Tag: Smart Meter

“WeAssist” – a digital companion that helps to find the right information at the trade fair “Gemeinsam stark!”

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

Information overflow on the trade fair „Gemeinsam stark!“? Not with the Digital Companion „WeAssist“! It guides the visitor through the trade fair and helps them to find the information they need at the right place. The web-app was developed by students of HM in cooperation with the University of Tampere (Finland) for the organizer of the trade fair, Rössler Consult GmbH. It is one component to transform the trade fair to the digital age.

HM Project Team: Polina Protsenko (Developer), Pauline Böttcher (Developer), Farhad Muradi (Scrum Master), Jonas Moser (Product Owner), Muhammad Ahmed (Developer)

Background of the trade fair “Gemeinsam stark!”

The consulting firm Rössler Consult GmbH together with the local working group Altbayerisches Donaumoos e.V. organize the regional trade show “Gemeinsam stark!” every two years. Due to the advancing digitalization and the restrictions during the Corona pandemic, digitalization is now to be integrated into the trade fair concept. Klaus Rössler, CEO of Rössler Consult, emphasizes on the importance of the evolution of the fair: “We are still planning our trade and regional show, which has been in place for decades, as a face-to-face event, because personal contact is still very important, especially in rural areas, especially after the low-contact Corona period. Equally imperative, however, is the integration of digital elements in the process, communication, the communication of common cross-sectional goals and especially gamification, which enables fast, flexible and target group-specific action that increases the attractiveness across generations.” The digital web-app could be one component of the new concept.

The problem: Information overflow on the trade fair “Gemeinsam stark!”

Navigating trade fairs in general can be overwhelming, with lots of exhibitors and a packed schedule of events. At the fair “Gemeinsam stark!”, over 8.000 visitors have to find their way around the 1.500 square meter exhibition area with over 60 exhibitors. The problem that visitors are often facing is finding relevant information such as the exact location of each exhibitor, exhibitor’s offers, and an overview presenting this information in a concise and simple way. What was missing, is a guide who helps visitors find the right information at the right place.

The solution: “WeAssist”, the digital companion

The product vision was clear: The Digital Companion WeAssist should help visitors to find the right information at the right place – so they would never get lost. The developed prototype of the digital companion web-app offers a range of features that help visitors to get a structured overview of all areas of the fair. First, one receives detailed information about each exhibitor and even gives the possibility to st personal favorites. Furthermore, “WeAssist” includes a digital trade show map that provides users with a complete overview of the site and shows the exact location of exhibitors and food stands. The different food options are also shown and described in detail. In addition, visitors can find a schedule of events and lectures that will take place during the fair. For possible questions or problems, a FAQ page is available.

International Cooperationin an Agile Environment

An interdisciplinary student team of 9 students from HM and University of Tampere (Finland) worked together on the prototype. To determine the needs of visitors, the students used the “Working Backwards” method of AWS and furthermore conducted an online survey with trade fair visitors. Based on the results, the students developed the app in an agile way, using the Scrum framework. Maximilian Vogl, Project Manager and assistant to the CEO of Lokale Aktionsgruppe Altbayerisches Donaumoos e.V. cherished the approach:“The close cooperation between students, lecturers and our agency was profitable for all sides. Determined and with methodical competence, the interdisciplinary project team developed a functional prototype app for our trade show ‘Gemeinsam stark!’”.

Home Screen of the digital companion “WeAssist”

The professors from Munich University of Applied Science were Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Günzel and Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm. Hans Jürgen Haak was the coach concerning agile methods. Anne-Mari Stenbacka was the lecturer for the Finish students from Tampere University of Applied Sciences.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Autoren: Team Tradeshow

DocuWare’s CO2 Analyzer – A Simple Way of Increasing Awareness for Hidden CO2 Saving Opportunities by Going Paperless

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

An easy-to-use CO2 calculation tool – the DocuWare CO2 Anaylzer – was developed by an international team of students to highlight CO2 saving potentials by moving towards digital business processes that supports the sales team of DocuWare, a cloud-based software-as-a-service company.

The Project Team (F.l.t.r.): Anna Minakova (Product Owner), Andreas Birnkammer (Scrum Master), Patrick Mann (Business Developer), Julian Osiander (Business Developer), Darina Kopacheva (Business Developer), Jenna Westerlund (IT Developer), Janika Kupila (IT Developer), Jyri Ruohoniemi (IT Developer), Aaro Kurki (IT Developer)

Saving CO2 Emissions as a Business Model
As firms must evaluate their business processes regarding caused CO2 emissions, DocuWare helps companies to achieve their sustainability goals of reducing carbon emissions. The software company offers smart solutions to digitize paper-intensive business processes to simplify complexity by process automation. DocuWare does not just want to use digitization for simplification but also as a step towards a more CO2-neutral office environment.

