Mission Possible: Computer Technology for Daily Operations

Trends in Technology

Mission Possible:
Computer Technology for Daily Operations

by Edward H. Szillat

The recreation and parks office of the future is here today. Computers and specialized applications have become invaluabe tools of the leisure services trade. Available computer applications include office automation, accounting, registration, scheduling, point-of-sale, maintenance and management information. Imagine your agency with a state-of-the-art computing environment like this one.

Management Information
When you sit down at your computer workstation and sign-on with your personal code, the computer welcomes you with a bulletin of important and useful information for the day. It simultaneously clocks you in and posts you on the Status Board. You are notified of personal messages from both inside and outside your agency.

One message indicates that you have several facsimile (fax) documents waiting for your review. After reading and responding to your messages, your personal calendar comes up on the screen, showing your appointments and "to-do" list for the day.

When you decide a meeting of several key staff members is in order, you ask the computer to find a time within the next three days when all of you have 30 minutes free on the calendar. The computer gives you several alternatives. You select one. The appointments are automatically made on all affected staff calendars, including a brief message reminder.

Other messages indicate that the progress reports you requested from several staff are completed and awaiting your review.

Everything described in this high-tech recreation and parks management scenario is available today.

As a result of another e-mail, you respond to several staff with an emergency message. When you electronically send the message the computer pages the referenced staff to notify them that an urgent e-mail awaits them for immediate reading at any workstation. If they carry a text pager, the actual message is sent.

In word processing, you retrieve into a single document each of the staff reports prepared for the board meeting. You change the format to make the entire document look like it came from one author and matches the style rules of your agency for public documents.

Some of the statistics you find in the report are complicated and difficult to comprehend. You highlight the numbers and export them to the spreadsheet program, where you turn them into an easy-to-understand graphic. The graph is returned to, and becomes a part of, the original report document.

There is a section of the report that discusses work to be done to extend utility services via a right-of-way into an existing park shelter. You access the document retrieval system and ask it to locate all references to this right-of-way. In a few seconds, several documents, drawings, and pictures are indexed on your screen. You persue these items and select a pertinent passage for inclusion in the report. You also copy in a small drawing of the right-of-way, and picture of the site taken when it was first developed.

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The document retrieval system includes historic documents which were scanned in with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), as well as more recent text created on the system. It stores scanned plats of survey and architectural drawings, plus computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) plots done on the system. Even old photographs can be scanned in, although new images are being recorded using a video computer adapter and a digital still camera. These images can be enhanced using computer paint programs.

Two special awards are to be presented at the meeting: one to a community member for their work on the advisory council and another to an employee for ten years of service. Both pictures are uploaded from the digital photo identification (ID) system and incorporated into the citation in word processing.

After the report is refined to your satisfaction, you send a computer message to a staff member. You ask that finished copies be produced on the duplexing laser printer and distributed to the park board. Some of the report is important to people outside the agency who need to see it right away. You use the computer's internal fax to transmit copies to the list of people.

The computer appointment calendar beeps and a small window appears on your display to remind you of your next appointment in 20 minutes. You decide to use the remaining time to make a few phone calls, and you switch to the computer telephone database. Simply highlighting the person's name on the screen and depressing "Enter" causes your phone to dial.

After completing your call, you highlight the Internet on the telephone database, depress Enter, and within minutes your display screen is connected to the parks and recreation Internet computer resource services for IAPD, IPRA and NRPA. Here you read and print messages from colleagues across the state and nation, look for recent legislation affecting your agency, and place a job ad. Information can even be up- and downloaded between your computer system and the Internet!

Several board members are on the Web, and you upload the board meeting document file to these services so that the board members can download them later in the day to their personal computers. You read e-mail from your customers who have been viewing agency offerings on your Internet home page. While engrossed in the online session, the computer reminds you it is now only 10 minutes until your meeting, and that new messages are in your electronic mailbox.

Your meeting is with a community advisory group whom you wish to encourage to support the continued development of recreation and parks. You decide to hold the meeting in a nearby conference room which has a computer connection and a device that permits you to project computer images on a large screen. Using various computer applications, you have created an electronic slide show of text, spreadsheets, artwork, CADD drawings, and other graphics to help illustrate park plans, recreation programs, and facilities. After the introductory meeting, you take the group on a tour of your offices, parks and facilities.

