security. confidence. convincing. seasoned.

Thomas Rosenmayr

As co-founder of nexxar, I am responsible for Marketing and Sales. Out of a deep conviction, I have dedicated myself to this very demanding project from the outset. This keeps me up to speed with the highest requirements in day-to-day project management.

It all began with a simple e-mail in the summer of 2006. After a year on parental leave, during which I was at least occasionally able to spend some time thinking while sitting in a children’s playground, I decided to try another expansion step with regard to sales. I wanted to enthuse the non-German-speaking world with our kind of online reporting. It was clear to me from our market observations that the United Kingdom was a good place for online annual reports. So it seemed very opportune to me when somebody from Shell registered for our Benchmark Analysis in July. I immediately got in touch and offered to come to London for a discussion. The answer from Alex came promptly: they were interested, but were no longer stationed in London - rather in The Hague. I changed my travel plans at short notice and in September 2006 entered the headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell in Carel van Bylandtlaan in The Hague for the very first time “The rest is history,” I could now write smilingly.

Landing page 2010 Yet that was actually just the beginning of a long, sometimes also stressful period of persuasion. Presentations on process and server security, technical specifications, detailed cost breakdowns and draft contracts as well as comprehensive “Security Risk Assessments” were the most important elements. The final “Go!” only came after 24 December, yet it was like a big Christmas present! Being able to convince one of the world’s largest companies massively boosted our self-confidence as a small, Austrian niche provider. At the time, it was clear to us that success had nothing to do with the size of a company, but much more with quality and passion.

As a global company, Shell needs a high level of security and professionalism. Confidence is the basis, but has to be achieved through hard work - above all through honesty and commitment. It isn’t easy to say to such an important customer: “Sorry, no, we can’t do that!” Yet precisely that was positively reported back to us by Shell on many occasions.

Our assignment comprised the online implementation of four reports, which appear annually and which we have been granted permission to prepare for the fifth year in a row this year.

• Annual Report 20-f
• Annual Review
• Sustainaibility Report
• Investors’ Handbook (FAOI)

Below, I would like to take you on a brief journey through time. Have a look at the development of Shell’s online reports over the past five years:

2006 The first step is the hardest

Already the annual report for the first year required a special solution, as Shell - due to legal problems in the past - shied away from a tailored online conversion. Not even the page numbers could be omitted; simply everything had to remain as it was in the printed version. We therefore “invented” an automated solution based on the HTML content that is compulsory for submission to the US stock exchange supervisory authority, the SEC.

20-f 2006 We supplemented the SEC HTML with a tree navigation that was automatically read from the table of contents and added a search function as well as simple tools such as “e-mail this page”. Of course, the experience was not what we had in mind for our “User Experience”, but it was a first step, and Shell was impressed by our competence to provide solutions when dealing with the stringent guidelines of the legal department. See also Dominic Jones point 3 inNotes on the annual report webinar“

Review 2006 The other reports for the first year (Annual Review, Sustainability Report, Investors’ Handbook), however, were tailored online implementations. Compared to Shell’s earlier online reports, we were able to offer numerous new functions: the expanded hit display, Excel downloads of all tables, cross-references, Print Manager and a keyword access, to name just a few. A special screen design task in the first year was to create a flexible (fluid) layout that made all content ideally visible for a screen size of 600 x 800 pixels, but without creating a white edge at higher screen resolutions. This was not only a technical, but also a structural implementation task. Thus, on a small screen size, it had to be possible to show pictures across the full width of the screen, and at a high resolution floating automatically with text blocks.

Two other important technical tasks also had to be solved. On the one hand, the legal department demanded a session-dependent “disclaimer page”, which had to be accepted by each user before visiting the report. On the other, our own requirements demanded the facilitation of direct (deep) links into the sub-pages of the report and the indexing of the contents for search machines.

As we also took over the hosting of the Shell reports, we had to present an effective concept to protect against defacement attacks. We solved this with a clever yet simple MD5/SHA512 file size check, which we now use for all our reports.

Once again it turned out that you grow with your tasks. And what is much more important: new solutions also improve the service we give our existing customers.

Right at the beginning of our cooperation with Shell, we used our high level of deployment readiness and unconditional approach to addressing special customer needs to lay the foundation stone for the high level of confidence that characterises this special customer relationship to this day.

2007 Confidence bears fruit

Building on the confidence from our first year of cooperation, we persuaded Shell to implement a web-appropriate version of the annual report (Form 20-F) in the second year.The high precision of data transfer, which we put to the test in the Review, Sustainability Report and Investors’ Handbook, was decisive in this. 20-f 2007 Start page

Furthermore, a new web style guide was developed at Shell in 2007, which we had to take account of when implementing the new report. At the same time, we wanted to incorporate further useful tools alongside the functions already used in the Review.