“With the CO2-Calculator, we want to provide our prospects and customers with a tool that calculates how much CO2 emissions they can specifically save by digitizing a business process. In other words, how much CO2 a digital process such as invoice processing emits in contrast to a paper-based process? So, in addition to saving paper and trees, you can also show this positive aspect of digitization.” Dr. Stefan Weinberger (DocuWare – Sr. Director Inside Sales)

Increasing Awareness of Saving Carbon Emissions
To date, the benefits of digitizing an office environment are abstract and concrete figures about potential CO2 savings are not given. Therefore, the DocuWare CO2-Anaylzer can inform the user, which will be the DocuWare sales team first and later on the client interested in using the DocuWare product, about the concrete sustainability benefits of going paperless is required. The user needs to know how much CO2 emissions they can reduce and how that benefits the environment by switching to a digital solution. Thereby, the application is easy to use while also quickly providing results with the use of a limited number of relevant parameters. It offers the user an estimation of how much CO2 they produce right now compared to implementing the digitized solution of DocuWare as well as how many trees can be saved in the process of manufacturing the necessary paper.

The CO2 Analyzer – An Internationally Developed Tool
The application was developed by a cross-cultural student team from the Munich University of Applied Sciences and Tampere University of Applied Sciences guided by Prof. Dr. Brehm, Prof. Dr. Günzel, Anne-Mari Sainio and Hans-Jürgen Haak. Furthermore, through the active engagement of DocuWare representatives during the development process the students were able to create a viable solution. Conclusively, the sales team of DocuWare as well as their potential customers are provided with a scientific-based calculation tool that highlights possible CO2 savings which can be used then as an additional selling point for their cloud solutions.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Autoren: Team Docuware

The voice assistant that gives facility management a refreshing appeal

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

The Museum of London stores the capital of England’s long history from its settlers to modern times and welcomes over one million visitors each year. To realize its vision of becoming a “smart museum” and making use of resources efficiently, once again in the summer semester of 2022, the Museum of London shakes hands with the University of Applied Science Munich students and works together on another project. Accompanying the museum on the way to achieving its goal, a group of ten students has teamed up and developed a solution to integrate the use of the voice assistant ALLRight into facility management at the museum.

The Vision for 2023

Committed to engaging more people and constantly transforming to be a “New Museum”, knowing exactly where and when a malfunction in the building occurs is of great importance for all stakeholders. Within the scope of the previous cooperation projects between the Museum of London and the student teams at MUAS (Andreas Meuser, Syed Muhammed Ali Raza, Tobias Kuch, Lukas Förner, Simon Meier, Richard Nefzger, Florian Kaiser, Daniel Eberhard, Mai Linh Tran, Florian Horder), the main goal always involved the efficient consumption of resources and maintaining the best environment not only for the visitors but also for the preservation of the historical artifacts.

Hurdles in the way

“Usually, when at work, I was constantly concerned about the museum’s condition. I could not quickly and easily get reliable information about the temperatures and humidities in the galleries. I wanted accurate, reliable, and valid information to know that everything was alright”, John, facility manager at the Museum of London said.” However, with ALLright I feel more confident at getting the information I need at any time. And all that can be done simultaneously while I am working on my desk!” However, facility managers at the Museum of London have been having difficulty in quickly finding out the state of the building. Due to various data points and limited access to these data, it involves an inefficient and time-consuming process to pinpoint the problems with the functionality of the building, as they have to check various systems or ask around to find out what is wrong. Instead of having to go through all these troubles, they want to be granted easy and quick access to insights into the building’s functionality, and the most convenient way to get the information they need is via a voice assistant.

Delivering a valuable solution to solve the client’s problem

The intuitive voice assistant ALLRight was developed as a “Skill” based on the foundation of Amazon’s infamous voice assistant Alexa. It answers the 8 critical questions about the condition of the buildings at the Museum of London and gives information about occurring technical problems. With the voice assistant, facility managers can conveniently get a fast and simple overview of the current state of the building. The special feature of ALLRight is the interaction between it and the user as the skill has been developed to be able to include personalization and naturally converse with users.

“The team has surpassed my expectation!”, the client from the Museum of London, Steve Watson – Technical Building Lead – and John Iaciofano – Facility Manager – are very thrilled about the development of the voice assistant ALLRight from the early days until the prototype is completed.

 “ALLright is an exciting game-changer, which makes accessing building information easy, fun, and reliable.  Managing buildings is all about decision-making and ALLright informs me quickly of the relevant information to support important decisions.  This app is a glimpse into the future of building management”, Steve said. He also added when asked about future implementation potentials, “I see a future where buildings become much better structured at the data layer and then voice assistants will have a very rich source of information and analysis available.  Then I see voice assistants becoming more adept at natural language and also having a back-end learning capability that improves with specific buildings, their datasets, and their interactions.”

Dieses Co-Innovation Lab Projekt wurde in Kooperation mit dem Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) an der Hochschule München durchgeführt:
Das Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) der Hochschule München widmet sich den großen gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen unserer Zeit. Zusammen mit Akteuren im öffentlichen Sektor entwickeln Studierende zukunftsweisende Lösungsansätze. Hierbei werden sie von Amazon Web Services mit state-of-the-art Cloud-Technologien und der Innovationsmethodik Working Backwards unterstützt. Wir leben digitale Transformation.

Weitere Informationen über das Co-Innovation Lab und das Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) an der Hochschule München:

Autoren: Mai Linh Tran