PARKS MANAGEMENT
As the community advisory group arrives at the parks department, they see an employee coming to work. At an electronic time entry workstation, the employee swipes a digitally produced ID card through a reader. The computer screen informs the employee that he is 8 minutes late for work. Then it prints a copy of his work schedule for the day and the week, including equipment assignments. The computer logs the employee's arrival and makes this information available to the supervisor and to the payroll system.

Meanwhile, the mechanic is observed leaving the supplies cage with a portable, hand-held computer, complete with bar code wand. An inventory of the supplies on hand has just been scanned for comparison to the perpetual inventory stored in the computer. The hand-held computer has an antenna for wireless connection to the main computer. The inventory system is used for supplies as well as saleable goods at pro shops. It warns of parts and supplies reaching low order point. It can inform of purchase orders for and anticipated arrival of goods. When deliveries are received, the hand held computer or a workstation bar code reader can check in the items and update the inventory.

The mechanic prints a schedule of equipment to be maintained this week. The maintenance management system has been loaded with all vehicles, equipment, and any other items needing periodic maintenance—even trees!

Based upon user-selected usage parameters for hours, days, months, or mileage, the system tells the mechanic of work to be performed. It also accepts ad hoc work orders for unscheduled work. If work is to be performed on equipment in a user facility, a reservation on the facility scheduling system will prevent use of the area during the maintenance procedure.

The fuel usage monitoring system has recorded mileage figures as vehicles are refueled. Besides its fuel usage analysis and reporting, it notifies the maintenance management system of current odometer readings. The maintenance management system checks its schedule and sees that the vehicle is due for a tune-up. The mechanic has chosen this vehicle to work on today. A detailed list of steps to perform, and inventory items needed, is displayed and printed.

The maintenance management system tracks labor, equipment, and materials as they are used on every location and area under maintenance jurisdiction. The electronic time entry system asks the employee for simple codes about where time was spent, what equipment was used, and any materials applied to the task. The system then provides instant or periodic reporting of the cost to maintain locations and areas in a detailed or summary basis. This information is used in planning future work schedules and to justify staffing and budgets.

The CADD system is used by the parks planner to look at existing drawings and plats of survey. It is also used to draft designs for new play structures, shelters, and park land. Its link to the multi-user computer system allows it to feed it materials requirements lists for capital projects management.

The parks superintendent has immediate access to all maintenance, equipment and inventory information, as well as use of the office automation features discussed earlier. In addition, the superintendent can look up the status of purchase orders, budgets, and accounts. Capital projects can be budgeted via the cost accounting system, which then tracks their progress to completion, even over several fiscal years. The parks superin

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tendent is able to show the community advisory group information to satisfy their every question, without ever leaving the workstation.

RECREATION PROGRAMMING
At the community center, the advisory group arrives in the midst of a heavy seasonal registration period. A program supervisor shows how they prepared for these classes by telling the computer all the details about each session. Each class was booked into a room via the facility scheduling system. Finally, the important details were downloaded into the desktop publishing system to create the brochure of program offerings, which was both printed for mailing and uploaded to the agency home page on the Internet. In-person registration was recently discontinued. For most classes, people mail in, drop off, or telephone touch-tone their registration and are immediately entered into the computer without regard to priority. Some registrations are even received via the Internet home page.

On the designated day, the computer electronically lotteries all the registrants, placing them randomly into their desired class. If anyone cannot be placed in their first choice, the computer automatically puts them in their second choice. It even automatically delays registration of nonresidents, and permits register-with-a-friend preference.

Because most of the registrations were in the computer before the designated lottery day, supervisors already knew which classes would fill, and had an opportunity to create additional classes, using spare facilities and instructors, to take care of the overflow. The supervisor illustrated the side benefits of the system to the community advisory group.

Registrations can be performed in person or by mail at any location, including 24 hours, seven days a week by telephone using automated attendants. Receipts or confirmation postcards optionally can be printed.

After the initial lottery, class participation status can be viewed in detail or summary at any time. Budgeting is simplified by combining revenue, expense, and seasonal participation data on a single screen or printed page. Planning is improved because statistical and demographic information is available about where participants come from, and which facilities and programs they favor over many seasons and years. Randomly generated participant surveys are electronically tabulated and evaluated to improve future offerings.

