The platform helps carparks and their systems integrator (SI) partners to reduce maintenance cost, increase efficiency and improve service quality.
Running a carpark can be a challenging feat. Device failure and poor management often lead to customer dissatisfaction and damage to the carpark’s reputation. In this regard, ZKTeco has launched its
POMS – Real-time Operation and Monitoring Cloud Platform that helps carparks and their systems integrator (SI) partners to reduce maintenance cost, increase efficiency and improve service quality.
Carpark challenges
Carparks are necessities in urban settings. They provide a venue for drivers to park their vehicles safely as they dine, shop or conduct official business. To attract more drivers, carpark operators turn to advanced equipment, for example license plate cameras, LCD displays and automatic payment machines, to make their parking lots more automated and user-friendly.
Yet the more sophisticated a carpark gets, the more difficult it is to manage. From time to time, machines go out of order without the knowledge of the operator, who may be at another venue. The operator may also have to send technicians to each individual site to fix or upgrade machines. The resulting maintenance/labor cost and inconvenience often lead to frustration for operators and drivers alike.
"It’s very hard that carparks manage more and more devices in the traditional mode. They can’t manage devices remotely; they don’t know if devices are broken or if the operation status of devices is normal and abnormal. Devices can’t update latest plate license algorithm firmware,” said Woody Ou, Cloud Product Manager for Parking Department at ZKTeco.
The solution
To address these parking challenges, ZKTeco has rolled out ZKTeco POMS - Real-time Operation and Monitoring Cloud Platform. It’s a cloud-based operation and maintenance system for real-time monitoring of carparks.
“ZKTeco strengthens the overall carpark operation and maintenance management capabilities with the POMS platform,” Ou said. “The POMS platform is based on the cloud. It can remotely add and control equipment; remotely upgrade equipment firmware and batch operations; upgrade package management, statistical analysis, customer management, account management and system management; and know the operation of the equipment at any time through real-time data such as the status and location of the equipment.”
How it works
The POMS platform has four major components. They are “monitoring panel for parking operation and maintenance,” “monitoring center,” “device management” and “statistical analysis.” Details of these features are discussed as follows.
Parking operation and
maintenance – monitoring panel
The monitoring panel is a real-time summary of equipment information. Specifically, it provides the following data: the total number of connected devices, allowing carpark administrators to monitor all devices in real time; the devices’ total accumulated running time from the beginning of the day to the current date; and the total number of projects in a specific region.
Monitoring center
The monitoring center function refers to the collection of abnormal event data. In case any abnormal event of a device is detected, for example disconnection of an LPR device, notification will be sent to the administrator, and the event details will be displayed indicating the problems of the relevant device.
“Once the equipment fails or is about to fail, the system provides users or end customers with relevant alarms or early warnings in a variety of ways. It can realize the functions of equipment fault detection, equipment positioning, equipment remote management, remote monitoring, equipment repair report, online order dispatch, remote transmission and modification of equipment operating data, and equipment firmware uploading and downloading functions,” Ou said.
It’s worth noting that the platform supports over-the-air (OTA) firmware upgrade of license plate recognition devices. With just one click, even if there are a million customers and devices, the SI can easily perform an update to all client sites and assist its customers to experience the latest features of the equipment, Ou said.
Device management
Device management is the process of managing the implementation, operation and maintenance of physical devices. It lists all installed equipment with serial number, operation status and service description. With a POMS scanner, the SI can quickly add products by scanning the barcodes on the products, thus saving time and efforts when installing products to the systems. The level of management can be classified into various authority levels – the higher the level, the more authority the administrator has to monitor and oversee the functions of surveillance, equipment management, statistical analysis and system management.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis is the collection and interpretation of data to show the total cases of maintenance and the total number of abnormal issues and pending events. The goal of statistical analysis is to identify trends – SIs or distributors may use statistical analysis to find trends, estimate the lifecycle of equipment and provide promotions of new products and markdowns at the right time.
How POMS makes SI’s job easier
The POMS platform allows SIs to save cost, operate with higher efficiency and improve service quality when dealing with their carpark partners.
“POMS introduces the concept of equipment lifecycle, from passive to active operation and maintenance. Pre-processing failure before equipment failure occurs ensures the stable operation of customer business. SIs are enabled to actively obtain operational status of devices. With the new operation and maintenance mode, SIs are able to solve at least 90 percent of problems via remote programs,” Ou said. “For specific replacements of parts, after-sales staffs can be dispatched to precisely perform repairs to save time and costs. Significantly reduced device error and enhanced use efficiency increases enterprises’ service efficiency and quality.”
Products supported
The platform supports ZKTeco’s license plate recognition (LPR) camera, LPR-integrated machine and high-end LPR machine. While these are ZKTeco products, eventually third-party integration will be possible if requested.
“Now the POMS cloud platform only support ZKTeco cameras enabling our existing customers. But as we know, the future of digitalization must be open and inclusive. If there is a demand, we are also very happy to connect to third-party equipment to serve more customers, which could help them to digitally manage parking equipment and provide better services to end customers,” Ou said, adding that POMS is already deployed in Bangkok, and ZKTeco will push it to other markets overseas.
Conclusion
The carpark business has become more competitive than ever, amid a mushrooming of parking lots to accommodate drivers. Operators therefore need to resort to predictive maintenance, remote monitoring and over-the-air upgrade to achieve further efficiency and gain more revenue. In this regard, ZKTeco’s POMS platform offers an ideal parking management solution that helps operators and their SI partners to improve service and provide a better user experience. We can expect POMS to see more deployment in different markets in the years to come.
If you want to experience the new functions of the POMS platform, please feel free to
contact the local sales manager.