CASE STUDY BOOK

MUNICIPAL TRANSPORT AUTHORITY IN RZESZÓW: NEXT STOP TO SMART CITY.

 

Client.

 

The Municipal Transport Authority (ZTM) in Rzeszów is an organizational unit of the Municipality of Rzeszów. It is responsible for the functioning of the city’s public transport, including bus stations. It manages the Local Bus Station in Rzeszów as well as its infrastructure and IT systems dealing with monitoring, vehicle traffic and passenger information, among others. The station is the largest public bus transport interchange in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. Private and public carriers use it as a hub for local, long-distance and international vehicle transport.

With a goal to improve the comfort of tourists and residents, ZTM decided to implement modern bus traffic management tools at the Local Bus Station in Rzeszów. It was interested in an innovative solution which would provide travelers and drivers with the best conditions. Therefore, in 2016 it decided to implement the “Local Bus Station” Interchange Management System. For the implementation of this project it chose the consortium of Asseco Data Systems (ADS) and ML Systems. It was responsible for developing a dedicated monitoring and lighting system and providing access to information that would facilitate travel planning. The investment was co-financed from the European Union (EU) funds.

Implementation.

 

In the project, ADS was responsible for the creation of the bus station’s modern IT infrastructure. The goal was to provide passengers with safe and comfortable use of public transport, both on local and long-distance routes, and enable convenient access to information. To this end, ADS implemented the Interchange Management System which provided ZTM with the following functions:

 

  • static timetable management
  • automatic response to changes in ongoing bus runs based on information obtained from vehicles
  • displaying dynamic passenger information on platform boards, collective boards and monitors in the waiting room
  • automatic voice announcements both in the waiting room and on platforms
  • information about current events in the local area
  • registration of vehicles entering and leaving the station
  • monitoring of vehicles’ duration of use of stop platforms
  • automatic ticket sales
  • monitoring of the building and the station area

 

The Interchange Management System is a modular, coherent platform which facilitates the management of the interchange point by automating several processes. In order to ensure the maximum data security, the central software has been installed on a computing cluster. It is equipped with a backup system and the function of data replication to another location. The system is managed from an operator station or remotely via the Internet. This allows to maintain the correctness of ongoing bus runs, control vehicles on the maneuvering area and monitor the safety of travelers (thanks to the system of 36 cameras). The software is equipped with a module for creating and editing timetables. It also provides all types of bus run markings defined in the Regulation of the Minister of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy on timetables.
As part of the project, ADS has equipped all bus stops with double-sided LED boards. They inform passengers about upcoming bus runs at the entire interchange point, possible delays and changes of bus positions on platforms. People with disabilities can find a dedicated button on each board which enables them to listen to information contained therein. Additionally, the system has enabled the operators to automatically play voice messages, based on predefined content.
In addition, ADS has implemented a monitoring system which allows to charge carriers correctly for the use of the facility and inform the relevant services about the cases of unauthorized entry. The station building, platforms and maneuvering area have been equipped with video surveillance, which allows the staff to track potential threats. ADS has also provided and installed the ANPR and overview cameras – the former recognize license plates and the latter identify vehicle categories in a local analytical software, among others. They automate the processes of vehicle control and reporting of detected infringements. In turn, the efficient backup system has ensured high throughput and data security. All active devices are located in a dedicated server room equipped with several security features.

The station has been provided with the most modern equipment, including interactive colorful LED panels on platforms and in the waiting room, which inform about bus runs, a special button, which activates voice information for blind people, a 24-hour ticket vending machine and an infokiosk – all these functionalities help plan a journey more conveniently. The facility is fully covered with photovoltaic panels, which results in a zero-emission and energy self-sufficient public facility.
The implementation of the system was completed in December 2018, one month before the opening of the Local Bus Station in Rzeszów. The innovative solutions used there make it the most modern facility of this type in Poland. It has become the pride of Rzeszów and the bus communication hub.

