ASM Venaria Reale: an RFID Card for Citizen Services, from Welfare to Environmental Services

The Municipal Multi-Service Company of Venaria (ASM Venaria) operates in various sectors, including pharmacies (providing citizens with healthcare services such as blood pressure measurement and self-diagnostic tests), welfare (nurseries, school canteens, and transportation for preschool, elementary, and middle school students), and sports, managing the Venaria Sports Club.

Thanks to collaboration with Elision and the Softwork Group, ASM Venaria has adopted an RFID “contactless” card, allowing citizens to access services via user identification, data storage, and data transfer across different system points.

In healthcare, the ASMCard manages the registration of purchases and basic self-tests performed at pharmacies: the card thus becomes a personal health record where results and dates of tests like blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar can be stored. Citizens can request a historical printout of exams and a chart reflecting trends over time from any participating pharmacy, enabling continuous health monitoring and turning the RFID card into a kind of health diary. The card also allows monitoring of accounting status, with pharmacies providing periodic statements of receipts and amounts paid for co-pays and purchases. This service benefits not only users but also pharmacies, where the card becomes a customer loyalty tool, enabling discount and point programs, as well as targeted actions like launching a new product or service.

Another application involves the management of school canteens, a complex issue that previously caused many difficulties, especially at the start of the school year. Staff had to quickly verify thousands of students’ statuses across various schools, update meal charges, and individually modify existing cards, requiring parents to visit ASM Venaria’s offices, leading to long lines and inconvenience. With the ASMCard, 30 booking points have been installed, connected to the central office, and four recharge points at municipal pharmacies. At the beginning of the school year, RFID cards were distributed, used from the very first day: since then, parents can check their data and statements online or at the ASM Venaria kiosk.

Management of Disabled Parking Permits, Sports Activities, and Environmental Services

The RFID permits for disabled access to restricted traffic zones (ZTL) and parking, combined with mobile terminals used by the Municipal Police and the new system for issuing and controlling permits, allow the Municipality of Venaria Reale to verify proper permit use, eliminating abuses of the Disability Badge as outlined in the Highway Code. The RFID card also provides access to the Venaria Sports Club’s pool for over 5,000 users. Lastly, the RFID card is also used in the environmental sector, with EcoBank’s recycling incentive services for cans and plastic bottles and access to ecological islands: depositing PET containers in designated collection stations loads a small credit onto the EcoWallet services card, redeemable at participating stores, while the ASMCard provides access to ecological islands.

Solution Benefits

The choice of RFID “contactless” technology and ISO 14443 standard has proven effective in meeting ASM Venaria’s needs:

As RFID is a standard technology, it enables an open and coded system, accessible by multiple partners.
The volume of data to be managed and privacy and security requirements are ensured by RFID, which cannot be easily duplicated and is protected from unauthorized reading.
The need to update card data and the high reading speed led to the choice of RFID over other technologies.
Automatic controls in payment management have brought administrative benefits, reducing tasks and improving payment collection procedures.

RFID Red Wave Reader HF PR50-U

The variety of applications required the use of various RFID devices, from simple proximity readers connected to a personal computer used in kiosks and pharmacies to stand-alone terminals with local intelligence and traditional and GPRS modems for remote connections, used for school and nursery canteen bookings, as well as mobile handhelds for managing disabled parking permits. The ASMCard operates at 13.56 MHz (HF), the international ISO 14443/A standard for identification: this standard was chosen because, in addition to superior security features over other technologies used in electronic cards, the card data is protected by dual passwords, and transmitted data can be encrypted for maximum user security. It also offers other invaluable advantages, including the ability to store a large amount of data, starting from 1,000 characters in the basic version up to several thousand.

Management of Disabled Parking Permits, Sports Activities, and Environmental Services

RFID Red Wave Reader HF PR50-U

Contacts

Contacts

Elision S.r.l.

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