Self-organising socio-technical description in service systems for supporting smart user decisions in public transport

• Exploration to transpose service science principles to guide service systems design.
• Modelling of value co-creation service interactions embedding customer experience.
• Description of the Socio-Technical Systems Engineering (STSE) process.
• Exploratory case study of a real time information and travel planning service.
• Integration guidelines of the STSE process steps with Presage2 multiagent platform.

This paper describes an exploration towards the transposition of service science principles into design guidelines. This aims at capturing value co-creation service interactions embedding customer experience in service design and delivery activities. The new Socio-Technical Systems Engineering (STSE) process is proposed to guide improved design, and it is exemplified with a new real time service that provides integrated information for trip planning in a city. The STSE process supports a high level visual modelling approach assisted by model execution and simulation tools. From a service engineering perspective, the outcomes of this process are artefacts that automatically support consistency among design steps and effective integration of customer experience and stakeholder requirements through iterative cycles related to service design. The application of the STSE process in the design of an exploratory case study of a real time information and travel planning service is validated through simulation using an executable representation of requirements. It can be executed over more complex transport service offerings, with different resource allocation algorithms, or different public transport planning services over a sample of real users requesting information. Results of such a simulation are beneficial for the users, for the service providers, and for the authorities managing public transport in city or metropolitan areas.