As part of the improvement of public transport in Rzeszów, ADS simultaneously implemented the “Extension of ITS bus stop infrastructure” project for ZTM, under which the company developed the Intelligent BUS Stop Monitoring System. It was integrated with Resovian Intelligent Transport System and electronic passenger information, which has been functioning for several years now, including monitoring of the parking area, interactive bus stop panels and ticket vending machines. The project supplemented the existing infrastructure with 6 additional ticketing devices and 16 new electronic passenger information LED panels. A system of intelligent traffic supervision in bus bays was also installed at 47 Rzeszów bus stops. The installation equipped with video surveillance and information processing equipment, as well as the necessary telecommunication devices, provided the residents with greater safety and comfort of using public transport, and allowed to detect cases of illegal use of ZTM’s bays on bus stops.
The project implementation, which lasted from March to December 2018, was appreciated by both users and sector experts. In 2019, during the Smart City Forum Gala, it received the Smart City Award in the “Smart City Solution” category.

 

Key benefits.

 

Thanks to the project implementation, the Local Bus Station in Rzeszów can now offer a new, higher standard of communication with passengers, who can plan trips on their own, using the so-called info kiosks installed at the interchange points. They also have easy access to the most up-to-date information, adapted to the needs of disabled people.
As a result of the successful implementation, ZTM is now equipped with a system that monitors vehicles using the station’s infrastructure, makes it possible to verify authorizations and report irregularities. Finally, it enables easy updating of the timetable and verifying adherence to it by bus drivers.
Asseco’s solution has increased the safety of travelers. The cooperation between ADS and ZTM has allowed for the integration of all ICT solutions with other public transport support systems already operating in the city.
The use of intelligent, modern data collection analytics ensures access to a wide variety of information, and thus a central supervision of the station’s functioning. Thanks to the project, Rzeszów is home to the first energy self-sufficient bus terminal in Poland.

Project in numbers:

16
months of project implementation
36
security cameras ensuring safety of travelers
~ 800
bus runs per day monitored by the system
6,100 m2
of area monitored by the system
> 10,000
passengers served daily
26,000
meters of cabling used
~ 1 million
vehicles using the station annually

“This is the first system of this kind in Poland, because Rzeszów was the first to diagnose the problem and its negative impact on the functioning of the city transport. I am pleased that it was our team which carried out this pioneering project, allowing to create an intelligent and ecological facility. The station is fully covered with photovoltaics – the panels are located on the facade, bus shelters and even blinds. The air conditioning system can automatically adapt to the weather outside. As a result, it is a zero-emission and energy self-sufficient structure” – said Paweł Sokołowski, Director of the Digital City Infrastructure Division, Asseco Data Systems.

“By implementing another innovative project with Asseco, Rzeszów has strengthened its leading position in the market of Smart City solutions, of which we are very proud. I am convinced that this new undertaking will contribute to greater comfort of Rzeszów’s citizens using public transport” – said Marek Ustrobiński, Deputy Mayor of Rzeszów.

“Digital solutions supporting the functioning of transport in Rzeszów are a very good example of spectacular investments, which certainly should be mentioned when talking about Polish Smart Cities. Owing to this project, the capital city of the Podkarpacie region is now equipped with a number of innovative systems supporting communication and increasing the comfort of travelers, and the Local Station has become its best showpiece” – said Andrzej Dopierała, President of the Management Board, Asseco Data Systems.

WARSAW CITY HALL: CIVIC INVESTMENT.

 

Client.

 

The Warsaw City Hall is a public administration unit responsible for public safety and order, education, infrastructure, as well as the environmental protection and promotion of Poland’s capital city. It pursues its objectives through the city authorities and 18 auxiliary units – the districts of the Capital City of Warsaw.
An important part of the city hall’s activities is the management of the municipal budget, from which each year some share of funds is allocated for the implementation of the projects selected by the residents. It is within the framework of the civic budget that Warsaw residents can create, submit and vote for the selected initiatives. Owing to this, they have a real impact on what will be created in their immediate vicinity, in other districts or in the whole of Warsaw. The city authorities wanted to make it easier for the residents to participate in this process because they had to visit the city offices in person each time they wanted to submit an application or vote for a project of their choice. Therefore, in 2019, on the occasion of the next edition of the citizens’ budget, the city hall decided to implement a new design of the zet.WIBO application and to modify the functionalities to improve the work of Warsaw’s officials. For the implementation of the project the city hall chose Asseco Data Systems (ADS) – the developer of the solution. The company was entrusted with the task of adapting the application to the new requirements.

