DB Info 4.0: The new digital service universe for train stations
DB Station&Service AG's goal is to offer its customers the best possible mobility experience. This entails high standards for the quality of advice and information dispensed at the station. We thus created an entirely new service universe for DB Station&Service, with a digital transformation of both their processes and information spaces.
DB Info 4.0: The new digital service universe for train stations
DB Station&Service AG's goal is to offer its customers the best possible mobility experience. This entails high standards for the quality of advice and information dispensed at the station. We thus created an entirely new service universe for DB Station&Service, with a digital transformation of both their processes and information spaces.
Better service through the digitization of processes
The digital transformation of processes now enables the rapid output of time-sensitive information on large displays, better advice at the counter, and reduced waiting times at the information desk thanks to self-service terminals. The new system has all actual timetable data. Connection searches and travel plans can be displayed in the customer's language and printed out by employees on request. The PIA system offers service staff the option of publishing important ad hoc messages (e.g. major disruptions, train cancellations) centrally via an information monitor. Questions that service employees are asked several times a day can also be answered quickly and easily via this monitor. Self-service terminals complement the DB Information 4.0 service offerings and provide customers with the opportunity to independently check for current timetable changes or track changes.
Long waits caused by a heterogeneous system landscape and time-consuming information procurement
At the beginning of the project, DB Station&Service AG was confronted with a range of problems regarding both the consulting services and the quality of information at their stations. For employees, everyday life dealing with DB Information involved overly complex processes and subsequent limits to their efficiency. Their decisions had to be approved in a time-consuming process across several systems. They also had to spend far too long searching for travel information, resulting in long waiting times for the travelers they were trying to assist. In addition, there was a heterogeneous system landscape in which certain actual data was unavailable, limiting the quality of information.
From prototype to product, in an agile way
Basilicom realized the project together with DB entirely in agile development. In a prototype phase, we implemented and tested travelers’ and DP employees’ core requirements. The insights gained were then incorporated into product development. DB Info equipped Nuremberg Central Station as its first location with the new system, which consists of a PIA application, information screens, customer monitors, and self-service terminals. After a successful test phase, a nationwide roll-out took place at more than 80 stations. The system implemented by Basilicom obtains data from various systems connected to DB and its partners. Actual and target timetable data comes from the HaCon timetable information system (German acronym: HAFAS), and the integrated station board is fed in real time via the passenger information system (German acronym: RIS). Interfaces also provide information on train car assignments and current traffic reports from the route network.
