RUBICON IT GmbH has developed and operated the lost property service of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) since 2004. The solution with Nova Find has now been transferred to a long-term, future-oriented technological basis with greater functionality and a modernised design.
Customer
SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) is Switzerland’s largest travel and transport enterprise. Every year, 441 million passengers and 50 million net tonnes of freight travel with SBB. SBB has a workforce of around 33,000 employees.
Highlights
- 120,000 items found and 180,000 items lost reported every year
- Return ratio approx. 55%
- Mobile found property reporting
- Automatic matching of lost and found reports
- Efficient storage management
Technologies
- Non-Native progressive Web App (PWA) technology
- Internal system: Acta Nova, Document Partner, Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Windows Server
- Search mask: Angular JS
- Matching algorithm: Lucene
- Communication via Rebus ServiceBus and SOAP web services
The new lost property service consists of the following components:
1. Lost Property Service App
An app for around 7,000 SBB staff for logging property found on trains without delay. The find is given a bar code and is then comprehensively traceable throughout the remaining process. It is also possible to provide information about found property during the journey. Searches are also visible in the app. An easy-to-understand video was produced to teach the railway’s train staff.
In addition, the mobile app is also used by the staff at stations and at the lost property centre to manage the storage facility. Every item placed into storage is logged in the system by scanning a bar code. The solution is currently used to manage around 13,000 items at various storage facilities.
2. Internal system
Central system for logging and managing found property by SBB staff and partner enterprises. Details of the first mobile report for the found item can be supplemented and loss reports drawn up. The system detects automatically on the basis of dynamically configurable characteristics of lost and found items which lost property report matches a recently submitted found property report – and vice versa
In the event of a match, the owner is informed by default email, SMS or letter. The document template and output management system Document Partner from RUBICON is used to generate personalised documents and for the centralised dispatch of letters via the SBB mass printing facility.
The system is also used for storage management purposes (e.g. postings to other storage facilities or the recycling or destruction of unclaimed property). Storage facility evaluations are also possible (e.g. the number of items in storage or the return ratio).
3. Public search mask
Passengers can report lost items themselves using a search mask on the SBB website. The lost item report is automatically cross-checked against existing reports of found items. A connection with the Swiss Loss Property Service takes the reports from local lost property office into account. The person reporting a loss receives a hit list with weighted matches.
“We have cooperated successfully with RUBICON for many years. Together, we analysed the existing lost property process and developed improvements that were implemented directly, such as the option for mobile use. We can now help our customers even faster and more easily in the event of a loss.”
