SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) is the largest travel and transport company in Switzerland. 441 million passengers and almost 50 million net tonnes of goods travel with SBB every year. Around 33,000 people are employed by SBB.
Highlights
- 120,000 lost property items and 180,000 loss reports annually
- About 55% return rate
- Mobile App
- Automatic matching of lost and found reports
- Efficient storage management
With Nova Find, SBB’s lost property service has been placed on a long-term, sustainable technological basis, functionally expanded and modernised in terms of design.
Lost property service app
An app for around 7,000 SBB employees to record finds directly on the train. The find is provided with a barcode and can be tracked seamlessly as it progresses. Information about finds can also be provided quickly while on the move. Search requests are also visible in the app. An easy-to-understand explanatory video was made to train the staff.
In addition, the mobile app is used by staff at stations and in the lost property centre for storage management. Each storage of an item is recorded in the system by means of a barcode scan. With the help of our solution, around 13,000 items are managed at different storage locations.
Internal system
There is a central system for recording and managing found objects by SBB employees and partner companies. The found object data from the mobile initial recording can be supplemented and loss reports can be created. Based on dynamically configurable characteristics of the found and lost objects, the system automatically determines which loss report corresponds to a just recorded found report – and vice versa.
If a hit occurs, the owner is notified by means of a predefined e-mail, SMS or letter. RUBICON’s document template and output management system Document Partner is used to create the personalised documents and the centralised dispatch of letters via the SBB printing line.
The system is also used for storage management (e.g. transfers to other locations, for recycling or destruction). In addition, evaluations can be generated about the storage place (e.g. number of items or the return rate).
Public search mask
Passengers can create their own lost property reports in a search mask on the SBB website. The lost property report is automatically compared with the existing lost property reports. By means of a link to the Lost Property Service Switzerland, reports from local lost property offices are also taken into account. The loser receives a hit list weighted according to the match.
“We have been working together successfully for many years. Together we have analysed the existing lost property process and developed improvements that were immediately realised, such as the possibility of mobile working. This way, we can help our customers even faster and less complicated in case of a loss.”
Walter Bader, Project Manager SBB Lost & Found Service