Customer cases

Afvalstoffendienst Den Bosch

Getting a grip on the waste chain in Den Bosch

From six separate source systems to one reliable view of the entire waste chain.

6

source systems that come together in the lakehouse

1

lakehouse as a shared foundation for the whole chain

3

types of data products: dashboards, workflow applications and APIs

In brief

Customer

Afvalstoffendienst ’s-Hertogenbosch

Solution

Data lakehouse with dashboards, workflow applications and APIs

Goal

One reliable view of the entire waste chain

The project

At Afvalstoffendienst ’s-Hertogenbosch, six specialised source systems each support their own part of the process. Together, they record large volumes of data every day.

Reliable dashboards, workflow applications and APIs run on that data, which the whole organisation uses to steer every day, from the business office to the recycling centre. The platform forms a shared foundation for the entire chain. The business office, tactical planning, planning, the recycling centre and KGA (Small Hazardous Waste) work with the same underlying data, each from their own perspective: strategic, tactical or operational.

Six source systems, one lakehouse

Afvalstoffendienst ’s-Hertogenbosch handles the collection and processing of household and commercial waste for the Municipality of Den Bosch and surrounding municipalities. Clappform brings together all systems around collection and processing, from ERP and vehicle navigation to weighing systems and recycling centres. The sources come together in one data lakehouse, a central place where all data is stored and prepared for use.

Clear, the ERP system that forms the administrative and financial foundation of the organisation

Webfleet, with the vehicle and route data of the collection fleet

Waste Vision, for collection on routes and at underground containers

Jama, for collection on routes and at underground containers

Welvaarts, with the weighing data from the vehicles

Signalen, with reports from public space and from residents

Together, these sources capture the entire process: weights between collection and processing, container emptyings per container and per round, trips driven, vehicle movements, separated waste fractions, visits and processed volumes at the recycling centres, and the analyses and route optimisations that follow.

The challenge

As long as the systems stand apart, there is no overall picture. Steering at tactical and operational level requires figures from several sources at once. Those figures must be correct, current and readable in the same way for everyone. That means switching between separate systems before a complete picture is on the table. Each department looks at the same process from its own perspective.

The solution

Clappform connects all source systems and brings the data together in one central lakehouse. This creates one reliable and current source for everything that happens within the waste chain, from the moment a container is emptied to processing at the recycling centre.

The lakehouse is a full part of Clappform itself. The functionality of a standalone lakehouse environment is built into the low-code data platform, where development takes very little manual code. Data ingestion, transformation, storage, governance (the agreements on data management and access) and model-based processing are all part of it. As a result, Afvalstoffendienst does not have to manage or connect a separate lakehouse environment. Everything stays within one platform, from raw source data to analysis-ready data product.

From the lakehouse, Clappform builds data products tailored to the user and the question at hand. They fall into three categories:

Dashboards for insight and steering: Management gets strategic and tactical steering information on performance, trends and progress at organisation level. Operational teams use dashboards that sit closer to daily work, with planning, capacity and progress per process.

Workflow applications for execution: Besides insight, Clappform builds applications that drive the work itself, with ERP-like functionality used, for example, to carry out container management. The platform is therefore more than a reporting layer: staff carry out their daily tasks in it, with underlying data that is current and consistent.

APIs for access and integration: Clappform delivers the underlying data through APIs as a standalone data product. An API is an interface through which systems exchange data with each other. Other systems and applications, including outside the Afvalstoffendienst, can therefore use the same current and reliable figures. Nobody has to re-enter or retype information. The lakehouse is therefore a source of insight and a building block for further system integration.

Data flowSources, validation rules and storage

Example

Sources

REST API

Database

SFTP

Excel and CSV

Validation rules

valid

error

valid

Data storage

Loaded and validated

Scheduled jobsRunning

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun

Example of the solution, with fictional data.

The result

All source systems come together in one lakehouse. Nobody at the Afvalstoffendienst has to switch between separate systems any more to get a complete picture. Dashboards, workflow applications and APIs use the same data. Decisions at every level rest on current and consistent figures, from daily planning to management steering. Other systems reuse the same source without duplicated work. The organisation steers with more overview and control over collection, processing and service delivery, from one platform for steering, execution and integration.

How Clappform helps organisations with their data challenges

Data is spread across separate systems, is not always current and moves from one system to another through scripts and manual work. Reporting and steering therefore remain dependent on manual effort.

Clappform connects the existing systems and checks the data on every load. Teams see what happens to each file or record. An error is visible, can be fixed and can be restarted.

Dashboards, reports, APIs and AI models run on the same integrated data. The platform is built on Common Ground, with data storage in the EU or in the Netherlands and low-code development.

Want to explore the possibilities?

Diego Tolen

Head of Product & Data