INFO ON PILGRIMS IN ONE SYSTEM

TH improving management of pilgrims

ALL information on Malaysian pilgrims — from their flights to the Holy Land to how many are in hospital — has been integrated into one system for the first time this haj season.

This new technology is part of Tabung Haji’s (TH) efforts to improve the management of pilgrims and information flow between units on the ground, as well as provide a faster response time.

TH Makkah operations director Datuk Ahmad Sohaimi Abd Rahim said all the information could be seen on a display called “Dashboard Maktab”, accessible to TH maktab managers and staff.

“The dashboard display, developed by TH subsidiary Theta Edge Bhd, auto-updates daily statistics and data on pilgrim arrival and movement, among others.

“This includes flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, travel from Madinah to Makkah, airport to hotel, the contact number of drivers, and others. We can also see the demography of pilgrims.

“All data obtained in the operation is recorded and analysed for trends and possible improvement.

“The dashboard incorporates information from five systems and those recorded manually,” he told Malaysian media at TH headquarters Abraj Al-Janadriyah.

Among the information incorporated into the dashboard is those from an application called “Haj Mobility”, which is important especially during the Masyair period.

Masyair is a crucial part of the haj and involves a massive movement of pilgrims — close to three million from around the world — from here to Arafah for wukuf, and then onwards to Muzdalifah, and Mina for the stoning ritual. It is expected to start on Aug 19.

“TH officers will report information sector by sector. It will be updated and displayed in the app on pilgrims’ mobile phones,” Sohaimi said.

He said for example, the departure of each bus transporting Malaysian pilgrims to Mina would be reported in the app and updated when the buses arrive at their destination.

He said the application had a search function, where TH officers could call up data on any pilgrim or officer and know which maktab they were from, where they were staying and other information.

“With Haj Mobility, all the pilgrims’ data is in our pocket.”

He said this data was stored in an integrated information system, available offline.

On whether information from pilgrims’ e-Lencana would be incorporated into the dashboard, Sohaimi said it would be, once all problems were resolved following the pilot project.

The e-Lencana tag has been implemented as a pilot project this year among 6,000 pilgrims from

With Haj Mobility, all the pilgrims’ data is in our pocket.

Tabung Haji Makkah operations director

two maktab staying at Abraj AlJanadriyah.

The tag optimises low-emission Bluetooth technology to track pilgrims.