Parking Citation Management

Parking Blogging

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 by Kristina Cyronek

My first BLOG entry, woohoo! I actually like the word BLOG. Of course, being a data programmer, I had to find out what BLOG means (I mean separate from the obvious of original "Web Log" definition).

So I searched (NOTE: I do not "google" anything, it's called searching and I refuse to use that term, or for that matter use Google. I use Yahoo - besides it just sounds like more fun ... YAHOO)

BLOG Web Log Internet
BLOG Better Listings On Google
BLOG Bears Little Organizer GUI
BLOG Boring Lump Of Garbage
BLOG Based Loosely On Groupware
BLOG Boring Lesson On Galaxy
BLOG Biological Links On the Globe

I like the Boring Lump of Garbage one. Cute. I digress.

I work for a company that writes parking lot software. I enjoy what I do--I enjoy doing the detective work and finding ways to force data from old systems into our newest T2 Flex system. I know many people would think I am crazy, it is tedious and it can be exhausting. But at the same time, it is also challenging and puzzling.

At times, I really have to be a detective. Trying to figure out what the customer needs and how our parking solution will fit their style is rewarding...and they're all so different! For example, cities usually need more citation management and boot/tow capability. Along with that, they need an appeals system. And of course, they need to take payments and report on people and vehicles. Colleges need to have permit solutions and a way to get the students information, give them a permit, and take that payment. Another common need of higher education parking systems is a way to put permit holders on a payment plan for the accademic year, or to take it out of a student account at the bursar. Parking garages need to have lots and facility management along with the ability to park the customers (and know how many spaces they might still have left), manage events that would use the garages, and allow secure credit card payments.

Now I get to Blog about it, this should be a lot of fun!

Train for Success

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by LaDonna Sloan

We all know the benefits of a good employee training program; training has a positive effect on performance by allowing employees to learn advanced techniques to help them complete their everyday tasks more efficiently. More efficient employees feel more valued and appreciated which leads to reduced turnover and less of a need for supervision. Trained employees are motivated employees and the entire organization achieves its goals more readily.

Don't invest in your parking management software and hardware without also optimizing your staff. The T2 Training Department offers several solutions for all your parking permit management, parking access and revenue control and parking citation collections training needs - and at quite a reasonable price! Arm your employees with access to a recorded video library with over 60 courses they can view at their convenience. Further reward their accomplishment by allowing them to become a Flexpert on your parking system software with T2 Flex certifications on Front Line Permits, Front Line Citations, Front Line Supervisor, Access and Revenue Control and Finance and Audit Control.

Training does not have to be costly. Access to the Recorded Video Library is less than $400 a year and every member of the organization can access the courses that are relevant to their roles. For just a little extra, the training team will set your staff up with an agenda and links to tests. Upon successful completion of all 9 courses, the participant is awarded a certificate. It's a win-win solution to the age-old problem of providing a successful training program. You have the peace of mind that your staff has demonstrated competency and your staff has the skills to meet and exceed expectations in their career. Make the investment that will ensure your team’s success - invest in training!

T2 User Group

Monday, November 14, 2011 by Mike Coyne

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Training Camp, T2's annual User Group Conference, in Indianapolis! In attendance at Training Camp this year were players from across the United States. I had the pleasure of meeting customers from California to Vermont, Wisconsin to Texas, and just about everywhere else in between. We even had a customer or two attend from as far away as Alaska.

All of these players came to Training Camp to learn more about T2 Flex, network with their peers in the industry and have plenty of fun along the way.

As I sat in on the different training sessions each day, I was astounded by the knowledge transfer that was taking place in front of me. The T2 employees provided all kinds of useful information about the different functionality inside T2 Flex. Topics ranged from Parking Citation Collections to Campus Parking Solutions, Handheld Ticket Writers, and Parking Permit Management. Customers would often make comments like, "Wow! I did not know you could do that in Flex!" or "I can't wait to get back to show my employees these new tricks in Flex!"

In the sessions, I also noticed how customers would take the time to help each other. Many times, a customer would present a problem they had at their specific college, municipality, university, city etc., and another customer in the room would have an answer to their problem. Questions were resolved, best practices were shared, and connections were made in a matter of seconds. I can't count how many times I saw things like this happen at User Group.

