs, including the small ones and the biggest players in the field, we got a good grasp on what’s really going on in the EV business world.

This is where the idea of developing customizable product backbones.

With some great efforts, our eMobility experts have managed to deliver a 

 (that comes with supporting web application) and 

, both fully customizable to suit specific needs. They’re designed in the form of a solid software backbone, and thus can pose as a product core on which every client can then build (with our continuous support) a product that matches their individual requirements.

Such a solution allows our customers to easily navigate through their needs and wants, depending on what is necessary. 

Whether they’re looking for a complete app, a ready app that still needs to be adjusted with specific functionalities, or a custom development from scratch, we’re well positioned to deliver whatever is needed in a form that suits the clients’ best interests.

 The broad range of amenities has been extended even to the settlement - as the products can be sold either on proprietary licensing (one-time fee) or as a flexible SaaS plan.

With hands-on experience, eMobility dev experts, many successfully finished projects and constantly staying up-to-date with the latest news, we are ready to take on any eMobility-related challenge and guide our clients through the best solutions, even when they’re not entirely sure what would work best for them.

See our response to the dilemma of whether to choose an off-the-shelf software or get it customarily developed

Checklist - Core CPO platform requirements

See our series on e-mobility fundamentals and learn what's the difference between CPO and EMSP.

Experienced content writer with over 4 years of experience in the energy sector and many industry-related publications released.

Gabriela Stawiarska

Knowing the industry complexity, at Solidstudio, we thought it would be a good idea to launch a series of blog entries on 

. The articles are to shed light on some of the topics that may not necessarily be clear to everyone. 

In the winding paths of e-mobility related topics, there’s a plethora of terms repeatedly popping up. This comes as no surprise given the industry’s specification, known to no other branches. Understanding the involved technologies and market players requires mapping out tons of complex systems, and it’s all followed by a specific terminology.

 itself can be slightly confusing to some. In fact, it's an umbrella term for service providers, service customers, technology suppliers and product manufacturers (including software and hardware) that collectively operate within the electric cars business.

Amongst the multitude of positions, professions and specializations, one of the most frequently appearing are 

Now, what are they and what’s the difference?


In short eMSP is a unit that provides charging services directly to EV drivers and manages the payments for charging sessions. It should be free to say that eMSPs are responsible for the end-user care. They deliver the possibility to locate a charging point, get it to run and finalize the transaction. It’s also up to them to establish the charging network monetization ( payment methods, adequate tariffs and real-time billing) and customer satisfaction, ensuring the best client experience. One can say that eMSP’s are responsible for ensuring that products of CPO’s are ready to be used by EV drivers.

To facilitate the use of charging stations eMSP’s usually operate with apps allowing EV drivers to log and conduct a charging session remotely.


EMSP charging management software. EMSP app


As stated above, eMSP’s main role is to serve the end-users, so naturally the primary software used are the 

 which are downloadable for EV drivers, preferably from the primary software stores and available for both, iOS and Android. They work in such a way that EV drivers can create an account and login with their unique credentials. Once authorization is granted, the EV user can then locate the nearest charging station (oftentimes also be navigated to it) and facilitate the charging session via the app.

In order to run smoothly, such apps require a bunch of functionalities. It must be taken into consideration that it’s a matter of operating an entire pool of charging points that can come from various CPO’s, while in need of providing a complex service covering all customer’s needs.

Amongst the most necessary functionalities of a properly set up eMSP app, we can differentiate:

(login/logout, password reset, T&C’s acceptance, RFID grant and remote token activation)

(charging station search, remote start/stop based on RFID authorization, real-time charging session monitoring)

(card payments, transaction history stored in a secure manner, accountability of adequate taxes, receipt/bill production in real-time)

(easy-to-navigate, intuitive layout, customer service contact info - preferably directly from the app, issue notifications)

(possibility to manage - alter/add/erase end-user and b2b tariffs, reports generation)

(users verification and detailed preview, real-time bugs and malfunctions reporting, close monitoring of charging points, data storage for optimization purposes)

 are responsible for the construction of the charging stations. They are focused on developing and maintaining the charging infrastructure, which includes hardware installation, ensuring proper connectivity of charging points and their service. CPO’s main point of interest is keeping the technicalities up and running and, if needed, reacting to possible malfunctions in real-time. This is specifically important as a vast majority of charging stations should stay available 24/7.

