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Top Story: T-City
Welcome to the City of the Future
The decision has been made: Friedrichshafen is Germany’s first T-City. T-Systems will take over a key role in setting up various citizen-friendly services.
Whether it’s a tax return, extending your ID card or registering a new
place of residencePerfect Citizen Service in the Network – in future, the general public will increasingly be able to dispense with visits to the authorities, thanks to the Internet and mobile networks. They will be able to communicate with the administrative staff from their own homes. And if you still happen to need to go into the office, the authorities will offer an all-round service at a networked service desk.
Whether you are searching for an old school friend, checking a customer list or tracking down a defaulter – there are lots of situations where citizens and companies will not get any further without information from the register of residents.
You will need to apply for this information in advance from the relevant registry office. In Saarland you can do this very quickly and simply – a request on the Internet. You can access the new service via the e-Government portal of Saarland (www.buergerdienste@saar.de). The new solution was developed in a joint project run by the state of Saarland, administration union eGo-Saar, T‑Systems and PC-Ware. When you enter the first and second names as well as two other characteristics that uniquely identify the person you are searching for, the enquirer gets a simple message from the register of residents immediately.
This simple form contains details on the first and second names, degree of doctor and address only. In the future it will also be simpler for government at Land and local level to perform administration procedures quickly and efficiently for which up-to-date registration data is required. The security authorities in particular will enjoy the benefits of the 24-hour information service.
Germany’s municipalities are discovering service – and they are relying on sophisticated information and communications technology (ICT) solutions. The key to their success is
networkingMore Scope for Public Administration
The town of Schweinfurt devotes plenty of time to its citizens: The citizen’s service is open 52 hours a week.
If you need information urgently, you can also contact them by telephone – a call center supports more than 90 municipal services. An attractive offer. And the jury of the “Bayern-Online-Award” thought so too when they granted it to Schweinfurt in 2006. The basis for this clear citizen-friendliness is an outsourcing contract with T‑Systems. As early as 2001 the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary took over operation and the provision of all of the IT hardware in public administration.
The contract was recently extended to include outsourcing of telephone technology, data networks as well as connections for teleworkers. T‑Systems is also providing a solution for recording working hours. “We are now expecting savings in operating costs and a further optimization of the citizen’s service,” says chief officer Werner Duske. Even the staff in the IT department will benefit from outsourcing: “They can concentrate on specialized applications and have a document management system for the vehicle registration center for instance and a software package for the city theater,” says Mr. Duske.
. Departments and administrative bodies in the public administration that were once separate are now interconnected via a standard infrastructure. Deutsche Telekom has been running an ideas competition that will now make the city of the future a reality. T-City is the name of the Europe-wide one-off project in which 52 municipalities with up to 100,000 inhabitants have taken part. The decision has been made: The best idea was submitted by Friedrichshafen – the jury has nominated the town as Germany’s T-City. Deutsche Telekom will invest up to €35 million in non-monetary, monetary and human resources for the high-speed broadband infrastructure, i.e. mobile and fixed networks, and up to €80 million in the same resources for individual projects. At the same time,
Public Private PartnershipsInnovative Traffic Control by Toll
A mammoth task: A toll system is to be developed for the 12.000 kilometer long German highway network – with high technological requirements.
All trucks from twelve tons upwards must be entered in the system, but billing will be determined by the number of axles, pollutant class and mileage. The solution: Drivers can enter themselves manually at terminals and via the Internet. Or on-board-units in the vehicle automatically calculate the bill with the aid of satellite navigation. The mini computers continuously receive online updates by radio for rates, road network and software.
A wide range of components are connected – successfully: The Toll Collect solution, which was developed on behalf of the German Minister for Transport, was launched at the beginning of 2005 – amongst other things, it has received the innovation award of the Public Private Partnership federal association (PPP). “The German toll system provides a degree of flexibility as yet unparalleled by any other system in the world,” says Wolfgang Tiefensee, the Minister for Transport. The system has also aroused international interest. Initial tests indicate: Even when traffic exceeds the limit, satellite-assisted toll collection is still reliable.
will open up entirely new business models for the municipalities. “Friedrichshafen will use our ICT infrastructure to set up a range of new services,” says René Obermann, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Telekom. “They will ensure increased citizen participation and less bureaucracy.” The projects concern all of the relevant aspects of public life. T-Systems will provide a large percentage of the necessary services.
The possibilities that an ICT infrastructure such as the high-speed data network of Deutsche Telekom has to offer a municipality are practically limitless: Physicians check the
health statusAllrounder for Physicians and Pharmacies and fire service communicate quickly and directly.
