Chicago's rail transport system, Metra, evolved its online presence and transformed its online presence across multiple channels, including the web and mobile.

1. Acquity Group and Day Software present:
A DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION: HOW
METRA EVOLVED ITS
ONLINE PRESENCE
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Day’s Vision for Customer Experiences
CUSTOMERS!
» WCM vision
focused on
customer
experience Customer Experience Management!
Digital Asset Social Targeting &
WCM
Management Collaboration Optimization
» Modular ECM
platform ECM Platform
(Search, BPM, Content)
interoperates
with Day and 3rd
Transactional Systems (ERP, CRM, ECM, PLM, Banking Systems.)!
party apps
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2. Who is Day Software?
• Tested – In operation since 1993 and used in hundreds of production environments
• Entrusted – Day’s list of 250+ customers includes top brands of the world
• Dependable – Publicly-traded, profitable and operating on a debt-free balance sheet
• Global – Headquarters in Boston and Basel, locations worldwide
• Innovative – CTO David Nuescheler drove JCR specs and Chief Scientist Roy Fielding
created Apache and co-founded Apache Software, led REST development
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Who is Acquity Group?
We are transforming the services marketplace
by helping organizations realize the potential of
their business online.
» A provider of end-to-end digital strategy, design and
technology solutions since 2001
» Headquartered in Chicago with regional offices
throughout the US; supporting clients on a global scale
» Privately held and profitable since opening our doors
» A trusted partner to more than 475 clients on
thousands of projects
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3. Agenda
» Who is Metra
» Metra’s Change Agent
» Program Goals
» Measuring Success & Next Steps
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Who is Metra?
Metra oversees all commuter rail operations in the 3,700 square mile
Northeastern Illinois region. The Metra system is comprised of 11 separate
lines radiating out from Chicago’s Loop, and serves more than 100
communities at 240 rail stations.
702 Trains each weekday
322,100 Weekday passengers
85,039,600 Annual passenger trips
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4. Original Site from 1994
…change was needed
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Drivers for Change
Site Assessment Yes No
Scalable
Able to change content
Dynamic system schedule
Personalization
Rider alerts
Commerce
Last Updated in 1994
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5. Four Program Goals – Supported by Day
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INF
SC
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Reasons for using Day CQ5
Easy to use for non-technical authors
Scale: Handle burst traffic
Deliver to multiple channels
Manage multiple web sites
Rich, flexible APIs for integration
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GOAL #1: INFORM
Provide timely and accurate information to Metra Riders,
Business Partners and the general public.
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6. Inform
Multi-Channel Publishing
for Rider Alerts
&
es
P ag ts
Message Types: eb ge
1. Advisory W Wid
2. Service Alert
ges
3. Crisis
il Messa
Ema
Mobile & SMS*
200 Unique Groups based 12 T
on train line & station: witt
er A
configured and delivered cco
unts
with 1 template
*SMS integration not yet deployed
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Inform
Civic Crisis Event
Civic Crisis Events are major events that impact the
population at large
• All registered users receive
the alert across all channels
• Web site is taken over, crisis
information is displayed on all
pages
• Information entered once
• Crisis procedures are the
same as the daily advisory
procedures
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7. GOAL #2: Schedule
Easy to update schedule information
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Schedule
Schedule Updating in Day
Schedule data stored in data templates
for each train number
» Metra can edit:
» Days of the week train runs
» Train Number
» Bikes per train
» Stop times and stations
» Stop Sequence
» Stop info
» Why Day?
» Content Architecture
» Ease of Use
» Easy content authoring
» Scale – caching maps and schedules
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8. Schedule
Schedule Updating in Day
» Updating the schedule in the data template changes the schedule
everywhere on the site
» Station to Station Schedule
» Full Schedule
» My Next Trains (Personalized Schedules)
» Mobile Schedules
» Integration with Google for Mapping Services
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Schedule
Actual Holidays
On actual holidays Metra has plenty of notice and uses day templates to add/
remove calendars from that day
» In this case adding all weekend/Sunday calendars
» Removing all weekday calendars
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9. Schedule
Early Quit Days
» Early quit days frequently give users notification in the My
Next Trains area
» Links to a general content page with info on the schedule changes
for that day
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GOAL #3: Sell
Increase On-line Ticket Sales
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10. Sell
Integrated eCommerce Architecture
Day CQ5
» Drives the presentation tier
» Manages the creation and distribution of information across all channels
» Leverages account data in Blue Martini for personalizing content
Blue Martini (My Metra)
» Holds user account information and personalization
» Handles “shopping cart” functionality
Why Day?