 

Implementation.

 

The main objective of the project was to automate the process of implementing the civic budget in the field of vote counting, results analysis and reporting, as well as communication with the citizens. According to the agreement, ADS was responsible for modifying the zet.WIBO application and adapting it to the specific needs of the city hall. The project was based on the Kaizen Japanese business philosophy, which assumes constant improvement of the functioning of individual processes. This is done gradually, with the support of all parties involved in the implementation, which allows for a selective elimination of any detected inconsistencies. Such an approach allows to improve the operation of the application at every stage of the civic budget process.
The adaptation of zet.WIBO to the new standards required the modification of two parts of the application – both the one intended for the residents and the one including the tools used by the employees of individual offices, districts and units. The application’s functionalities have been modified so to allow Warsaw residents to remotely modify the submitted applications, view the project evaluation card and verify the level of their implementation, as well as participate in virtual discussions making it possible to submit their comments and suggestions. ADS has also provided the users with access to the full history of projects implemented in the previous five years – they can be located on an interactive map created especially for this purpose.
The goal of zet.WIBO’s operation is to ensure the transparency and credibility of all the processes taking place, including full identification of the choices made by the residents. The application also ensures a high level of security features, which allow not only to keep the data confidential, but also to verify the correctness of the votes cast and reduce the risk related to the use of someone else’s identity.
The biggest challenge during the project was the automation of activities and the implementation of tools improving the implementation of the civic budget in 18 districts of the city and at the city-wide level. This involved the need to give about a thousand employees the roles and permissions that were necessary to handle the process properly.
The Warsaw City Hall has been using the zet.WIBO application since 2014. Since then ADS has been responsible for maintaining the solution and adapting it to the subsequent editions of the civic budget.

Project milestones.

  • Determination of technical and substantive requirements
  • Analysis of specifications
  • Implementation of changes in zet.WIBO application
  • Providing test environment
  • Production launch of application

 

Key benefits.

 

The project has improved the management of the civic budget in all districts of the capital city of Warsaw. It has allowed, among other things, to reduce the number of incorrectly submitted applications and speed up the whole process. It has also contributed to increasing the involvement of the capital’s residents, who can now remotely engage in activities in their neighborhood and co-decide on spending local budgets. As a result, over 105,000 people took part in the 2020 edition of the budget, (88% electronically), i.e. by 17.5% more than in the previous year. Through the application, they can not only submit and vote for projects online, but also have access to the history of their activities since the creation of their account.
Thanks to the project implementation, the city hall’s employees have gained a number of tools that allow them to increase the efficiency of office work and reduce the paper circulation of documents. The digitization of this process has significantly accelerated and facilitated, among others, counting votes, verifying the correctness of applications, as well as filtering and sorting them. Through the application, the users can also easily verify the status of individual projects, send a message, add documentation to projects, and generate the necessary statements.

Project in numbers:

18
Warsaw districts covered by application
80 %
number of electronic applications increased to 88% in last edition
~ 1,000
employees with access to zet.WIBO
~ 2,000
projects filed for 2020
> 105,000
votes cast in 2020 edition
> 1.7 million
inhabitants of capital city with possibility to submit projects and vote online
~ PLN 83 million
allocated from 2020 civic budget

“The development of e-services is very important for the proper functioning of local governments, therefore in this project we focused on the automation of the process of implementing the civic budget. Extending the zet.WIBO application with new functionalities has significantly improved the process of counting of votes, their analysis and reporting of voting results, as well as the communication with residents. Today they can submit their proposals and vote not only in the offices, but also online and thus decide remotely which project will be implemented” – Ewa Kolankiewicz, Director of the Social Communication Centre, Warsaw City Hall.

