To All Commissioners
Re: 2018 Work Program – Information Services – First Quarter Update
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
The following report is provided as an update on major projects as set out in the 2018 Work Program that were scheduled to commence and/or be completed in the first quarter, with the lead on same being the primary responsibility of Information Services.
AVLC Update Project
Administration is continuing to address issues that have been identified during the roll-out of the updated software both on the back end as well as the customer-facing aspects. One of the more significant outstanding items is the automated email alerts are still not functioning as expected. Customers who have signed up for a scheduled alert (i.e. arrival times for buses at a specific stop at 4pm each day) are receiving emails; however those that have signed up for generic updates about a specific route (detours, service delays, etc.) are not receiving emails.
The vendor had support on site for the transition to detoured service along the Dundas corridor beginning on April 9, 2018 to ensure that all of the updated information was correct at 5am when the buses were leaving the garage to begin service. The transition for April 9, 2018 went extremely well, and it is anticipated that the previous issues experienced with schedule and service information will not be an issue for the April 29, 2018 service changes.
The provision of a Google real-time data feed is also proceeding, noting the vendor has provided a scope of work and implementation plan that is acceptable to LTC. Formal sign-off and scheduling of the work are the next steps to be undertaken in May 2018.
Specialized Software Update Project
During development of the communication materials, an issue with respect to the manner in which the IVR system provides schedule information to the rider was identified. On the specialized service, a customer is provided with a “scheduled time” when their booking is confirmed. When the scheduling system prepares the trip manifests for the day, times can be adjusted slightly (maximum of 10 minutes in either direction) in order to optimize the schedules. Customers are reminded when they book a trip that their time may be adjusted; however, given the customer is unaware of the adjusted time, vehicles that arrive earlier than the “scheduled time” will wait until 5 minutes past that time prior to leaving. For example, a customer may have been provided a scheduled time of 1:00pm for a pickup, the system may have adjusted the time to 12:50pm. The vehicle may arrive at 12:50pm to pick the customer but would wait until 1:05pm before leaving. The IVR system for Routematch is providing customers with the adjusted time when they call, which has the potential to lead to some confusion on the part of the customer. The communication materials that will be provided to all registrants have been modified in an effort to make this change clear to the customer, and will be mailed directly to customers in the coming days.
Information Services Initiatives
Some activities that had been delayed by other priorities are now well underway or complete including the following.
24-hour website monitoring (main website, InfoWeb and Smart Card portal) and alerts for on-call Information Services staff has been established, meaning IS staff will know of any public facing web issues within five minutes of the occurrence.
Newer server and data back-up systems are now in testing and will be fully operational in the next couple of weeks. These systems will completely replace robotic tape libraries and manual back-up tapes with NAS (network attached storage) devices that are replicated at the Wonderland facility, alleviating the need for weekly off-site tape storage and significantly streamlining LTC’s disaster recovery processes.
LTC hosted and controlled Secure FTP (file transfer protocol) sites have been developed and will be introduced to third parties with whom LTC shares electronic files. These changes will help minimize the risk to any sensitive material that is being shared with lawyers, insurance adjusters, etc.
Recommended by: Patrick Cormier – Manager of Information Services
Concurred in by: Kelly S. Paleczny – General Manager