Page 78 - HUDCO Award for Best Practices - 2024

THEME: URBAN GOVERNANCE

Technology Used: The system is developed using fully open-source technologies. The backend system and APIs are developed in an
advanced open source MVC framework based in PHP. The system uses Postgre SQL RDBMS as the database backend. It is running in
a Linux based cloud server utilising apache as the server software. The mobile components are developed using the Ionic framework
which is a hybrid framework based on AngularJS.

Web Portal for Public: A web portal was developed and deployed as part of the project which interfaced with the general public.
They were able to create accounts and book for water tanker service via this portal. The history and details of active bookings were
available to them in real time via this portal. The central system could communicate with the end users via this system. The portal
can be found in the address https://smarttvm.tmc.lsgkerala.gov.in .

Public mobile app for end users: To increase ease of service delivery, the project integrated a booking and tracking module to the
corporation’s Smart Trivandrum mobile app. The fact that most of the city residents had already installed the app and is relying on it
for obtaining relevant information and notices from the Corporation made it a suitable candidate for adding the service instead of
deploying a new mobile app exclusively for this project. All facilities which are available in the web portal were also provided in the
mobile app too.

Software for centralised coordination: The key component of the architecture of the system was the central software which acted
as the command and coordination centre connecting all the stakeholders to a single point. This acted as the brain of the system and
allowed data transfer between various other connected systems.
Mobile app for drivers: The truck drivers were given an android mobile application which they can install in their own phone. The
communication between the central system and drivers happens via this app. The details of the customers booking including quantity
of water, location, contact number etc was communicated to the drivers via this mobile app. The digital pass issued by the corporation
which can be used to collect water from KWA vending points was also delivered to the driver via this app.

Call Centre Software: The call centre was equipped with hardware and software for high call volumes. It could receive concurrent
calls from multiple lines via a software component which was further integrated with the central system. Thus, the call centre executive
could see the relevant information related to the caller like current and past orders, tickets etc on the screen when a call came in.
Mobile number 9496434488 &land number 0471 2377701 are attached to this call centre

AIS140 GPS: The trucks were fitted with AIS 140 GPS devices which were directly integrated to the central system via HTTP
protocol. The device fed the data in predefined format which allowed the system to determine the rea-time location of the truck.

Geofencing of vending points: The vending points were geotagged and the GIS information was fed to the central system. Based on
this data and the data from the GPS device fitted in the truck the system could monitor and identify when a truck arrives at a vending
point station.
Geomap based vehicle monitoring: The system was integrated with a geo map-based vehicle monitoring module which allowed
real-time monitoring of the vehicles. The GPS devices fitted in the vehicles provided a continuous location data feed directly to the
corporation’s servers. This data was compiled and analysed by the system in real-time. The information about the status and location
of the vehicles which operated in the city was then plotted on to a geomap interface. The users could visually see the vehicles in the
map and determine where they are and what their status is. Map was colour coded to differentiate vehicles which are supplying water
and those which are running empty. The system also allowed users to check the movement of a vehicle during a certain historical
time. This helped in maintaining control over the vehicle movements and to prevent unauthorized operations of any sort.

KL based booking module and vehicle pass issue: The system was designed to accept bookings based on the volume of water
required in kilolitres from the customer end. It did not operate on a trip basis and thereby it was the decision of the system to assign
a particular vehicle to a particular customer. Many times, multiple vehicles parallelly operated to service a customer when booking
is done for large volumes. The system keeps track of the total volume and the volume which has already been delivered. The cost of
water corresponding to any difference in quantity which cannot be delivered to the customer will be refunded to the customer. This
prevented exploitation of the public by the operators whereby the original tank capacity is less than the booked volume. As in most
cases the customer was not be in a position to analyse the quantity of water delivered to them.

Service Delivery Channels: Many channels are used to book water tankers from the public. The system houses various mechanism
to ensure inclusion of all classes of citizens as follows:

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