2012 International Joint Conference on Service Sciences
Service engineering framework and its application in service innovation for elderly people in Beijing Jianbing Liu Beijing Research Center of Urban System Engineering, Beijing, China
[email protected] Thomas Burger Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, Stuttgart, Germany,
[email protected] Walter Ganz, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, Stuttgart, Germany,
[email protected] I. Abstract—Community- and home-based care services for the
INTRODUCTION
Community- and home-based care services for the
elderly are carried out in many communities of cities in China;
elderly are carried out in many communities of cities in
meanwhile, these initial small-scale pilots have been gradually
China; meanwhile, these initial small-scale pilots have been
extended, and this has become the trend of community
gradually extended, and this has become the trend of
development in the next few years. However, community and
community development in the next few years.
home care services for elderly people are still facing problems
However, community and home care services for elderly
such as inadequate coverage and low-service levels. The
people are still facing problems such as inadequate coverage
significance as well as the challenge of service innovation and
and low-service levels. The significance as well as the
service engineering becomes apparent. The authors give an
challenge of service innovation and service engineering
overview on the current situation of community and home
becomes apparent. The authors give an overview on the
care services in Beijing and illustrate how service engineering
current situation of community and home care services in
methodology is applied to two concrete new service products
Beijing and illustrate how service engineering methodology
in one community in Beijing. Preliminary results of one
is applied to two concrete new service products in one
collaborative project between Beijing Research Center of
community
Urban System Engineering and Fraunhofer Institute for
in
Beijing.
Preliminary
results
of
one
collaborative project between Beijing Research Center of
Industrial Engineering in Germany are illustrated and
Urban System Engineering and Fraunhofer Institute for
discussed.
Industrial Engineering in Germany are illustrated and discussed.
Keywords –Service Engineering; Service Innovation for
II. DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE IN CHINA AND BEIJING
elderly people; Demographic Change; HealthCare Services; ServLab
As the biggest developing country, China is entering into an aging society, which brings up great social challenges as well as economic opportunities.
978-0-7695-4731-2/12 $26.00 © 2012 IEEE DOI 10.1109/IJCSS.2012.57
227
China is the only country in the world whose aging
“Beijing ‘Twelfth Five-Year’ period of aging career
population has exceeded 100 million with an average annual
development plan” (hereinafter abbreviate to the “Plan”),
growth rate of 3%. According to the data of the sixth census
which is released by the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau,
of China, the country’s total population is 1.34 billion
proposed to establish four-layer community care service
people, of which those aged over 60 accounts for 13.26%
centers in the city’s communities, in order to meet the needs
and those aged over 65 accounts for 8.87%.
of the elderly day care, life care, housekeeping services,
It is forecasted that, the number of people aged over 60
sports
will reach 243 million in 2020, accounting for 17% of the
and
entertainment,
learning
and
training,
rehabilitation and health care, mental relief and so forth.
total population.
Meanwhile, it also points out that during the period of
Along with other big cities such as Shanghai, Beijing is
the “Plan”, the construction of the community nursing
the pioneer of Chinese aging society. According to the
homes will be strengthened, focusing on meeting the
Beijing Municipal Committee’s statistics on aging, by the
pension demand of the senior citizens, older people who are
end of 2010, the city’s household population is 12.58 million,
living alone, older people who cannot take care of
of which the population of 60 years old or above elderly
themselves and the older people who require palliative care.
people is 2.35 million, which accounts for 18.7% of the total
The endowment of beds is expected to add 50,000, in total
population. It is estimated that by 2015, Beijing’s elderly
up to 120,000. In addition, as an important measure to
population will reach 3.6 million. This figure will rise to 4.5
implement the community endowment, Beijing will be the
million by 2020, accounting for 20% of the total population.
pilot of the elderly public rental system this year.
