Excerpt from Bus-News, Issue 1/2023
The benefits of digital depot management are great. There is a consensus on this in most transit companies.
However, there is also agreement that the complexity of IT projects often drags them out, causing the benefits to become apparent much later than planned. A basic system, including a standardised system introduction, can solve this dilemma.
Extensive requirement and specifications phases, time-consuming workshops, and expensive adjustments: because classic depot management systems (DMS) aim to maximise the digitalisation and automation of processes, their introduction is challenging and as complex as the system itself. Introducing new drive types, which generally require the parallel operation of conventional and zero-emission vehicles and thus also in the DMS, also contributes to this. Many companies need more resources and capacities to successfully introduce such an IT system alongside their day-to-day business – despite an apparent desire for digitalisation. As a result, digitalisation plans end up in the drawer and, with them, valuable potential. What is needed to move the project from the wish list to the to-do list is clear: a simple basic system with a standardised software configuration that can be used regardless of drive type and fleet size and can be expanded modularly to meet increasing requirements.
