Information Builders Case Studies Utah Transit Authority Turbo-Charges Its Business Analytics

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	Utah Transit Authority Turbo-Charges Its Business Analytics Information Builders

Utah Transit Authority Turbo-Charges Its Business Analytics

Information Builders

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries	Transportation
Applicable Functions	Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases	Predictive Maintenance Public Transportation Management
Services	Data Science Services
Challenge	The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) provides public transportation services throughout six counties in the Wasatch Front of Utah. It operates fixed route buses, express buses, ski buses, three light rail lines (TRAX), a streetcar line (the S-Line), and a commuter rail train (the FrontRunner) from Ogden through Salt Lake City to Provo. The agency collects and analyzes a tremendous amount of data to keep trains on schedule, assess gaps in coverage, pinpoint the causes of delays, and improve transit operations for the city. However, business users formerly had to access data from multiple disparate sources, then analyze it manually in Excel – or wait for the IT department to create custom reports. This process was time-consuming and inefficient. Read More
About Customer	The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is a public transportation agency headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It provides services throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah, which includes the metropolitan areas of Ogden, Provo, Salt Lake City, and Tooele. UTA operates fixed route buses, express buses, ski buses, three light rail lines (TRAX), a streetcar line (the S-Line), and a commuter rail train (the FrontRunner) from Ogden through Salt Lake City to Provo. The agency covers more than 1,400 square miles, making it one of the largest coverage areas of any public transportation agency in the country. UTA provides public transportation to 80 percent of Utah residents. Read More
Solution	To address the challenge of data analysis, UTA selected Information Builders’ business intelligence (BI), business analytics, and integration technologies. iWay DataMigrator collects data from various applications including maintenance work orders, maintenance labor, fuel and oil, and fare accounting operations. WebFOCUS and InfoAssist enable a user-friendly environment for query and analysis. The new analytics system allows the business community to take matters into their own hands as they strive to improve efficiency within the organization’s three biggest cost centers – labor, fuel, and maintenance. UTA now integrates, mines, and refines data from all of these sources to optimize business outcomes. Information Builders Professional Services helped UTA develop a data model for its electronic fare collection (EFC) system. They used DataMigrator to load SQL Server data, along with an Excel file, into a data warehouse. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Transportation

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance

Public Transportation Management

Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) provides public transportation services throughout six counties in the Wasatch Front of Utah. It operates fixed route buses, express buses, ski buses, three light rail lines (TRAX), a streetcar line (the S-Line), and a commuter rail train (the FrontRunner) from Ogden through Salt Lake City to Provo. The agency collects and analyzes a tremendous amount of data to keep trains on schedule, assess gaps in coverage, pinpoint the causes of delays, and improve transit operations for the city. However, business users formerly had to access data from multiple disparate sources, then analyze it manually in Excel – or wait for the IT department to create custom reports. This process was time-consuming and inefficient.

About Customer

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is a public transportation agency headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It provides services throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah, which includes the metropolitan areas of Ogden, Provo, Salt Lake City, and Tooele. UTA operates fixed route buses, express buses, ski buses, three light rail lines (TRAX), a streetcar line (the S-Line), and a commuter rail train (the FrontRunner) from Ogden through Salt Lake City to Provo. The agency covers more than 1,400 square miles, making it one of the largest coverage areas of any public transportation agency in the country. UTA provides public transportation to 80 percent of Utah residents.

Solution

To address the challenge of data analysis, UTA selected Information Builders’ business intelligence (BI), business analytics, and integration technologies. iWay DataMigrator collects data from various applications including maintenance work orders, maintenance labor, fuel and oil, and fare accounting operations. WebFOCUS and InfoAssist enable a user-friendly environment for query and analysis. The new analytics system allows the business community to take matters into their own hands as they strive to improve efficiency within the organization’s three biggest cost centers – labor, fuel, and maintenance. UTA now integrates, mines, and refines data from all of these sources to optimize business outcomes. Information Builders Professional Services helped UTA develop a data model for its electronic fare collection (EFC) system. They used DataMigrator to load SQL Server data, along with an Excel file, into a data warehouse.

Impact #1	UTA analysts can now help themselves to information, saving time and improving organizational effectiveness when monitoring agency operations.
Impact #2	Business users in marketing, operations, and other domains have flexible analytic tools to forecast capacity, optimize routes, and conduct a variety of other analyses that improve transit services for riders.
Impact #3	Users in operations, fares, planning, ticket vending, and maintenance depend on WebFOCUS and InfoAssist. They obtain targeted information and insights on their own – typically much faster than if they had gone to the IT department with a request for a custom report.

Impact #1

UTA analysts can now help themselves to information, saving time and improving organizational effectiveness when monitoring agency operations.

Impact #2

Business users in marketing, operations, and other domains have flexible analytic tools to forecast capacity, optimize routes, and conduct a variety of other analyses that improve transit services for riders.

Impact #3

Users in operations, fares, planning, ticket vending, and maintenance depend on WebFOCUS and InfoAssist. They obtain targeted information and insights on their own – typically much faster than if they had gone to the IT department with a request for a custom report.

Benefit #1	Reduced time for end-of-month accounting from three days to the same day.
Benefit #2	Operations analysts can now get results the same day, instead of manually manipulating data in Excel.

Benefit #1

Reduced time for end-of-month accounting from three days to the same day.

Benefit #2

Operations analysts can now get results the same day, instead of manually manipulating data in Excel.

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Overview

Utah Transit Authority Turbo-Charges Its Business Analytics

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit