Mobile ticket lifecycle management: Case study of public transport in Latvia

Abstract

There are solutions in the market that enable brand holders to combine their serviceswithother suppliers of goods or services. However, there is no unified technological solutionavailable for e-commerce purchasing object management. Purchasing objects are objects that are generated automatically or manually createdas a result of the transaction, for example, a bus ticket, travel insurance payment, concert ticket orthird party liability insurance. Management of purchasing objects is an important e-commerce process for all involved parties. Now a variety of payment methods and information systems are available in the market that allows generating purchasing objects. E-tickets are an example of the purchasing objects, which are rapidly being introduced for use. Electronic ticket management is increasingly entrusted to mobile devices and applications. Market analysis shows that e-ticket management becomes more complicated because it is related to different systems, applications and interfaces in the transport sector. This study analyses the mobile ticket life-cycle management problems that are being solved in the development of the service providers' mutual integration solution architecture model. The unified public transport service scenario was developed, which consists of purchasing object generation, storing and transporting to service providers, transaction processors and customers. The developed purchasing object management model provides customers with opportunity to manage the financial transaction documents, while service providers will facilitate the document turnover and improve the business process. The proposed model has been piloted on a joint stock company micro-payment system infrastructure, integrating Latvian Railway external services. The study was conducted in the framework of Latvia, and is aimed to improve e-commerce solutions in Latvia.