Both staff and community participants can reserve any recreation or park area via the facility scheduling system. As space is reserved, overlaps with shared areas are also blocked to prevent duplicates. Receipts, permits, and bills can be printed. Facility schedules can be displayed and printed. They are posted for easy reading by staff and participants. The system prints a separate schedule for the custodial staff which identifies areas and times for setup, cleanup and required equipment, and for rangers who will check permits. Facility usage statistics are available to demonstrate patterns and needs.

In sports scheduling, a variety of leagues and teams are entered on the computer and automatically reserve playing areas via facility scheduling. If conflicts or exceptions prohibit scheduling the chosen number of contests, a simple change can be made and the entire schedule recreated in a matter of minutes. Hundreds of teams on dozens of fields can be fairly and accurately scheduled by multiple users in a fraction of the time required to do so manually. The schedules are printed for distribution to officials before play. Results may be remotely entered by modem, touch-tone entered by telephone, or mailed in and entered to create reports of wins, losses and standings.

The recreation superintendent and supervisors can evaluate the current status of programs, rooms, leagues, and budgets, at any workstation, anytime. Questions can be answered accurately in less time. Promotional material can be professionally created on desktop publishing. Offerings can be target-marketed using the demographic household database generated by the registration process. Increased control of budget dollars spent and improved revenues are a natural by-product.

SPECIAL FACILITIES
The next stop on the community advisory group tour is the facilities complex which includes golf, tennis, pool and ice arena. Upon entering the lobby, information about the facility is available to the public via a computer display on a Customer Kiosk. Visitors view information choices on the display and request detailed information by touching an item on the screen. Besides general information about parks and recreation, the public can look up details about class and facility availability, without staff assistance.

All the facilities have their own workstations for point-of-sale (POS) and separate ones for managers. The POS devices include a full-size computer screen, cash drawer, bar code reader, magnetic stripe reader, and receipt printer capable of printing

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bar codes. Digital photo ID cards are produced in under 30 seconds for less than 15 cents per card. An arriving customer passes a bar-coded member card through a reader. The computer checks to make sure the membership is current, opens the gate, and logs the user access for subsequent participant usage analysis.

Class registrations are recorded using the same system as described at the community center. Reservations for tee times, tennis and ice times are maintained on the facility scheduling system, and may also be telephone touch-tone entered by the user from anywhere. Pees for play and pro shop inventory items are rung up through the cash register program. Payments by bank card are automatically verified with the bank computer through the main computer system's telephone modem, while Electronic Fund Transfers for membership dues are transmitted monthly on diskette. All transactions are stored for daily cash reporting, inventory updating, reserved time, and membership record keeping.

The facility managers and superintendent can determine attendance instantly on graphical displays from anywhere in the agency. Supervisors are automatically notified by pager or e-mail reporting tardy or absent employees, as well as nearly depleted concession inventory. The daily revenue and expense status of each activity can be monitored at will. It can be compared via the participant usage system to revenues and expenses per user. Usage trends can be analyzed to more accurately set future fees and predict budgets.

Revenues are improved by direct marketing of expiring memberships and to participants recorded in facility scheduling and registration. New memberships do not require new ED cards or stickers, only entering the money received. More efficient monitoring of resources and more effective maintenance decreases expenses.

HOW CAN YOU DO IT?
Everything described in this high-tech recreation and parks management scenario is available today. Any agency can immediately begin taking advantage of these automated tools. The benefits to your community can be justified in improved service and long-range cost savings. Doing it properly is the key. Implementing a comprehensive management information system involves needs analysis, research, planning, funding, implementation, training, and ongoing support. Piecemeal, quick, simple solutions often result in wasted efforts and under-utilized systems. Awell-designed plan for a complete, multiuser system might take as long as a year to develop and up to five years or more to implement

Edward H. Szillat is a graduate of the Loyola University School of Business with a degree in CPA Accounting. In 1980, Szillat became vice president of A.E. Klawitter and Associates, lnc., which today serves more than 100 parks and recreation agencies across the country. For more information, contact AEK, 1-800-666-4235.

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