Finally, after spending long days learning about T2 Flex and networking with their peers, our customers got to have some fun. At the customer party, they got to try out their passing skills, shooting abilities, and bowling prowess while supporting the Special Olympics of Indiana and hanging out with T2 staff and customers. Oh, and there were a few thirst-quenching beverages for all of our hard work throughout the week, of course!

T2, Parkmobile USA and City of Houston Implement Pay-by-Phone Services

Thursday, October 20, 2011 by Tracy Maymon

I was the lucky T2 Systems representative today at a ribbon-cutting ceremony that marked the launch of new pay-by-phone services in the City of Houston, Texas. And by lucky - I do mean that! It was a pleasure to meet so many great people - our great customers at the city, our great Parkmobile partners, and Houston Mayor Annise Parker.

For those cities and municipalities out there that may be looking to upgrade and improve your parking solution and your parking management, Houston is an excellent example to look to. A T2 customer for a little over two years, Houston uses the T2 parking enforcement (parking citation) and parking permit management solution. However, the city understands that in order to get more people to its thriving - and beautfiul - downtown area, they need to make parking easy and convenient.

Now drivers can pay for parking through their cell phone. During my very short comments at the event today, I mentioned how our mobile phones are so much a part of our lives; we surf the net, we check e-mail, and we make purchases. Why not use them to pay for parking? The City of Houston - and many other cities - have embraced this technology whole-heartedly, and their constituents are better off for it.

But this solution doesn't just make life easy for customers - it makes life a little easier for the enforcement officers, too! Information about the status of the parking meters is sent to their T2 handheld ticket writers in real-time, making enforcement officers more efficient and reducing errors. It's a great, integrated parking enforcement system that benefits the parking operation and the city's constituents.

Occasionally I still find it funny that I work in parking. The parking industry is something we sometimes take for granted, but it was great to see that my colleagues and my great customers in Houston - as well as city officials - understand the importance of how parking, when managed properly, can make a night out, a shopping visit, or a walk downtown not only hassle-free, but super convenient, too.

Great job Houston and Parkmobile!

$17 million in outstanding parking tickets

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 by Alec Synnestvedt

When it comes to parking citation collections, New York City has a $16.7 million problem on their hands. Diplomats, it seems, do not like to park legally. New York City is home to 289 foreign missions and consulates, many of which have been issued multitudes of tickets for safety violations and blocked fire hydrants. Scofflaw diplomats, drawing on the power of their national treasuries, owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid parking tickets, and the leaderboard is impressive:

Egypt: $1.9 million
Nigeria: $1 million
Indonesia: $725,000

With hundreds of diplomats swarming the city last week for the UN General Assembally, one congressionial spokesperson said, "We can only imagine how much is being racked up."

The phenomenon has already been legislated against in Congress; current law states that 110% of total unpaid parking fines owed to NYC and D.C. are to be withheld from foreign aid and obligations. But New York remains diplomatically shorted--they never collect the missing millions.

Congress is not one of the most advanced parking solutions, and in a last-ditch effort to reign in the diplomat's debts, they are considering an alternative option: revoking diplomatic liscenses from nations with outstanding parking fines.

"If you get a ticket in NYC, you have to pay it. No exceptions," said a spokesperson. "New York City's budget is tight enough as it is, and foreign diplomats do not deserve a free pass at the expense of New York City taxpayers."

This issue calls Citation Collection Services (CCS) to mind, another T2 innovation that has helped our customers reclaim hundreds of thousands in lost revenue. Check out this free case study if you'd like to see just how significant collections can be for boosting and managing parking revenues.

Read more about New York's Parking problem here.

A Little Bit of Magic

Friday, August 19, 2011 by Grant Dawson

I was at T2’s Datacenter the other night, staring at the symphony of blinking lights of the servers and network equipment that make up the Hosting Environment. In this environment, we host over 160 customer’s parking operations. To the customer, it’s an application like no other in the industry – allowing a true Unified parking solution with a plethora of business and industry-centric features wrapped around fantastic support and performance.

To me, at the core, it’s a combination of cutting edge servers and equipment transmitting billions upon billions of ones and zeroes, all utilizing amazing technology from top vendors and producing powerful results.

