SmarTrans Product’s Quality and Performance

Topic: Performance Words: 874 Pages: 3

Value Proposition

The primary value of SmarTrans as a company product is to create an efficient and optimized parking service within an urban environment. It addresses one of the critical issues of finding parking in a city setting which may be caused due to inefficiency, poor urban planning, or overcrowding. It is estimated that in a crowded downtown setting of a major city, 30% of vehicles on the road are attempting to find a parking space, taking an average of 7.8 minutes to do so. This leads to the waste of 47,000 gallons of gasoline that produces 730 tons of carbon dioxide per major megapolis (Geng and Cassandras 1129).

SmarTrans is a focused solution to a major relevant issue of the modern-day with the expansive usage of personal vehicles for transportation with urban environments that are unable to accommodate spaces for parking. The forced trend of increasing parking supply leads to significant land consumption and automobile usage. However, cities implementing parking management strategies saw a decrease in unnecessary parking growth, therefore reducing associated negative outcomes (McCahill and Garrick 33). As a service, it would benefit the basic consumer by creating a system that would eliminate the waste of time, fuel, and emotional stress in the attempt to find a legal parking spot at the location of one’s arrival. Furthermore, the product helps with aspects of urban planning, vehicle safety, environmental impacts, and automated technology which are essential to the development of modern “smart” cities in the UAE and internationally.

Above is a value curve that has been created comparing the assessment of industry standards and the possible value that SmarTrans would bring. These estimates were generated for the project based on the conducted research regarding the industry and the current state of parking in major cities. Furthermore, the categories which should be assessed were designed based on primary parking issues and stakeholder perspectives on the value of car parking (Beetham et al. 197). Despite being a routine aspect of automobile transportation, various stakeholders such as the city government, drivers, and business owners are involved in the decision-making process of implementing large-scale and innovative initiatives offered by SmarTrans.

KPI Measurements

It is critical to consider that SmarTrans is a technology product that will be implemented at facilities that choose to purchase and install the technology. Therefore, in determining Key Performance Indicators (KPI), the focus should remain on the product itself. However, due to the nature of this enterprise, some of the measures will be intertwined with the quality and performance measures of the parking facility itself. It was decided to divide the indicators into several distinct groups, some of which are inherently similar to related to the value proposition categories described above.

Category	Key Performance Indicator (Description)	Target Measure
Efficiency and Utilization	Occupancy rate– the popularity of parking garages using SmarTrans	95%
	Efficient utilization of parking spaces– systematic use of every single parking space on floors closer to customer entry before further away spots are given	100%
	Time to find parking space and bring the car back – the system should become optimized to lower waiting time for customers	Under 5 minutes

Financial Viability	Sales of the SmarTrans system to firms– the primary income will be from purchases by parking garage owners for installing and maintaining the system	Breakeven with operating expenses
	The income per parking space– the system is highly technological and would only be viable to integrate on a large scale at this time.	$150
	Customer payment conversion – ensure that payment is received from each customer.	100%

Safety and Security	Maintain a crash-free environment – the system should work to avoid any potential collisions by vehicles that both manually and automatically operated	0%
	Lack of car break-ins– the automated nature of the parking service means a lesser presence of people in the parking garage, which may increase the possibility of car break-ins.	0%
	Parking garage maintenance – the facility should be equipped with adequate lighting, technological infrastructure, and adequate pavement.	80% of goals met

Customer Satisfaction	Reduce customer complaints – customer complaints should remain at a minimum.	5%
Customer Satisfaction	Length of stay and visitation frequency – customers are encouraged to become paying members of the service and utilize it at various locations. Longer parking durations are also welcomed as it results in higher revenue.	Duration over 1 hour. Visitation frequency of twice a week.

Technology	Technology failure rate– this is a highly complex technological endeavor that may lead to software failures. Reduce service interruptions.	0%
	Operational capacity – the technology can manage a high traffic and busy capacity of a multi-story facility.	95% success rate
	Provision of IT services per agreement– firms may have various demands for the service, and the IT team should be able to provide the necessary services and data as stated in predetermined contracts.	100%

Other	Marketing conversion – dedicated marketing efforts to both consumers and car park owners are converted to sales	65%
	Partner network – establishing reliable networks with relevant partners in the service. This can include firms to provide car maintenance, electric car charging stations, or GPS navigators guiding drivers to affiliated parking garages.
	Compliance with regulation and auditing requirements – city regulations often call for specific safety and procedural requirements to be met for parking garages.

Works Cited

Beetham, F. Isobel, et al. “Stakeholder Perspectives on the Value of Car Parking.” Urban, Planning, and Transport Research, vol. 2, no. 1, 2014, pp. 195-214.

Geng, Yanfeng, and Christos G. Cassandras. “New ‘Smart Parking’ System Based on Resource Allocation and Reservations.” IEEE Transaction on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 14, no. 3, 2013, pp. 1129-1139.

McCahill, Christopher, and Norman Garrick. “Chapter 3: Parking Supply and Urban Impacts.” Parking Issues and Policies, edited by Stephen Ison and Corinne Muley, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2014, pp. 33-55.