Self-Service Portal – Unified Experience for HOT Customers

Goal

This project focused on upgrading and refactoring HOT’s legacy self-service portal – Self-Service Zone (VPN required). The objective was to modernize the system by unifying backend services, CMS-driven content, and a responsive frontend.

Key Milestones

1. Designed and implemented a service abstraction layer to expose structured data from internal systems, enabling integration with the newly built backend.
2. Built a new content management back office using Umbraco, based on detailed specification documents. Collaborated with system implementers to streamline the CMS usage.
3. Leveraged Umbraco CMS in a headless setup, feeding dynamic content to the frontend application.
4. Translated design mockups into a dynamic, responsive Angular 10 UI, following Material Design principles.

Technologies Used

• Database: SQL Server
• Backend: .NET Framework 4.8, .NET Core 3.1, SOAP, RESTful APIs
• Frontend: Angular 10, JavaScript, jQuery, CSS3
• CMS: Umbraco 8 (Headless)

Project Highlights & Challenges

Umbraco Back Office Design

The original specification was created by non-technical stakeholders unfamiliar with Umbraco, resulting in:

• Excessive abstraction layers within the CMS
• Inefficient data structures that deeply nested required elements

Solution

• Collaborated with the design team to revise and simplify the CMS specifications.
• Integrated an open-source NuGet package to improve and flatten data retrieval from Umbraco’s headless API.

Integration with CRM & Billing Systems

The backend relied on multiple internal systems, but:

• Access to data was restricted due to infosec and role-based limitations.
• Some existing services were incompatible with the new architecture.

Solution

• Rewrote parts of the services from scratch in .NET Core, ensuring compliance with security policies.
• Refactored business logic to align with modern service boundaries and authentication constraints.

This project was a deep dive into bridging enterprise legacy systems with modern web architecture. It also required balancing CMS flexibility, security concerns, and frontend usability—all while collaborating across teams with competing priorities.