Baudirektion Kanton Zürich Agency in Switzerland Uses Orchestration Layer to Streamline Census Data Collection

When Switzerland implemented a yearly census, it needed a way to access information without requiring all residents to fill in surveys. In Canton Zurich, this required cooperation from Baudirektion Kanton Zürich, the government department responsible for public services, including construction, infrastructure, and the environment. A specialist team within the Spatial Development Office—Datalogistik ZH—partnered with HP to build a data management system based on the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 orchestration layer integrated with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 data management software. The new system connects 50 different web services to a database, creating an integrated solution that improves collection and analysis of data from 685,000 properties while cutting costs and increasing productivity. The software handles around 5,000 web service requests a day, with up to five requests a second.

Baudirektion Kanton Zürich is the government department in Canton Zurich responsible for public building and construction, and other functions related to infrastructure, the environment, and the public realm. A specialist team within the Spatial Development Office—Datalogistik ZH—provides data integration and management for Baudirektion, as well as other canton departments, such as the Finance Department of Zurich.

Datalogistik ZH manages information relating to flats, houses, and streets collected by municipalities or other departments within the canton, which has 260,000 commercial buildings and 685,000 residential properties. Previously, the organisation used several systems to manage information for the central office. Smaller municipalities used a web-based application to maintain the cantonal register of all buildings, while larger local authorities and cities used different applications with no access to the central database. Authorities had to send data in flat files by email, which then had to be integrated into a central database.

As these information management systems came towards the end of their life cycles, fewer people within the organisation could maintain them. For example, only one employee had the expertise to support the data integration solution. Martin Vetesnik, Project Leader at Baudirektion Kanton Zürich, says: “For us, it was a black box. We had no knowledge of its internal workings.”

In 2010, Switzerland started conducting its federal census yearly instead of once a decade. Most of the information for the census is drawn from municipal records and supplemented by sample surveys from a small proportion of the population. When the census became yearly, it was clear to Baudirektion Kanton Zürich that it needed to integrate data from all the canton’s authorities into one streamlined, easily accessible system. Stability and security were key. “It’s important that we ensure data integrity, consistency, and security in addition to complying with canton-specific regulations such as the data protection legislation,” says Vetesnik.

Our previous experience with Microsoft SQL Server, combined with the reputation of BizTalk Server, was enough to convince us that Microsoft offered the best solution. Martin Vetesnik Project Leader Baudirektion Kanton Zürich

Using the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 development system, HP built a data management environment based on BizTalk Server 2009—later migrated to Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010—and SQL Server. The solution connects 50 web services that contain data about residential and commercial properties, and stores it in a centralised repository. Data relating to buildings and construction projects is stored on SQL Server 2005, while the database cluster used for BizTalk Server 2010 is SQL Server 2008.

Staff at all local authorities can now modify or delete data through their own web service. Microsoft and HP created automated checks for accuracy and compliance with government legislation, so if data is inaccurate or lacks information needed for processing, an authority employee receives an error message.

The solution took eight months to design and deploy, and was completed in July 2010. During deployment, Datalogistik ZH had regular team meetings with HP to check the project’s status. “This gave us an opportunity to discuss challenges that arose. Usually HP was able to solve the issues within a day, often within hours,” says Vetesnik. Staff worked with HP consultants, learning how to set up the new system and change configurations.

HP also provides an ongoing maintenance and support contract to the department. Nicolas Blatter, Solution Architect at HP Technology Consulting, says: “We provide ongoing support for any issues that on-site staff can’t manage themselves. If a system goes down, we usually react within four hours.”

With its Microsoft solution, Datalogistik ZH was able to create a scalable, reliable system—cutting costs, increasing productivity, and simplifying management. “This project showed me how a complex undertaking can be a success if you choose the right solution provider. Our system is not a black box anymore. We understand how it works and making changes to the system is easy to do in-house. Also, if there’s a problem, we can analyse it and react much faster,” says Vetesnik.

Speedy Deployment Helps Department Meet Objectives

HP was quick to understand our business. The team demonstrated expert knowledge and developed innovative ideas fast. Martin Vetesnik Project Leader Baudirektion Kanton Zürich

Larger Municipalities Send Data Through Web Services

The new solution introduced a three-layer, interoperable architecture for presentation, business logic, and data. Vetesnik says: “The flexibility of the new system is such that the larger municipalities are now able to send us data through web services rather than within a flat file. This is helping to save time and boost productivity.”

Single Provider Reduces Costs and Halves Handling Time

“We’ve reduced our licensing costs because we now have one system instead of three for data management. Cutting handling time in half while analysing system errors also reduces staff costs,” says Vetesnik. “For example, when a municipality sends a web service request and something goes wrong, we’re able to find the problem within minutes, whereas it used to take hours.” Web service quality checks and restrictions are now automated, so Datalogistik ZH staff don’t have to send back files to the municipalities if they aren’t compliant with government regulations for data quality.

Automation Increases Productivity and Makes it Easier to Correct Errors

“By reducing manual tasks, such as integrating data from municipalities and checking for restrictions and quality, we saw immediate increases in productivity,” says Vetesnik. The business activity monitor automatically sends an email to staff if an error is detected, helping to ensure rapid reactions. Vetesnik says: “Before this solution was deployed, we had to analyse a daily error file, which was time-consuming. Our customer had to wait at least until the next working day for a response as to what went wrong.”

Simplified Management Enhances Interoperability

“All the parts of our system work together as one streamlined whole. And all of our data is now easily accessible, so we can create reports for our management team quickly and effectively,” says Vetesnik. These reports include the number of web service requests a month, errors per month, and the volume of traffic from each municipality. The new system is far more agile and easy to manage. Vetesnik adds: “We can monitor and backup business activities with a single dashboard, so staff can intervene quickly if there’s a problem.”

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