Besides, the “Report of Beijing Elderly Population
B. Community- and home-based care services
Information and Aging Development Status in 2010” shows
It is believed in China that community- and
that by the end of 2010, the city’s population over the age of
home-based elderly care services are the fundamental
80 will be up to 351 000, accounting for 15% of the total
solutions to solve the problems of elderly services, which is
elderly population. The city’s pure elderly household
also in line with Chinese actual conditions.
population is 443,000, accounting for 18.8% of the elderly
The Beijing municipal government also attaches great
population. The elderly who cannot live on their own and
importance to the community- and home-based elderly
those who can only take care of themselves partly account
services, which has been planed as Beijing’s main elderly
for 14% of the city’s elderly population; according to this
service model.
proportion, during China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan, there
In January 2009, the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau and
will be 47,000 elderly people who need nursing-type care.
other departments jointly put forward a new model of
The other challenge of China’s aging society is the
elderly care services which is called “9064 policy”, in which
so-called “getting old before getting rich” phenomena,
it is said that by 2020, 90% of the elderly take home care
which means most of the elderly people are not rich. In
services with the assistance of community-based services,
addition, the social security system is imperfect, the
6% of the elderly take the community care services with the
development in urban and rural areas is unbalanced and the
pension purchased by the government, and 4% of the elderly
family support situation that is often referred to is
take the care house services.
weakening.
Under the guidance of the “9064” policy, Beijing has III. THE ACTION IN BEIJING
introduced and implemented a number of policies around community- and home-elderly services. For example, in
A. Government Plan
January 2010, Beijing implemented the home care (and
It is in this context that, Beijing municipal government
disabled) services (i.e. “nine elderly service policy”) to
attaches great importance to the elderly service issues.
provide home care services for the elderly through
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promoting the culture of showing respect for the elderly,
having health education and health care skills training, such
small dining rooms for the disabled elderly and by
as to provide living convenience and security services for
establishing daycare centers. By the end of 2010, the
the empty nest elderly by the application of the Internet of
government has paid 100 RMB pension per month to the
Things, carry out one-to-many services in the community
elderly, including 335,000 elderly people who are 80 years
and to improve the efficiency. As to city facilities, such as
old and above, 26,000 severely disabled people who are
public places, there the goals are to increase the services
60-79 years old and will provide 350,000 RMB of subsidies
such as battered-cars and wheelchairs and so on, strengthen
for the centenarians’ medical expenses.
the efforts in the research and development of the facilities and equipment of helping the elderly, organize production,
IV. INNOVATION IN SERVICES FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE
make use of networks and the Internet of Things technology
At present, community and home elderly services are
to improve the quality of life of the elderly, reduce their
still in the exploratory stage, the service capacity is very
travel barriers, provide opportunities for the elderly to
limited. Besides the reason, different sectors such as civil
participate in social activity and build an age-friendly
affairs and health care failed to form a joint force, which did
harmonious society.
not give full play to the role of the market and limited capital
In Industry, there are a large number of enterprises which
investment and so forth; the scientific and technological
are engaged in the development of related equipment and
content of the service is low as well. The service efficiency
services, and they also make efforts for the various
improves slowly, and the fact that the service coverage is
industrialization.
difficult to expand is another important reason for the above
However, the application of modern technology in the
phenomenon.
community and home care services is still very limited,
The development of community and home elderly
although it has an impact on the working efficiency and the
services must give full play to the role of science and
realization of some service functions. For example, the home
technology, especially the information and communication
care medical services of Yang Fang Dian Hospital is not yet
technology which includes the “Internet of Things” and
equipped with specialized information management systems,
“Cloud Computing”. This view has been more widely
and the update of patients’ files and medical records are still
recognized.
stuck in the stage of doctor handwrite the paper files, and
For example, in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” of the
then input those information into computer; the workload is
Ministry of Science and Technology, it is mentioned clearly
rather heavy and most of them are duplication works, thus it
to carry out research and development of the pension service
has a serious impact on the availability of services. In
platform, to promote the service-oriented pension, to draw
addition, many pension service equipment, such as
on the successful experience at home and abroad, to design
anti-falling device and the elderly positioning systems,
the pension model which is suitable for China’s national
which rely on modern technology have not yet deployed into
conditions, to set up a comprehensive service platforms with
the services in communities, thus modern technology has
the help of modern information and communication
very limited contribution to the pension service, resulting in
technology and other high-tech, to form home care support
the failure of widely application of a lot of modern services,
systems, to select qualified communities to demonstrate, and
such as the elderly tele-monitoring services and telemedicine
to cooperate at the molecular level and to promote orderly.