CPO’s also care about the energy management and seamless connectivity to the grid, this includes i.e. energy storing or utilization of renewable sources of energy.

Unlike eMSP apps, CPO Platforms operate more on a backend basis. EV-CPO software is to a great extent responsible for ensuring the entire charging station pool runs seamlessly and with no detected malfunctions. Simultaneously, its job is to report in real-time any possible issues, to then generate a data record allowing for avoiding such problems in the future.

The platform should also stay highly scalable, that is for the potential network expansion and for the possibility of connecting to multiple eMSP’s. It is especially crucial now, as the charging network undergoes possibly the greatest growth in history. Ensuring an easy adoption of new technologies is beyond significant. High-level interoperability and scalability can only be achieved when the CPO platform runs in accordance with widely accepted industry standards. Here is when 

Amongst the most necessary functionalities of a properly set up CPO platform, we can differentiate:

(registration of customers, activation and deactivation of charging stations, remote maintenance)

(rates management, necessary alterations)

(static, dynamic, and renewables, charging profiling, and V2G)

(including individual, group, or enterprise managing)

(for bug fixing, ensured real-time reaction, data storage)

EMSP vs CPO - what’s the difference? In short.

But before that, it has to be mentioned that although there are some principal operational differences, there are a number of companies who combine the roles of EMSP’s and CPO’s, creating an in-depth, profound e-mobility environment. Such undertaking allows for complete fleet management from all sides and is known to be quite efficient and effective.

Nevertheless, below you can see a brief summary of the most prominent differences between eMSP’s and CPO’s.

EMSP’s serve the end-users while CPO’s take care mostly of the charging stations network and their expansion

EMSP can be deemed as the frontend of e-mobility operations while CPO is the backend

CPO’s are to the greater extent responsible for the growth of charging networks, their scalability and interoperability

EMSP’s are more responsible for the satisfaction of EV drivers and their journeys

EMSP’s are ones to deliver the apps to EV users that facilitate the charging, while CPO’s deliver the chargers themselves

EMSP’s software is customer-centric while CPO’s software is more operational

Check out our series of articles on e-mobility fundamentals and learn what's the difference between CPO and EMSP.

CPO vs EMSP - what's the difference?

Pros and cons of custom and ready-made charging software

Being an eMobility leader in various projects across multiple startups, Piotr was responsible for OCPI and OCPP integration as well as EMP and CPO platforms development. With extensive expertise in the open standards field and eMobility tech solutions, he is leading teams of experienced developers and contributing with invaluable knowledge and experience.

Piotr Majcher

. Wandering through the web of available options, as it is the same for any software, you face the challenge: will the ready-made solution meet your expectations, or maybe it is worth investing in an individual solution that covers 100% of your business needs? Trust me, you are not alone. Having heard this dilemma repeatedly I’ve decided to gather critical thoughts on both sides and present the outcomes.


Stating with some brief basic explanation - Charge Point Operator can be defined as an owner or administrator of charging hardware and software. With a market booming and demanding infrastructure, IT providers offer off-the-shelf solutions.

What are the benefits of a custom CPO platform?

A custom solution is especially beneficial for operators who want to keep the processes 100% up to specific demands. The backend management system for Charge Point Operators is what sets the business on a path to success. The whole charging network demands a properly tailored solution that adequately covers business relations and dependencies. Specifically, in the e-mobility world, supportive backend software should embody device management, business insight, and customer relationship management.

 is a tool for monitoring and managing emerging issues promptly and efficiently. In addition to real-time alerts, it also allows framing price schemes.

provides a transparent glimpse into key metrics on how the charging network is performing. The insights should be given at a fixed frequency and the dashboard should be flexible enough to support deep and extensive business intelligence.