“zet.WIBO has been on the market for several years and we are pioneers in this area. The product is being extended along with the development of the participation idea in Warsaw. We can safely say that it is the capital city officials who set the tone for the changes introduced in the zet.WIBO application, and Warsaw is our most demanding partner. As the solution’s provider we listen carefully to our customers and respond to their needs. We are building a solution that is open to further development” – said Tomasz Winiarski, Head of the SaaS Solutions Team, Asseco Data Systems.

“The solution we have developed in Asseco Data Systems has been operating in Polish cities since 2013. However, it is not always a ready-made product in a box, as its functionalities are often modified according to the expectations and specific needs of customers. This is especially important for the largest cities. In each project, we analyze the detailed approach of decision-makers to the entire process of the civic budget, including the issues of transparency, the way of accounting and reporting activities, or communication with the residents. All this to provide a tailor-made solution” – said Jarosław Jastrzębski, Vice President of the Management Board, Asseco Data Systems.

MINISTRY OF INTERIOR OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC: IN FRONT OF RESIDENTS.

 

Client.

 

The Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic is the public administration’s central body responsible for the internal security of the country and the preservation of public order, among other things. It also focuses on the implementation of the e-Administration Strategy of the Czech Republic, which assumes the digital transformation of the public administration entities across the country.
In 2016, the Ministry decided to build Citizen Portal – a platform that was to constitute a single, centralized access point to e-services. The project implementation was the responsibility, among others, of Asseco Central Europe (Asseco CE) – a company of the Asseco Group, which co-developed the solution’s architecture and implemented its selected front-end elements.
The project was carried out under the umbrella of the National Agency for Communications and IT Technologies (NAKIT), which is a strategic partner of the state providing communication and information services for the rescue service, security forces and public administration.

 

Implementation.

 

The aim of the project was to build and create an omni-channel platform that would ensure efficient and secure communication between the citizen and the public entities of the Czech Republic. Under the project, the following key functionalities have been implemented:

  • Life Situation Guide
  • Issue Status Monitoring
  • Notification Services
  • Overview of an Individual’s
  • Data Processed by the State
  • Central Payment Gate
  • Information Channels
  • Guaranteed Document Storage
  • Third Party Services Panels

 

The platform is supported by the Microsoft Azure software and uses a complex integration approach. It is based on innovative open source technologies that make it possible to modify existing modules and further expand the solution according to future needs. Its development also required the implementation of authentication tools, such as an electronic identity card. In addition, one of the goals was to provide online access to key services, such as information about disability, overdue payments, criminal record and all data related to social security.

Citizen Portal allows the services of individual state administration entities to be made available. It is based on the publication of the so-called tiles for which a tool is created as well as the rules for registering them. This creates a kind of e-Administration Framework, enabling various entities to access services on this umbrella portal. The first publishers were the Czech Social Security Administration, the General Health Insurance Company, the General Financial Directorate and the Vysocina Region with its eAmbulance health system.
The development of the solution, which provided the users with centralized, intuitive and secure access to state electronic services, was a very demanding project. The creation of Citizen Portal was an important step in the digital transformation of the public administration in the Czech Republic. The project was also appreciated by industry experts and in 2018 it was recognized by the Microsoft Awards in the Public Administration and Modern City Development category. It also achieved the top position in the eGovernment THE BEST ranking in the Central Projects category – every year, the list distinguishes the most interesting IT projects implemented for the public administration sector in the Czech Republic.

 

Key benefits.

 

The platform has allowed citizens to access state electronic services efficiently and quickly. Its launch was also a big step in the development of digital transformation of the public administration in the Czech Republic.
Thanks to Citizen Portal, the citizens, as well as business entities, can solve various life situations from one place. It has also made it easier for users to access information on, among other things, the progress of their application processing and the amount of fees due (with the possibility of paying them directly via the portal).
Thanks to the use of modern Internet and mobile applications and notifications, the platform has ensured fast and effective provision of public services, which can be accessed from any device.

“The implementation of this project has significantly improved the communication between the citizens of the Czech Republic and public entities. Asseco CE contributed to the creation of this platform as a key developer of individual front-end parts. Our new concept of the solution is based on the idea of creating a single access point to administrative services” – Michal Polehňa, Public CZ Business Unit Director, Asseco Central Europe.

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Public Administration