Sound like a lot of adjectives and overly descriptive? Let me simplify it even for myself. The famous science fiction writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I think that’s a great description of what T2 and other companies living in the technology cloud do every day – deliver magic. Behind the scenes of the Flex Web Page customers' back offices access, or the eBusiness webpage utilized by your customers, are some of the most amazing pieces of technology all working in efficient harmony to process, store, transmit and keep secure your valuable business data.

I’ve been at T2 for several years and have watched the environment grow from infancy to a powerful showplace of what a Private Cloud really is and should be (there’s an inside joke in the T2 Hosting Team – “we were in the cloud before the cloud was cool.”) In my line of work, Information Technology, it’s so easy to get caught up in the technical details and live and breathe the infrastructure that sometimes, you seem to forget what your technology is actually providing: solutions to businesses that are run by real people with real needs and real expectations.

And to me, that’s what my job and my coworkers are all about. We take the technical tools and infrastructure and morph and model it into an efficient machine and service that allows our customer’s to excel at their industry – parking management. We’re proud of our results and of our systems, and we take pride in our offerings.

So what does all this mean to me, the Analyst of T2’s Hosting Team? My goal is simple: the next time you sell a Permit online, look up a citation across a complex system using an advanced query, or monitor your garage from a webpage… and someone asks you – “Hey, how does all that work?”

You can respond, “I’m not sure – I suppose’ it’s a little bit of magic.”

Extend time at a parking meter? There's an app for that.

Thursday, June 30, 2011 by Stef Faulkenberry

Yes, parking has joined the wave of industries who are developing apps. Downtown Indianapolis will soon launch a smartphone app so people can feed the parking meter virtually. This is a very cool thing. First, because parking has historically been a bit behind the times in the technology realm. But from a parkers standpoint, the convenience alone of not having to rush back to your car to pump quarters in the parking meter is fantastic! The parkers of the world will no longer have to cut lunch short to run and jam a couple of quarters in the meter only to find out when they get there that they are too late and have a parking citation sitting on their windshield. (That's experience talking there, people!) Now they can just update their parking meter via an app and continue chatting about the new outfit they just purchased. With the surge of smartphones in the market, I can only envision more and more parking apps being developed. There are tons of different uses for the smart phone apps and the parking industry should be taking full advantage of technology.

Mobile Computing and Parking in 2011

Friday, April 29, 2011 by Jim Hutchins

So I was one of those folks that stood in line to buy an iPad 2. I've never been one to do that kind of thing, but this thing just looked cool to me. It is cooler than I ever expected. It has changed the way I access the online world. That got me thinking...

How many of the consumers that are accessing the parker side of T2's enterprise parking management software are using mobile devices? We took a quick and informal look at our the logs from the parker portion of our parking enforcement system and saw that a whopping 17% of our activity was coming from mobile browsers like iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. That's a lot of people buying permits, paying parking citations, and generally doing business far, far away from a desk.

If parkers can pay citations before they even pull out of the parking space where they were cited, that's a lot less Parking Citation Collections to worry about. In some cases, it means that citations are going from Handheld Ticket Writers to completed payments in a matter of minutes.

I'm going to keep watching the logs. I want to see how this changes over time. Happy parking.

What if you never actually make it INTO the space?

Friday, March 11, 2011 by Sarah Kimmett

Do you have to pay for it?
Are you susceptible to a parking citation?

The real question is - how long should a person be allowed to attempt to park in a space?

My mom recently told me a story (one of many of her driving experiences) when she was attempting to parallel park. She was having a difficult time, and she had to keep trying and trying. A crowd began to form to watch the event as it was taking THAT long! She kept trying, but eventually realized her ability to conquer this parking space was nonexistent. At this point she was halfway angled in the spot. Mom put on her blinker, looked over her shoulder, and pulled away as if she was actually trying to leave this whole time and not park.

My Field Trip to a Customer Site

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 by T2 Systems Guest Blogger

I just returned from my first on-site customer consulting engagement since joining T2 Systems. I met with Jennifer, Dianne, Dennis, Kevin and many of the staff members at Western Kentucky University to discuss how they are using T2 Flex, what we could streamline and what current functionality is available but not being used. It was an enlightening experience for all involved, including me. Before my arrival they provided me with a list of processes they wanted to review prioritized by “It’s broken and we need to fix it”, “It works but can we make it better”, a “wish list” of things they were not doing in Flex but would like to be, and “Best Practices” – how is everyone else doing it.