The customer* relationship management module

 stores users’ data, billing information, and contracts.* Here pointing out ‘customer’ we have in mind, eMobility Service Providers.

With customization comes independence. The e-mobility market evolves steadily, hence the charging network needs to follow the novelties and recent updates. Setting focus on what the future can bring, how the trends evolve, and which standards to follow will ease interoperability and scalability. Being self-reliant allows faster implementation of new features, 

 The backend system should provide accurate information in the BI area, consumer behavior and preferences, as well as malfunctions and enable remote repairs. This applies to the basic approach but forward-thinking resonates with more advanced supplements.

The essence of the EV charging business must be met and this is what off-the-shelf software suppliers offer. However, the goal is to develop standards of work and find repetitive behaviors. Based on that, the processes can be adjusted and refined for future changes. The custom approach puts the company one step ahead, ensures better responsiveness, explores specific niches thus finding ways to exploit new opportunities. The e-mobility market reaches a point where multiple operators offer the same or similar services. Further steps towards establishing a pole position, are detailed segmentation and prompt meeting particular divisions' needs.

One of the advantages of a custom solution is access to and control over the source code. This means the upgrades and new deployments are set and prioritized by the owner. Taking a step further, a strong point for which it is good to choose a custom solution is a case when a company intends to do something unique and addresses some existing problem with one and only innovation. Then the chance that it will be covered by some ready-made solution is very low - so it needs to be customized. If there are some patented resolutions, then these certainly will not fit into a ready-made solution.

What are the cons of a custom CPO platform?

The matter of the cost of developing a custom solution depends on the scale. Operating on a relatively small market or having a limited number of charge points will not necessarily require custom software. If so, a ready-made solution will cover our needs and work well. However, if the business assumptions reach forward, addressing the needs of a particular niche or out-of-the-box explications, here customization will be vital.

Besides the cost of a tailor-made solution, the other con is timing. The individual approach requires careful evaluation. This incorporates the whole development process, with a discovery phase, technical clarification, usability design, iterative product development, and further support. Matching technology with business goals and flexible product design to incorporate required changes on-demand fast and seamlessly. Whether it’s eMSP or CPO platform, 

 requires time and commitment from business and IT representatives. Although the initial outlay is large, this approach allows you to identify pain points at an early stage, hence better estimate time and effort, and thus avoid unnecessary expenditures.

Off-the-shelf CPO platform strengths and limitations

Operating on a general course could be successfully supported by vendor-dependent software. These solutions usually cover ongoing common market demands. When working on a relatively small scale, it may perform well. So, the question is ‘Do I really need a custom solution?’. As an alternative, you can acquire an off-the-shelf product. The arguments in favor of purchasing a ready-made solution are faster implementation, lower up-front costs, and your business needs are considered as regular (don't include much specific or novel). In this case, off-the-shelf software will remain more cost-efficient for your business. Usually, ready-made software is the best choice for small business that needs budget resolution.

The difference lies in the vendor’s business goals. The speed of change for upgrades and security updates is affected by the business case and objectives set by the supplier. A question here is whether our needs will be a key priority while obtaining a steady product line. Usually, the ready-made solutions providers are familiar with common issues and offer a broad range of features and modules to cover market requirements. However, some of the offered specialties might be unnecessary for our business case, we still have to pay for them.

Providers supply crucial overview for general purposes. Most of the offered white-labeled CPO platforms offer a dashboard for monitoring stations’ condition, notifications about malfunctions, statistics and insights into charging courses and tariff revenue, transaction reporting, insights into driver behavior and expenses. In their respective limitations, pre-built software vendors supply fine analytics-powered platforms for business accounts. This enables monitoring and optimizing EV charging infrastructure, e.g. identifying charging trends. Access to historical data enables informed decision-making. With some sort of customization, off-the-shelf products also offer to create brand recognition. For the aspiring player or with limited funds, implementing a turnkey solution may be a great starting point.