Back to health faster thanks to modern information technology: Together with the “Schweriner Apothekenrechenzentrum” (SARZ) – the pharmacy computer center in Schwerin – T-Systems is improving the way in which physicians, hospitals and pharmacies collaborate thus implementing integrated care required by legislation. “Patient’s data or results are now being sent electronically instead of by post as in the past,” explains SARZ manager Ralf Unthan. “But all players must be networked.” This is done by a communications platform, which is based on the application eHealthConnect. A true allrounder: Even different ICT systems such as those used by physicians for practice administration for instance or in clinics for archiving pictures, can communicate with one another. In hospitals, the solution facilitates admissions because all of the information is stored centrally. The platform makes it easy for specialists to share the treatment of patients – all case data is available at the touch of a button. Ultimately, the patient benefits from perfectly coordinated care. The digital signature and encryption guarantee maximum security as well. And the SARZ itself, which operates nationwide for 2,000 pharmacies, physicians and other service providers, will itself also benefit in the future from the modern communications solution.
of their patients by mobile telephony. The citizen’s
e-ticketJust hop on and move off – bus and train travel could be this easy in the future. And throughout Germany. Passengers won’t need cash and don’t even have to know what fare they have to pay. Smart cards will replace tickets. These will be recognized via a solid-state interface when getting on and off the bus or train. A piece of software records the route traveled, and the fare is automatically calculated and deducted.
The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr and the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg regional transport networks, as well as the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Niederrhein local transport network are already offering electronic tickets to their subscription customers. “The long-term objective is that passengers can use their smart card to travel on all busses and trains in the local public transport network throughout Germany,”says Lothar Megger from the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr. This is based on a standard for the exchange of data agreed by the members of the VDV association of German transport companies. It is already being used extensively in North Rhine-Westphalia. T‑Systems provides the security system for fare management nationwide – thus preventing unauthorized use of data as well as mistakes in transactions.
As an alternative to the smart card, T‑Systems is currently testing a mobile phone solution for ticket sales for the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund – the public transport network operator in Frankfurt. Combining the system with a timetable information service adds to the convenience of the system.
can be used for all local cultural and sports events – booked and billed via the mobile network. Car dealers in the city are linked directly to insurance companies and the motor vehicle registration office enabling them to save their customers extra trips and waiting time. The
policeMore Rapid Assistance for PoliceBe it a bank robbery, a hostage-taking or large-scale demonstration with rioting – every second counts for the police in Essen when handling serious incidents.
The regional headquarters and staff officers must respond like lightning and coordinate perfectly at the same time. While the regional headquarters processes routine emergency business, special operations units are controlled centrally by permanent staff in the main headquarters with up to 50 officials. Lupus, a software package tailored to suit the requirements of the operational units in the German police force, guarantees that everyone is always up-to-date. New information appears immediately on screen – and is processed in accordance with the responsibilities. “Every official can configure his user interface individually,” explains Jörg Metz, project leader with the Essen police.
Lupus is currently being used by all six operational police headquarters in North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The system wins over with great flexibility: “It is important that the exchange of information is guaranteed with individual units or even with the fire department,”says Mr. Metz. Therefore Lupus is also linked online with Felis – another software application also developed by T‑Systems, which supports the work of the police headquarters in NRW and can download deployment data as well as deployment location data. More than 70 control centers of the police force have faith in Felis – making this application the market leader in Germany.
With T-City,
T‑SystemsLeading Service Providers for Public Authorities
- T-Systems is market leader for e-Government in Germany*,
- has competence in all current IT standards in the administration of municipalities, states or the federation,
- covers all of Germany with local customer advisors,
- looks after the majority of the approx. 13,000 German municipalities,
- has the greatest number of experts in Germany, who are concerned with the analysis and optimization of business processes – ranging from waste management through to housing allowances,
- offers the most comprehensive portfolio of solutions nationwide – ranging from individual applications for administration, such as electronic purchasing through to complete outsourcing for instance,
- guarantees data security with certified computer centers and protected networks,
- does pioneering work in respect of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) – the most high-profile example being the Toll Collect system,
- sets standards abroad as well with projects such as outsourcing and the citizen’s portal for the Government of Catalonia.
* According to a survey conducted by Pierre Audoin Consultans (PAC).
is positioned as Germany’s leading service provider for public authorities and for the e-Government action plan, which the EU Commission passed recently. It requires that all citizens and companies in the Union have access to electronic public services using secure and user-friendly options by the year 2010. “In the city that won the competition, we will demonstrate how we can use our competence and expertise to implement the EU guidelines in public administration right away,” said Bernhard Bresonik, Vice President of the Public Sector division at T-Systems. Read the full story in the printed edition.