services. In addition to the lack of technology application in
In addition, the “Chinese elderly health action plan
the described fields, there is also a lack of knowledge,
(2011-2015)” of the Ministry of Health stated clearly using
methods and tools on how to develop new and innovative
technology means to provide specific measures for the
services for the elderly people in such communities.
elderly when they are participating in social activities,
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V. SERVICE ENGINEERING METHODOLOGY
used to sequentially optimize the service concept and to
Service Engineering provides an established and
identify conceptual mistakes before implementation and
practical oriented framework to support the development of
roll-out. A fourth alternative is to test the new services in a
services for elderly people. In the proposed model, the
pilot market. In this case, the service concerned is offered to
overall development process is subdivided into six broad
a limited number of customers, so that the company has a
phases:
chance to adapt it if necessary prior to the market launch.
Phase I: The first step in the service development process
Phase V: The conceptualization and testing work carried
includes brainstorming and appraisal of the idea. The
out in the previous phases is now translated into practice in
process begins with a collection of ideas for new services,
the company. Among other things, this necessitates the
which are then filtered and crystallized. In particular,
definition of organizational rules (e.g. the creation of
preliminary concepts are elaborated for suitable service
procedures),
ideas.
procurement of necessary operating resources, as well the
training
for
affected
employees,
the
operative implementation of the previously elaborated
Phase II: The second phase, the requirements analysis,
marketing concept.
marks the start of the actual development project and the detailed planning of the new service (Kim and Meiren 2010).
Phase VI: The market launch phase for new services
The requirements from the stakeholders’ point of view are
mainly encompasses internal and external communication
recorded and compared with one another.
and information measures. From the point of view of service the
development, this phase also serves to monitor the start-up
conceptualization and is made up of the Service definition
period and review the efficiency of the service. Final
(Scope of services, technical description), the organizational
adaptations may be necessary depending on feedback from
concept (Processes, roles and resources, training concept)
the marketplace, customers and employees. Furthermore,
and the Marketing concept (Product policy, price policy,
this phase comprises post-launch support for the services.
place policy, promotion policy). The main goals of this
VI. CASES OF SERVICE INNOVATION FOR ELDERLY
Phase
III:
The
third
phase
consists
of
phase are to describe the service in detail, to define
PEOPLE
organizational parameters for its future provision, and to
In current project cooperation activities the authors are
plan the deployment of resources. The conceptualization
applying the service engineering methodology to the
phase also serves to elaborate a marketing concept.
development of two service concepts for specific services
Phase IV: After the concept is developed, it should be
for elderly people in communities in Beijing.
tested. Conceptual tests verify the consistency and
A. Cases profiles
plausibility of the service documentation (e.g. business plans, process models, training material).Usability tests are made
Case 1 is about a home based health service with an
when the new services involve the use of new operating
electric blood pressure device. The electric blood pressures
resources (e.g. new hardware or software), through test
device is now used widely by many elderly people for its
methods derived from usability engineering. A central
utility and simple operation feature. The electric blood
question, then, is likely to be whether or not the company's
pressure device used in this case is one that has the
employees and customers are able to handle the new
connection function, which means the data can be sent by
resources. Prototyping and simulation allow visualizing
telnet or internet and stored to the hospital database, based
customer contact points, where interactions and processes
on which a lot of health services can be developed and
are tested with real customers under realistic conditions,
delivered. The objective of this case is to develop successful
either in test branches or special virtual laboratory
health services for a hospital, which supplies home-based
environments. Observation and feedback techniques are
services for the elderly people for free for six years living in
230
the community where the hospital is located. In this case, all
the service product model, the service process model and the
stages of service engineering will be gone through. The
service resource model. For the service process model,
development is supposed to take one year.
service blueprints were created (see Figure 1) and optimized
Case 2 is about a health and safety service with a device
using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
named “Smart watch” (hereinafter to be referred as “Smart watch service”). Smart watch service is already in the
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