However, becoming a vendor-locked-in also may cause future turbulences in the matter of transition. This should be kept in mind. The aforementioned applies to charging providers willing to switch in the future to another software. When reaching the decision, to change the provider or switch to a tailored solution, may cause turbulences (unless integration is done through open standards, but even that's not always enough). Still, limiting opportunities will not be an obstacle in every situation.

The individual case to take into consideration is whether the vendor company stock performs well. It is worth checking out if the long-term business partnership is going to execute adequately. Long-term stability will depend on the number of customers and the level of satisfaction. In the dynamic market, staying up-to-date is one of the key factors of success. Being trapped on an obsolete version that no longer responds to market and business needs will quickly generate a loss. Make sure your partner sets the right focus and follows market demands and recent updates.

At this point, my recommendation is to take some time to define and evaluate your business goals. Finding answers to the nagging questions - how do we want to operate, what are our expectations and what do we want to achieve over the first year of existence and the next five years. Add the unknowns - predictions of how the market may evolve and what the expectations of partners and users are. This will help plan the resources and reveal potential areas of focus. Perhaps an additional niche will be discovered that is worth developing. The e-mobility market is 

 and now is a good time for a profound analysis. Some answers can be provided by open standards development organizations. Be familiar with OCPP, OICP, and OCPI standards. Follow the recent trends and updates to make sure you respond to market requirements accurately. This will help you scale fast. Besides, don’t forget about your defined personas, final recipients of your service. Whether it’s off-the-shelf or custom-made, it won't work if we don't 

 to user requirements. Letting ourselves off the hook will quickly put us out of business. If having difficulties recognizing your needs, don’t hesitate to leave a message. We’ll gladly help!


Psst! On the right drop your email address to get useful CPO platform requirements.

Pros and cons of ready-made and a custom Charge Point Operator platform. Click to learn more.

Custom Charge Point Operator platform - pros and cons

How to design and develop the eMobility Service Platform to manage interoperability?

When operating on the e-mobility market or considering becoming an eMobility Service Provider, the key is to identify and design the right flow. In this article, as a group of professionals developing such concepts, we want to share a verified methodology. This supports the setup of key components of major importance while developing a secure, stable, and functional eMobility Service Platform. We have already tested these principles and decided to share our insights, hoping some might find them helpful.

When deciding to operate in a booming e-mobility market, apart from doing extensive research - and taking the first necessary steps toward a feasibility study, it’s worth adopting some good, tested, and proven practices.

One of the efficient methods that prove that the solution will serve is 

. It’s the concept, widely used in IT, that helps organize the structure and language of software code matching the business domain. To develop the notable outcomes, there's Event Storming to offer a helping hand.

Note: Individual event names may differ (it's more of a naming issue), but the workflow’s general idea is always followed.

 , to generate a widely appreciated service, you need to set in the center the final user’s needs. Keep that in mind while Event Storming. The general idea is to think about each step that needs to happen seamlessly to the subsequent one. And how each must be secured to ensure the entire flow is stable and smooth. Before you start the discovery process, make sure all the participants are familiar with the methodology and necessary tools are provided. This will help develop a final roadmap for a proper eMobility Service Platform and guarantees a smooth flow of the workshop. You’ll need:

sticky notes in five various colors, it’s up to you which colors to choose

a large surface for modeling (e.g., A large sheet of paper taped to the wall works well)

step-by-step view of the process on an extra board for a clear overview of the Event Storming process

a lead person (facilitator) who will keep the entire process running smoothly

a group of people representing various domains, e.g., business, IT, marketing

The workshop can also be attended remotely. When the conditions do not allow participants to gather together in one place, the workshop can be conducted by distance. You can use a tool like miro in the digital variant - an online visual collaboration platform for teamwork that will solve the markers, post-its, and surface puzzle. The digital approach can also be seen as more environmentally friendly since we can create and edit each piece online without wasting paper. After all, the Event Storming outcomes must be digitalized, so the digital tool may be a good idea. Whichever variant you choose, each approach - remote or stationary - will be efficient.

