Leveraging IT for social development

K.N. Ingalagi, Chief Manager-MIS, BMTC has taken up the task of making the corporation globally competitive. In conversation with Subhankar Kundu

K.N. Ingalagi

The government sector's usage of IT has always been a challenge for CIOs as any government department or undertaking must not only consider core business aspects such as ROI or TCO but it must also look at the social aspects of its operations. The transport industry in India is growing thick and fast and considering its challenges and limitations, Bangalore’s public transport services must be commended for the modernization and apt planning that has positioned the city much ahead of others in terms of technological innovation in the Indian public transport system.

Having graduated from Karnataka University, Dharwad with a distinction in economics, statistics and political science, K.N. Ingalagi, Chief Manager-MIS, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) completed his post graduate degree in social work from Karnataka University in 1982. He went on to complete his Ph.D in the Department of Studies & Research in History from the University of Mysore in 1998. In between, he pursued other courses including a one year diploma in transport management from the Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune and a three-year LLB course from Bangalore University.

In 2007, Ingalagi won an award for his research on KSRTC - History, Present Status and Future Prospects. Here he documented the history of passenger transportation in modern Karnataka.

Ingalagi started his career as a research officer in NIMHANS, Bangalore in 1982. He then started his journey in public transport with KSRTC in 1983 as a labor welfare officer. In 1987, he was promoted as an Industrial Engineer and, at that time, he pursued a computer training course that was conducted by CMC.

Career growth ensued and in 1994, he was promoted as the Deputy Officer - Labor and Welfare. In 1998, he shifted as an Admin manager. He thought of developing a software system and implemented IT in the public transport system. He then attended an IT training program from the Central Institute of Road transport, Pune.

In 2004, he joined as a Senior Depot Manager in BMTC where he was responsible for the application of IT issues and worked on different modules required in all areas of IT integration.

Nevertheless, his IT journey in the true sense started in 2007, when he was selected as the Chief Manager, MIS at BMTC.

As the Chief Manager, MIS, he is primarily responsible for two functions namely the preparation of operational statistical reports and the maintenance of hardware, software and various other applications.

Notable achievements

As far as the transportation industry goes, the challenging economic environment has led to the need for a strong integration model and robust technical infrastructure. BMTC has been committed and responsive to the needs of commuters, both in cities and in suburbs, adding value through technology implementations and modes of transport.

Information is a critical component in any industry and BMTC tries to leverage the various technologies that already exist as well as emerging ones that are relevant to public transport. There is an MIS department and Ingalagi, as its head, is responsible for consolidating and analyzing information. Ensuring employee accountability is important and to that end he has devised an information dashboard that helps the corporation measure the performance of each unit, while giving first hand information on the rise or fall of the quality of services, sales performance details, policy formulation etc. that helps in goal setting.

Real time information is disseminated to all 25,000 plus employees across departments. Ingalagi has strengthened the information systems at BMTC, both to support the traveling public and for internal operations.

Ingalagi said, “IT should be used extensively in a public transport system. The Passenger Information System provides information to the external public about our services, including the availability of various routes, bus schedules and information at bus stops and on board the buses and so on. Using IT, we also gather information on drivers and the distances that they cover.”

The Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETMs) that had kicked up a row when first introduced by the BMTC, with employees fearing job losses, are now proving a big help in cutting down revenue leaks and the staff's workload.

The corporation has set up 1,560 ETMs at its five BMTC depots. As all Volvo buses must be equipped with the ETMs, the Katriguppa bus depot, from where a number of these services run, has the highest number of 480 ETMs.

Ingalagi said that revenue leakage had been curtailed to a significant extent in the KSRTC and a little more so in the BMTC after the machines were introduced.

As a core member of Tender Scrutiny Committee, Transport Department of Government of Karnataka and Chairman of the Sub-committee of Technical Scrutiny, Ingalagi has achieved success in IT implementation with innovative ideas such as the deployment of smart-card based driving licenses, fitness certificates for vehicles etc. He has also developed numerous IT projects including complete depot computerization, IT applications in recruitment and accounts and building a new interactive Web site.

Ingalagi has an in-house team of eight people and he has access to an outsourced team of software and hardware engineers whose count varies between 12 and 15.

On the anvil is an advanced implementation of various IT systems that would include an intelligent transport system, GPS-enabled vehicle tracking, GPS-enabled passenger information system and an online electronic ticketing system.

The systems are already in the pilot phase in depot 28. Since February 2010, 500 vehicles have been running with GPS capabilities.

Passengers will soon be able to get information on bus routes or services through SMS.

Major deployments

An e-salary system that handles salary disbursement through ECS; e-depot for the computerization of depot activities; e-route information that provides information on bus routes through the Internet; passenger information system and IVRS; and e-procurement are among the major deployments,

Ingalagi said, “We successfully revamped operations along with the computerization of our departments. GPS services for online vehicle tracking and monitoring, e-recruitment, computerized smoke emission tests, issue of student smart cards and Bangalore ID cards are some of our achievements. We also took care of office automation to equip all departments with networked computers for resource sharing and data collection.”

Moreover, Ingalagi developed disciplinary section software for the default management system and this proved beneficial for handling default cases.

Other deployments included schedule management software for automating the storage and retrieval of Form IV and a software to generate exception reports about the frequency of bus operations between two points and travel time along with the distance traveled.

IVRS and PIS have been major deployments for improving the quality of service that is offered to commuters. By combining GPS with GIS an integrated GPS-GIS control room monitors vehicles tracking thousands of them. The GPS was developed by Arya Omnitalk and Mobiapps and in part by Amber Systems. Abacus and Kalya Software developed the software. Another major initiative was that of developing software for student smart cards. This project was outsourced to Micro FX. Other tasks have been outsourced to Radiant Infotech and Siemens as well. Karnataka State Electronics Corporation (Keonics), in collaboration with Siemens, is also overseeing some key IT projects.

Not much of major investment took place last year. On the server side, about seven servers were procured.

Substantial investments happened in Traffic & Transit Management Centers (TTMCs) under the JNNURM scheme , which are based upon international standards. The project of converting the smart cards into ePass, which is a value-added service (VAS) from BMTC received some amount of investment last year.

Role of IT in the BMTC

IT has helped reduce staff, provided greater transparency and eased the transaction processes.

Ingalagi pointed out, “IT has helped us save labor while assuring accurate accounting amidst handling new situations. We have seen many changes in the organization owing to technology. It took some time to realize the benefits and we had to make a huge investment on training to help employees and ensure smooth operations. A significant investment has been made on IT deployments, infrastructure and applications.”

In the future

Ingalagi is looking forward to implementing GPS services by end 2010. The induction of more ETMs, equipping all buses with IT tools and SMS service for Volvo buses to provide information to commuters when they dial a mobile number are all on the anvil.

The proper functioning of the data center is a definite priority. Emerging technologies are being looked at to bring down costs and reduce overheads.

Ingalagi said, “A higher level of integration is required for the BMTC's network and more IT integration would help. We can even explore possibilities like integrating BMTC’s systems with the traffic police system, city traffic system or an urban management system for that matter.”

subhankar.kundu@expressindia.com