I was extremely impressed by the integrity of their database. They run daily queries and reports to connect permits, vehicles, citations and customer records. No stone is left unturned when it comes to matching responsible customers to charges and they use all resources available to them including RoVR, student records, payroll records and appeals filed.

During my two day visit I was able to observe the day-to-day activities and challenges and talk with staff who had carved time out specifically to review business practices. We found ways to prioritize wait lists using custom fields which will allow them to more fully take advantage of this feature in T2 Flex. We identified the difference between a pre-paid citation and a pre-entered citation which will allow WKU to accomplish the intent of getting the boot information in Flex without causing errors when the handheld ticket writer downloads the same citation but also without attaching a financial transaction when no payments have been collected. We also identified records that could be marked historical to save on screen real estate and processing resources which in turn save time. And what trip to a Parking Office is complete without the sharing of Appeals? Just as I remember – you can’t impound my car, I’m tenured faculty; I had to park close to the door because I had to go to the bathroom (yes, I cleaned it up a little for this blog); and I’m doing my part by riding a bike, you shouldn’t charge me for chaining it to the handrail.

While I was able to use my 12 years experience in the parking business and with the T2 products to offer suggestions, they challenged me with “How can we do this better?” at every turn. A lot has changed in the product since they implemented in 2005 and like most of you; business as usual has prohibited WKU from reassessing the capabilities provided by Flex.

If your department is interested in an in-depth review of your current business practices incorporating any changes since your implementation and suggestions to improve efficiency, contact your Account Manager or the Training Department at T2 Systems. So…on to my report for WKU.

LaDonna Sloan
Training Specialist
T2 Systems, Inc.

Once Upon an Adjudication

Thursday, January 6, 2011 by Needham Atkins

I've spent the past 8.5 years in parking, and have seen many sides of campus parking solutions. The one that usually brings me an "instant bond" with our customers is the 2 years or so that I spent handling citation appeals.

Aside from being a key component of parking citation management, citation appeals can also provide a delightful source of entertainment. Whether it be the employee who threatened my life from the same "anonymous" email address he used to file his appeal, or the grad student who provided photographic evidence that there were no "No Parking" signs where he had left his vehicle. Granted, his vehicle was 20 feet back from the sidewalk next to the tree line, but he was technically correct.

My personal favorite is still one undergrad who didn't seem to grasp the notion that what she put in an email could come back to haunt her down the line. After offering up several creative activities I could perform upon myself with a BBQ fork, she then followed up by informing me that she had "broken more than her fair share of gate arms over the years" and inviting me to "just try and prove that!" So I hit reply, CCed the dean of students, and sent her the one-word reply of "Done." I miss those crazy kids sometimes.

I think that if I were still working in the operational side of campus parking solutions, I'd have to take advantage of some of the broader functionality offered by today's parking system software. Perhaps a custom field added to appeals records where you could rate them by the creativity of their appeal? Then, when I needed a little pick-me-up, I could run a query to find all my favorites.

I left those appeals behind when I came to T2, but I still have that grad student's picture on the wall above my desk. Just a little reminder that, no matter how delusional, those folks really did believe they were in a legal space. . .

First and Only Parking Ticket

Monday, December 13, 2010 by Sarah Kimmett

I remember getting my first parking ticket - I knew it was coming long before it ever arrived on my windshield and it was gut wrenching knowing it would be there when I returned to my vehicle.

Let's just say my keys went missing one night while enjoying a good time among friends in lovely downtown Boulder. Thankfully I had a friend drive me home anyway, but when I went to go get my car the next morning I had no keys. Although I desperately tried to return before the parking meter enforcement began, I wasn't able to coordinate a ride and a locksmith in time. Reality sunk in that I'd be receiving my first ever parking ticket.

This is not a big deal, right? Now, you've forgotten where I said I was - Boulder. Parking tickets ARE a big deal! Ultimately I decided I should pay it and not make this a huge moment in history. I wanted to pay online as I thought many city parking solutions allow for that. Much to my disappointment an online payment option was not available, so I mailed in a check (on time, mind you).

