4-page Case Study - Posted 1/19/2006
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Bournemouth Council Boosts Beach Hut Rental Income With Automated Booking System
Bournemouth Borough Council on the south coast of England wanted a new automated system to manage bookings for its highly popular beach huts and bungalows along the holiday resort’s scenic seafront. Some 1,200 people were on the waiting list for beach huts, but the council was unable to create reports easily and quickly showing which properties were vacant. Deverill, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, recommended a solution using Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft ASP.NET to replace its legacy Novell system. The council is implementing the solution for the summer season and expects to improve rental income, save person hours in administering the service, and deliver a better service for its 3,500 customers. Having used this discrete service as a pilot for SharePoint Portal Server 2003, the council plans to use the data for marketing other tourism services.
Situation
Bournemouth Borough Council administers local government services to 163,600 residents living in the seaside resort of Bournemouth on the south coast of England. It draws 5.5 million visitors a year to its seven miles of soft golden sands, sheltered bathing, and flourishing parks and gardens. A popular service administered by the council’s leisure services division is the eight separate areas of beach huts along the Bournemouth seafront. The council owns 1,200 beach huts and 600 beach bungalows, which are rented out to the public and have a 1,200 person waiting list.
In 2003, the council decided to look for an automated system for handling beach hut bookings. Officers and elected members wanted to increase rental income, improve the service to the 3,500 beach hut users, and use the extra revenue for improvements to the leisure and tourism attractions run by the council.
The problem for IT administrators was that the existing computerised system using Novell was reaching the end of its usability. Nick Duncombe, IT Development Officer, Leisure and Tourism, Bournemouth Borough Council, says, “The legacy system was unwieldy, unstable, and had huge user limitations. Administration for non-annual based renting or leasing was primarily on a paper-based system, which relied on Seafront Inspectors physically delivering paperwork along the 7-mile stretch of coastline.”
Bookings could be handled in weekly blocks, but the council wanted users to have the option of booking either whole days or parts of a day. “We were working with a system that was completely out of date and often had to do physical checks to see if beach huts were empty,” says Duncombe. “Customers had to telephone the council or write a letter. It was very difficult to work out whether we could make special offers for particular weeks based on the pattern of demand.”
The council was also conscious that there was no online booking system. Duncombe says, “If a customer changed bookings, they had to be re-entered by hand into the system. To get on the waiting list, customers had to send in a letter of intent, which was filed in a paper-based system at the main seafront office. We wanted information to be available about vacant beach huts at a number of different offices to improve the flexibility of the service.”
Solution
In 2003, Duncombe and some of his colleagues attended a Deverill seminar about how Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 could be used to manage booking systems, as well as improve collaborative work between council staff. Subsequently, Duncombe decided to pilot the use of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to modernise the beach hut and bungalows rentals service.
The council turned to Deverill, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to design, build and then help its IT administrators implement the new booking service using SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft ASP.NET. The project was implemented in two and a half months using Microsoft ASP.NET and integrated with a database using Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000.
Duncombe says, “We will be able to provide each of our six booking offices, four of which are summer-only, with access to the live booking system. By analysing booking trends, we will have the flexibility to make special offers and charge different rates for different areas. We can run mail shots to previous rental customers and capture historical data, which will then be useful for the next booking season.”
The council is standardised with the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 Datacenter Edition operating system, part of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software, and is examining the prospect of introducing more reporting services in the future. But, it can already provide proper audit trails for its bookings, manage invoicing more efficiently, and provide integration with the Microsoft Office System and the council’s e-mail system.
Tony Kingston, Marketing Manager, Deverill, says, “This was a groundbreaking project for us. It is the first system of its kind in the United Kingdom and is appropriate for all local authorities with revenue-generating assets available for rental. These could include allotments, soccer pitches, sports grounds, and community halls, as well as beach huts.”
Benefits
Rental Income Rises From Beach Hut Rentals
Bournemouth Council is looking forward to generating more income this summer than last with its automated booking service for beach huts and bungalows. The results of the new system will not be known until the autumn, but the extra income will ease the pressure on the Leisure Department budget.
Flexible Lettings Boost Customer Satisfaction
Because of the flexibility of the software, rentals staff will now have the opportunity to make special offers to improve uptake of beach hut lettings during quiet periods or in the pre and post season.
Duncombe says, “There are eight separate areas of beach huts along the Bournemouth seafront. With the old Novell system, it was never clear where the vacancies existed. Now we’ll be able to instantly pinpoint a void and offer it for rental. Customers can go into any of our six offices and receive a similar level of service.”
Staff Productivity Rises With Fewer Errors and Greater Efficiency
With expertise from Deverill and the new application running on Windows Server 2003, the council is looking forward to using its hassle-free, paperless system for beach hut rentals.
Duncombe says, “Our new beach hut rentals system, using SharePoint Portal Server [2003], can show our customers what’s available for letting at the click of a button. We can put in special offers, and clients can book at any of our six offices. Previously, the shortest block of time we could pre-book was a week, but now we can offer a day or part of a day.”
Extendable to Other Areas of Tourism and Leisure Services
With 5.5 million visitors a year, Bournemouth’s economy is heavily dependent on the tourism industry. The council wants to consider extending its automated booking service for beach hut rentals to other leisure and tourism services in the future.
Kingston says, “Not only is this booking service easily extended to other leisure bookings, it can also be customised to manage and monitor maintenance, such as when the beach huts need repainting. The Microsoft technology means that integration with the back office is easily achieved without hours of IT administrator time.”
Microsoft Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System is a comprehensive, integrated, and interoperable server infrastructure that helps reduce the complexity and costs of building, deploying, connecting, and operating agile business solutions. Windows Server System helps customers create new value for their business through the strategic use of their IT assets. With the Windows Server operating system as its foundation, Windows Server System delivers dependable infrastructure for data management and analysis; enterprise integration; customer, partner, and employee portals; business process automation; communications and collaboration; and core IT operations including security, deployment, and systems management.
For more information about Windows Server System, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem
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For more information about Total Objects products and services visit the Web site at:
www.deverill.co.uk
For more information about Bournemouth Borough Council products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.bournemouth.gov.uk
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