Start page of the 2007 report

The Flash animation with shells that change colour illustrates the different report colours of yellow/orange/blue and green. In addition, a clear highlight box with Javascript sliders and teasers for the most important functions was added.

20-f 2007 Chart Generator An important step towards greater interactivity was our Chart Generator Module, used for the first time in 2003. Key figures and periods can be individually presented, either as tables, line or bar charts. The option to download these as HTML, XLS or image files for further use offers the user a valuable additional benefit

Having used them for the first time in all four Shell reports in 2007, we worked together to develop a detailed wish list for enhancing the Chart Generator. This roadmap has significantly characterised the ongoing development and improvement of the core of our interactive report authoring.

Create your own PDF

20-f 2007 create PDF This PDF Manager, developed for the Shell 2007 report, enables the composition of a tailored PDF, containing only the parts/chapters selected for the user. The user generates a tailored PDF by selecting the required parts of the report using checkboxes.

Download manager

The Download Manager was also used for the first time in 2007. Designed for visual clarity, it has a shopping basket function for downloading selected Excel and PDF files in a ZIP file. 20-f 2007 Downloads

We also integrated a feedback form and our layer glossary for the first time. With this firework display of innovations, the Shell online annual report 2007 certainly marks the biggest step towards web-appropriate online reports from the user’s point of view.

2008 The online report grows up

The most important change in 2008 was Shell’s decision to produce the printed 20-F annual report without coloured elements. In order to simplify the SEC submission process (Form 20-F), absolutely no photographs were used. Necessary graphics were implemented in black and white only.

20-f 2008 Interaktive Diagramme Our task was to “balance” this reduction in the online report. Board and image photos were taken from the Annual Review or the extensive Shell image library. The graphics, however, needed special treatment. In order to achieve the greatest value for the users, we decided to make these interactive. The dynamic structure created attention and invited the user to discover the additional features with the mouse.

In the second year of a complete HTML version, we also implemented the last year comparison, which is used in most of our reports, in 2008. This offers a direct link on each web page to the corresponding content of the previous year’s report.

20-f 2008 Find as you type Also in use for the first time, the “find-as-you-type” search: as the user enters a search term, this feature generates a list beneath the search box with a maximum of ten items containing matching terms. The list is ranked by hit frequency and adjusts automatically to the entered words. This feature makes it possible to adapt the search to terms commonly used in the reports and is an efficient way of locating the most important hits.

2009 Fresher and more interactive

2009 once again saw a redesign analogous to the planned new website style guide. This time around, however, the redesign had to be carried out “blindly”, as the shell.com relaunch was scheduled for after the reports went online.

Shell Miniworld

20-f 2009 Miniworld In 2009, we integrated an animation of the Shell business model into the online report for the first time. Based on the 3D template of the printed report, the dynamism of the business report was clearly illustrated through movement of the elements and mouseover information.

Share-it tools

Another innovation in 2009 was the integration of over 100 social media platforms into the Share-it function, which is now available to users in the right-hand service column.

Super Download manager

20-f 2009 Download manager There were two main objectives behind the redesign of the Download Manager: firstly, to make the Download Manager quick to learn through visually clear illustration, and secondly, to integrate the function of the PDF Manager for compiling tailored PDFs. This Super Download Manager therefore centrally combined all possibilities for further use of the available electronic data.

2010 Integrated Reporting

Most of this year’s developments focussed on improved integration of the four online reports. The intention was to make it possible for users to change quickly between the reports, 20-f 2010 Change Report in order to use positive interactions within the scope of the integrated reporting.

Change Report Layer

A layer enabling the user to change directly between the online reports for the year under review appears over the Change Report teaser at the top of the screen.

Zoom-Tool (magnifier)

20-f 2010 Zoom-Tool To improve the usability of the Investors’ Handbook, which is equipped with numerous maps, we developed a zoom function. Clicking on the relevant map zooms in on it and enables the mouse to be used for direct navigation within the map.

Video Gallery

Explanatory videos on YouTube are now directly linked to several points in the Annual Review and the Investors’ Handbook. 20-f 2010 Video Galerie In order to make this function even more convenient for users to access, a video gallery has also been integrated on the start page of these reports for direct playback of all YouTube videos.

Summary

The close cooperation with such a demanding customer as Shell significantly expanded both our technical and process possibilities. Ongoing impetus has characterised our entrepreneurial development, led by ideas of permanent improvement and the knowledge that we can achieve everything we want!