Little did I know at the time it would be a foreshadow of my future career. A year or two later I went to work for the city and was heavily involved in the implementation of a new parking ticket management system. I worked very closely with our vendor, T2 Systems in making sure our new parking management system was successful - including offering online citation payments and appeals. I loved working in T2 Flex and taking the trainings offered by T2 that not only increased my knowledge about Flex but also all the available reporting options.

Not a long time later I found myself working at T2! I love sharing my personal experience working with a parking management system as a customer while introducing new concepts to our clients such as an online parking payment system (which Boulder now has - thanks to T2!).

Ticketing a Hearse...Really?

Monday, October 4, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

So, I am scouring the parking world for information and I came across this article. Apparently an over-zealous parking enforcement officer ticketed a hearse and other cars for being illegally parked during a funeral in Milwaukee. Some folks saw the officer placing the parking citations on the windows and said something to her, but this did not deter the parking enforcement officer from carrying out her job.

To be fair, a funeral attendee called the city and had the tickets voided, but there has to be a line somewhere.

I don't know about you, but the last thing I am thinking about while attending a funeral is if I am illegally parked.

I'm just sayin'

Poetry in Traffic Enforcement

Friday, September 3, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

Hello! I found this on a list serv and thought it was something one doesn't see too often...a poetic interpretation of language typically seen in parking enforcement.

Anyone in the Cambridge area, feel free to check it out!

Cambridge Artist-in-Residence Sees Poetry in Traffic Enforcement

The Cambridge Arts Council (CAC) and the Department of Traffic, Parking and Transportation (TPT) are jointly presenting a public art project from September 7 - November 17, 2010 by artist Daniel Peltz that offers a poetic interpretation of language typically used in parking enforcement.

As artist-in-residence with the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department for a week in January 2010, the artist shadowed TPT workers and interviewed employees in a variety of roles. As a result of this experience, Peltz was "struck by the complex humanity, warmth and humor" in the staff of the department, something missing from the world of the parking regulations they are charged with enforcing.

Throughout the spring, Peltz developed his project, entitled Crossing Non-Signalized Locations, into a suite of four actions that bring wonder and curiosity to the language of parking regulations: (1) several new street signs designed by the artist and placed in unlikely locations around the City for the next few months to be discovered and pondered;

(2) a re-designed parking ticket envelope that introduces a series of yoga postures for giving and receiving parking citations, inviting us to imagine a more peaceful exchange between Parking Control Officers and car owners; (3) "10,000 Excuses", a large-scale wall drawing in the CAC Gallery (2nd floor of the City Hall Annex), composed from the archive of "excuses" residents have written and submitted in past parking disputes

-- City staff and the public may choose an anonymous "excuse" and re-write it on the wall, transforming the archive into a composite portrait of life in the city; (4) a fictional parking regulation authorizing "soft-booting," in which a stuffed fabric parking "boot" is fabricated in the atrium near the TPT offices.

Cars and the spaces they use are a significant feature of our City, necessarily regulated to ensure the efficient flow of urban activity.

The relationship between municipal authority and the public around parking enforcement is rich with expressive language and emotion. In supporting the ability of artists to offer a new perspective on our lives, the Department of Traffic, Parking and Transportation and the Cambridge Arts Council invite all residents to experience and participate in this unique public art project, Crossing Non-Signalized Locations.

A reception with the artist present will be held at the Cambridge Arts Council's CAC Gallery (344 Broadway) on Tuesday, September 7, from 6-8 p.m. For more information, call 617-349-4389 or visit:

www.cambridgema.gov/CAC/ <http://www.cambridgeartscouncil.org/> and click on the Of, By and For Link.

T2 Introduces eTicketBook Software

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

So, you are a parking organization that is stuck in the 1960's handwriting parking tickets. There's no budget for handheld ticket writers for all of your parking enforcement officers, so some of them use the old ticket book to write up parking violations. Well, as you and I both know, there are often challenges with writing those parking citations; it can be difficult reading the officers' handwriting (especially if it is like mine) and the time and effort required to locate and manually input the data into the parking management system can be significant.