» Flexible runtimes for easy integration
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Sell
Purchasing Tickets and Pricing
Metra has only 29 SKUs but they have 11
lines servicing over 160 stations with over
700 trains per day making thousands of daily
stops.
» Determining what train to take can be a
challenge. CQ5 is used to manage
schedule data and display this complex
information helping the 82 million annual
riders find the right schedule.
» Blue Martini is the system of record for
pricing information.
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11. GOAL #4: Personalize
Personalization options
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Personalize
Personalization
Metra users have the ability to create
personalized schedule, recurring ticket
orders and alerting through the use of the
My Metra account
From mobile devices, the site is
personalized based on your location to
show the nearest station and next
departure times
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12. Personalize
My Metra
My Metra Ties Together:
CQ5, Blue Martini, Exact Target,
email and Mobile.
This is accomplished by extending
user account functionality and
allows users to manage:
» Account
» Personalization
» Email Distribution Management
» Subscription Purchase
Management
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Personalize
Exact Target Integration
» Exact target provides secure and compliant email distribution.
» When an alert is created it is pushed out to subscribed users via Exact
Target
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13. Personalize
Twitter Integration
» All eleven Metra lines have Twitter accounts. When alerts are
created for line the alerts are pushed out to Twitter.
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Personalize
Personalized Web Experience
» Users create custom schedules in their My Metra accounts.
» Personalized schedules are displayed on the Home Page
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14. MEASURING SUCCESS:
NEXT STEPS
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My Metra - Post Launch Reality
» The program has been extremely successful – 25% of regular riders
have My Metra accounts.
» Advisories and Alerts are currently used to communicate service delays,
holiday schedule changes, severe weather warnings and special
services.
» Average email volume 60,000 per month.
» The platform has been extended to business partners and vendors
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15. My Metra for Business
Personalized B2B and Partner Content
» My Metra functionality has been extended to business partners allowing
partners to access, download and monitor IFB and RFP opportunities.
» Alerts are sent to registered users when new opportunities are posted and
current opportunities are modified or awarded.
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Benefits and Return
Increase in website activity 40,000 unique visitors per day
Peak site traffic 80,000 unique visitors per day
Improved web channel satisfaction 200% increase in online ticketing
Ability to communicate quickly 60,000 alerts per month
» Improved rider-satisfaction and new rider-satisfaction
» Positive response from the riders and press
» Reduced cost of administering the purchasing process
» Improve Purchasing visibility
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16. Advertising – MyMetra, Mobile, Web, Email
Metra recognizes that the digital channel
offers opportunities to generate revenues
» Personalized and Targeted advertising
» Mobile coupons and promotions
» Location based advertising
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Summary: Why Day Software for Metrarail.com
» Multi-channel Delivery: Email, Social Media & Mobile
» Personalization
» eCommerce Integration
» Real-time notification integration across multiple web experiences
» Speed to Market: Site launched in 90 DAYS
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17. Addressing Marketing & IT Needs
Segmentation, Targeting, Optimization
Marketing
Social Agility
WCM DAM
Collab
JSR 283 / 286-compliant Infrastructure
Sharepoint CRM IT
Connector CRX Connector Agility
ECM Platform &
Custom
Legacy ECM Virtual Repository Commerce
Connector
Connector
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Transform Online Customer Experience
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18. Web Content Management
‣ Rapid time-to-launch for new scheduling
information or micro-sites
‣ Delivers to multiple channels
(mobile, iPad, PC)
‣ Ease of use for non-technical publishers
‣ Scales to meet peak demand
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Targeting & Optimization
‣ MyMetra personalization
‣ Target based on GIP, tag cloud, behavior, user
agent, etc.
‣ Integrates easily with 3rd parties
‣ Establishes unique user groups
‣ Analyze, report, and optimize
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19. Social Collaboration for Customer Engagement
‣ Integrated communities
‣ Customer ratings / comments
‣ Blogging & social media marketing
‣ User-generated content & social tagging
‣ Site visitor profiles & customer marketing intelligence
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Cloud-ready Scaling
‣
Hot-join clustering Rapid deployment
‣ Web-based dev, admin
‣ 24x7 operational support
‣ On-demand scalability
‣ RESTful web app development
Not feasible with closed systems
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20. Why Day Software & Acquity Group
» Day Software » Acquity Group
» Open Source architecture scales » Expertise across technology,
software, hardware and expertise digital strategy and user
» Ease of use empowers business experience/design
users & offloads IT
» Hundreds of successful Content
» Agile and REST-ful app
Management projects launched
development eases 3rd party
for clients across verticals
integration
» Proven in hundreds of production » Longstanding Premier Partner
environments worldwide with Day since 2001
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THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS?
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