New vehicle registration software introduced at the Citizens' Registration Office

On December 1, 2024, the Citizens' Registration Office introduced new software for vehicle registration. "It took a lot of preparation before we could press the symbolic red button," report Sandra Sobiech and Alexander Witzel, who have been driving the project forward for two years. On the weekend before going live, the entire vehicle fleet in Offenbach (138,867 data records) had to be migrated, the links to other bodies such as the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the German Association of Insurers and the TÜV had to be restored and master data for all users had to be stored. This was successfully completed by a seven-strong project team together with software partner ekom21.

The new process has been in use since December 2. In addition to the specialist procedures for registration and passport matters and for processing driving licenses, the registration software is now also part of a so-called suite, i.e. a uniform user interface. This reduces the work steps and program changes that were previously necessary for employees and optimizes processes.

He follows the various innovation projects in the city administration and considers the citizens' office to be technically as efficient and well-positioned as possible.

The project management team of Sobiech and Witzel, who are responsible for vehicle registration and IT in their regular roles, particularly emphasize the performance of the employees in the project. "For two years, the team tested the various development stages of the program, worked on quality assurance, networked with other registration authorities that had already switched over before us and played a key role in the extensive training of all users," emphasizes Sandra Sobiech, who is satisfied with the largely silent changeover.

In terms of numbers, vehicle registration is the second largest task package in the citizens' office after the registration and passport area. The online offering is gradually growing, so that in 2024 a total of around 7,500 processes were completed online. "There is still plenty of room for improvement. Especially since you can drive off immediately with a provisional registration certificate when registering online, this is a convenient service that more customers should be happy to use," says Sandra Sobiech, promoting the process in which vehicle documents and stickers for the vehicle are sent by post.