"New adopters must know who their internal experts are." — David Mugica
That said, creating funding incentives will encourage greater
integration of ITS. There are funds available and at Zonar as we
partner with Learn Supply Apply. This company helps organizations
apply for and manage grant applications to help get funding for these
types of initiatives.
ITS integration also has a heavy emphasis on operations that many
transportation departments are not used to dealing with, including:
• ITS requires a significant amount of effort and resources to
maintain credibility the daily users and the public who experience
the outcomes.
• Integrating ITS across modal, institutional, and geographic barriers
can be a significant coordination challenge that is often more difficult
than the technological ones.
• ITS works best as a cohesive system of individual technologies with
API’s that work together. The integration of these elements makes the
total concept of ITS more complex.
• ITS is not well understood by the public or elected officials.
• Repair and maintenance costs can become burdensome: Like with
any piece of technology, as ITS ages, it becomes more expensive to
maintain. Parts become harder to come by, and the costs to get them
to go up. In the end, the expense of maintaining older equipment may
wipe out the savings garnered, integrating instead of building from
the ground up in the first place.
Mugica: New adopters must know who their internal experts are.
Vendors bring a level of expertise and guidance, but what happens
after we leave? We obviously have programs meant to help throughout
a system’s life, but it needs a daily “champion.” Who has taken
ownership of the system? The need for a champion becomes especially
clear when systems are not fully integrated and there is no single
point of contact for troubleshooting.
What critical first steps must agencies consider when
integrating or replacing their legacy systems with new
ITS technology?
Mugica: Early adopters must know what they want to accomplish
with the ITS, as opposed to simply wanting a new piece of technology.
For example, why does an agency need real-time passenger
information? The benefits are multifold: Ensuring vehicle location;
on-time pullouts; accurate passenger counting; and vehicle health. All
those factors are part of knowing a vehicle’s location, and ensuring
the passenger knows it too. Agencies must take this sort of holistic
vision to the ITS they are purchasing.
Then agencies, especially those coming from legacy systems, must
know the status of their data. If the old system has bad data, then
bringing it into the new system is a bad idea. Figure out the crux of
that data, and how confident you are in the data.
If adopting new technology is a mandate, then ensure you have
agency-wide buy in. That will ensure accountability, which is
critical at all levels when adopting new technology. Everyone in an
organization should be on the same page, so the organization can
devote the proper resources to onboarding a new system.
Fakkema: The first step is to plan, followed by engaging in gradual
integration or replacement. The goal here is not to replace everything
at once. Instead, you can choose to start integrating or replacing your
legacy systems component by component, as the need arises. If you
need new functionalities for user experience, for example, you can
start from the top down.
This may work in the short term and for more straightforward
ITS integrations, but it will become more difficult over the
long term as modern systems are built on top of each other.
Also, as you integrate, rebuild or replace legacy systems, layout
a timeline for development, testing, deployment and quality
assurance. Again, this will likely be in conjunction with your
technology partners.
How does data warehousing factor into ITS system integration?
Fakkema: Data warehousing is critical to ITS systems integration
because when you are integrating into an ITS system, you are
consolidating applications into a new system. When doing this,
you don’t want to lose any critical data and you will want to have
a unified view of those data assets, both old and new, e.g., a data
warehouse of all your information to make informed decisions.
The benefit of a data warehouse enables you to perform
analyses based on the data collected from multiple sources. It’s
complicated, but that is what the data warehouse helps sort out
for you as the data is obtained from various hardware devices
that lay the basis of further ITS functions. These devices include
Automatic Vehicle Identifiers, GPS systems, sensors, cameras, etc.
Mugica: Data reporting is the “Holy Grail” of any software system.
Whether it is finance, maintenance, CAD/AVL, or banking – data is
key. The benefit of data warehousing is that it allows for there to be
a single access point for all an agency’s data.
Technology has made so many more levels of analytics widely
available. At Avail, data warehousing and enhancing agency
analytical tools is what we do. That said, we do not want to hold
data hostage. It is critical that the user has access to all available
data in as few locations as possible.
Does system integration help streamline data from older
legacy systems?
Mugica: When possible, yes – but the costs may outweigh
the benefits.
Many older, legacy systems still use what I call “black and white
print” – meaning you run a query and the system provides results.
However, by building for integration with APIs, the value of data
warehousing for business intelligence is huge.
Agencies may find previously hidden patterns, or may find new
ways to compare historical data. If the historic data is accurate,
then integrating legacy systems allows agencies to look at past
versus present and make educated decisions and adjustments. This
integration helps prevent data loss, provides real-time analysis,
and prevents data inconsistencies.
Fakkema: It can, providing the legacy systems can be connected
to ITS. The streamlining will likely be in the form of how you
leverage your data warehouse to collect, transmit and analyze
data, which in the case of ITS can then be pushed to a Travel
Advisory System.
"ITS requires a significant amount of effort and resources to
maintain credibility." — Fred Fakkema
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