Now briefly, let's clarify the roles of individual components.

Each color represents a different area. This is why diverse colors will help visually and logically picture particular subject areas. ‘True’ Event Storming purism 

 the colors for you, here we suggest the following:

Orange color - is used at the first step to define each event that should happen on the path to accomplishing the operation. Note: Events should always be described in the past tense, e.g., Invoice was generated, Charging has stopped.

Yellow color - used at the second stage of the storming to define ‘actors’ - people involved in an event or process. The goal is to recognize if external involvement is needed, e.g., Portal user, Support team member.

Purple color - being used at the third stage of storming, representing the system, external or internal, involved in the process. The objective is to highlight external involvement. e.g., Third-party API, Billing system.

Red color - represents the next step taken in the process - defining hot spots - indicating the lack of precise knowledge, doubts, or bullet points - a spot of disagreement between participants. The objective is to mark areas that need deeper insight, e.g., automatic price calculation, events order.

Green color - identifying opportunities - to specify areas where something works well and could be improved or space for fast growth. It can be a good support for the hotspot cards (red color), demonstrating a problem-solving approach, e.g., applying 

The lead person (a facilitator) guides participants through the process, keeps everything in order, and groups into aggregates.

The storming group - representatives of various areas: business, development, and marketing. The more diverse the group is, the outcome might be richer. Note: it’s not about the quantity, but rather the quality. And by quality, we mean the representation of different areas of business. The good idea is to make sure the most influential and knowledgeable people on the studied topic are invited. They are supposed to have some domain expertise (but seen from various perspectives). In this particular case, the idea is to meet IT requirements with business-related goals to provide an efficient, stable eMobility Service Platform.

Brainstorming: should take about 10-20% of the time, it is suggested to give participants ca. 15 minutes for individual work. Break: 5-10 minutes.

Verifying the ideas and backward walkthrough: about 60-80% of the time. You can make a short break about 5-10 min. between verifying ideas and backtracking events. Identifying Hotspots, commands, and actors: max 5-10% of the time.

Depending on the project’s size, in this particular case, working on eMobility Service Platform Functional Requirements, the Event Storming should take +/- one hour.

The actual storming phase starts when all needed components are set. The Lead (facilitator) should do a brief introduction to ensure all participants understand the following steps and outcomes. When it comes to brainstorming the eMSP, our outcome will be a service platform offering easy and secure access to the charging infrastructure. This is why the information board should be provided and handily arranged for the group.

In this phase, each participant defines events - all the steps that sequentially have to happen to complete the action. In our case, it will be to describe the user’s path to use a service - to charge an EV successfully.

Note: Participants should be familiar with the user’s profile - an EV owner who needs to charge the vehicle smoothly.

The Brainstorming starts with a brief individual defining. This should be a round of 15 min. Separately, all partakers are intended to distinguish the required steps. The aim here is not to specify each step, rather gather all interactions necessary for the flow.

After Brainstorming, the Lead (facilitator) asks each participant to present individual outcomes. This is the part when the group forms together with the roadmap. Identified steps can (and should) come up repeatedly. That’s ok. It shows common parts recognized individually. It also indicates that the group was selected properly and is familiar with the general idea of the flow that needs to be shaped. At this stage, because our team is diverse, each described actions may vary, depending on what area is represented. That’s perfectly fine.

