Infy automates Australian public transport service

BANGALORE: Infosys Australia today announced the successful delivery of a new $4.5 million software application that will enable the Victorian Government¡¦s Department of Infrastructure (DOI) to better manage its public transport bus services contracts worth over $450 million dollars per annum.

The PASS (Privatised Arrangements Support Systems) Bus System is a suite of business applications that facilitate the improved management of public transport bus contracts, enabling efficiencies and effectiveness in achieving better public transport outcomes for Victoria.

The project commenced in December 2002 and was successfully delivered on time and on budget. The project s success was a result of the cooperative efforts between the Department of Infrastructure and Infosys Australia s business and technical specialists. The commissioning of the PASS Bus System represents a significant milestone for the Department s goal to provide professional public transport business support systems.

In total, the Victorian Government manages over 1700 individual bus contracts across 1600 bus operators, covering metropolitan, regional and school bus services. The new system will provide a more controlled and automated approach to the management of these contracts, which will pave the way for new contract types in future.

The PASS Bus project also provides the Government with a reusable technical architecture that will reduce the time and cost of future automation projects.

The system is a suite of web-based applications using a variety of technologies including J2EE, Websphere and Microsoft SQL. Integrated with several of DOI s existing systems, PASS Bus consists of the following four applications.

„h Involved Party Management - records the details of the Bus Operators.

„h Contract Management - controls the values of the contract schedules and controls the processes for contract variations.

„h Costing and Indexation - contains the business rules of the contract terms and conditions.

„h Payment Management - manages the periodic and ad hoc payments to Operators for current contracts.

The Department s team of approximately 15 staff worked alongside Infosys Australia s local team of 40 people to deliver the system, which was recently, deployed into DOI s existing IT infrastructure.