Having formed the initial roadmap, the facilitator takes charge. With the storming group, the duty is to do the actual verification. A vital part of event storming, when developing an idea, is to begin from the end and backtrack event by event to check if no significant action was overlooked. The general scheme for backtracking is asking such questions:

What has happened before X?
Is X a consequence of Y?
Is there something more happening between X and Y?

Post-its in yellow, purple, red, and green color will be needed for the following steps.

Step three: identifying red spots, defining commands and actors

By analyzing and stepping back, the Lead (facilitator) with the group ask repetitive questions, like ‘are we sure this is all we need to complete the action?’, ‘is this step secured?’, ‘how will it be secured?’, ‘are there any other options available?’, ‘how do we want to handle the billing - externally or internally?’. The objective is to identify three areas:

Hotspots (here we suggest using red post-its - from a psychological point of view, red color is one of the most visible colors in the spectrum, has the ability to grab people’s attention instantly, hence is often used to warn of impending danger. For a good reason, the term ‘red flag’ is used to indicate warning signs)
When developing an idea, it’s good to indicate areas for improvement strongly. In our case, enhancing the emerging platform, to know what might be concerning. The sooner such areas are mapped out, the more time and resources will be saved when developing the project. If we identify a considerable number of such spots, it may also be a signal to consider engaging external agencies with specific domain expertise.

Commands & actors will need 2 extra post-it colors to mark commands like ‘execute payment,’ ‘issue invoice’, and actors, simply defining if the external or internal system is responsible for the command execution. This step helps decision making and provides extra insight into our roadmap. At this stage, we consider which parts of the process will be executed by our system and which will be on the side of e.g. CPO or payment system.

Having defined all requirements, the last step is to identify which area might be the biggest issue (causing the most problematic - interfere with the smooth flow of the overall manner, e.g., calculating the price, storing the CDR, executing the critical step when the process failed ‘no-show payment.’ At this point, again, each participant defines the area which they feel is a contentious one).

Note: Additionally, while identifying hotspots, commands, and actors, opportunities might be spotted. When we acknowledge we have the know-how or already witnessed similar issues and solved them, we can point out these opportunities, e.g., Areas where we can apply automation, or use a well-working, already tested solution (taking this step, you’ll need an extra post-it color).

When the Event Storming is done, it’s time to digitize the outcome. A well-conducted storming session should result in a roadmap, providing a sharp picture of what we want to achieve, obstacles we may encounter, and areas where we can recognize some opportunities.

Note: a key to reach any complete roadmap is to define at the beginning a clear goal. People tend to lose track when the scope is not specified enough. This helps to avoid the occurrence of insignificant events. This also explains why Event Storming needs a good Lead (facilitator). Keeping an eye on the storming’s smooth flow, focusing on a language, asking specific questions, detecting significant details and unclear aspects (e.g., marking hotspots), forming the main path and sidetracks.

The event is done, participants are tired but also satisfied after being creative, collaborative, and effective. After the storming, the domain architect steps in to discover and validate the subdomains.

Determining emerging subdomains cannot be omitted. There are dozens of heuristics and techniques for developing, and none of them are universal. Here are a few worth mentioning: company structure, domain expert division, domain expert language, business value, business process steps.

Event storming shapes our process, clarifying each step that must be taken to complete the session. As mentioned initially, on top of our service is the final user - an EV driver. Having the storming session done, subdomains defined, and the Big Picture, we can move more confidently to the next steps of the eMSP platform development. Successful execution of such a Storming Event will allow you to build a feasible timeline, identify areas that may be challenging, and help better estimate the financial outlay. In consequence - design and develop the eMobility Service Platform and drive interoperability.

Note: when having doubts about whether you will be able to carry out such workshops on your own, you can ask for guidance from an agency focusing on designing and conducting such events or a partner specializing in software development and domain support.

Psst! On the right, you can spot a box - drop your e-mail to check and verify a key eMSP Platform Functional Requirements.

Custom vs off-the-shelf software products? Our response to the dilemma

15 FEBRUARY 2022 • 7 MIN READ