T2's new eTicketBook software eliminates the hassles associated with the handwritten tickets by enabling officers to issue parking citations from their in-vehicle computers and automatically upload the citation data into the T2 Flex parking management system.

Cool alert!! The new eTicketBook software also integrates with AutoVu a mobile license plate recognition (LPR) system developed by Genetec.

A Geek's View of Parking Management at IPI

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 by Jim Hutchins

In my last blog entry, I said I thought I should stick to what I know (technology) and not dive too deeply into the industry side of parking that many people know so much better. I'll be keeping that in mind again today. So last month I went to the IPI (International Parking Institute) Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. This was my second IPI (after a bit over three years working in the technology side of the parking industry).

After seeing everything there, I have to say that I'm proud to work for T2. I knew we had some pretty cool stuff (end of shameless plug), but it really hit home how much T2 stood out in that room. Don't get me wrong. I'm not slamming anybody. I'm just so accustomed to thinking about technology meaning servers and terabytes of storage and hosting an Advanced Parking Solution. That makes it easy to forget that a lot of the industry has nothing to do with computers and that technology in parking often has nothing to do with computers.

T2 sells Parking Garage Software, Parking Citation Collections, Campus Parking Solutions, Handheld Ticket Writers and a whole lot more cool parking Technology. That's all cool stuff and I love working with it, but how cool is it to sell a giant ice melting machine that you can drive around. I may have lots of cool servers with a bunch of cool blinking lights, but I can't push a button to melt a bunch of snow off of a parking lot. That's got to be a lot more fun than making something go away with the delete key. Most interesting to me was all of the technology in that melting machine. It (and a few other booths) made me realize that lots of parking technology has to do with fuel efficiency and reliability without having even one server. That said, I think the melter had a few blinking lights so it still made me smile.

Happy Parking!

We all want the closest parking space possible - admit it!

Friday, June 11, 2010 by Tracy Maymon

Ok, I don't consider myself a lazy person... I like to walk, bike ride, swim; I always choose the stairs over the elevator (unless we're talking about more than 5 floors of course), and I get peeved whenever I see the same person circling a parking lot or parking garage multiple times just so they can get the closest parking space available. I just think that's ridiculous...by the time they find something, I'm already in the store getting my stuff done!

However, I must admit that there are definitely times when I sooo want to take advantage of the new "mommy" (or should I say "parent") parking spaces that many stores and other areas now provide - even when I don't have my kids with me! How horrible is that?? Have you seen these spaces? They usually are indicated by a drawing on the space that shows a parent with a car seat, stroller or other contraption for transporting your children. And even though my kids aren't with me, the car seats in the back are clearly visible. Would anyone really see me walk out of the car without the kids? Is there an enforcement officer walking the grocery store parking lot with a handheld ticket writer making sure that you really do have your kids with you? Would they really give me a parking ticket or citation?

Believe me, there have been days when I'm so tired and there are clearly no spaces that are close - so I've been tempted to snag one of the "parent" spaces, even without the kids. For those of you who may watch "Desperate Housewives", there was an episode in which one of the wives (Gabby) mis-used her husband's handicapped parking hangtag - just so she could be close and not have to walk far in her high heels. Does my tempatation put me in the same category as her? I certainly hope not!

Let's face it - there are times when we all want to park our car as close to our destination as possible...there are days when we just don't want to walk it. As one who works for a parking management solution provider, I understand the importance of parking rules. That's what keeps me employed! Businesses, cities/municipalities, colleges and universities all need rules, and ways to manage those rules and all of us that park. Why else would there by the need for parking system software, parking permit management systems, access and revenue control systems, and a ton of other parking management solutions?

It's because at the end of the day, we're all selfish - willing to fight, drive around, waste valuable time - and break the rules, in order to snag that coveted close parking space! We all just might as well admit it!

She Has Her Husband to Thank for Her Parking Career

Thursday, June 10, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

Continuing with our stories about how T2 employees came to parking is a short blurb from Natalie in Support:

My husband jokingly credits himself for my career. He was writing parking citations at the beach as his summer job when we were both in college. I was tired of working part time in restaurants when a bookkeeping position opened in the office. It turned out that working in parking was a great job to have while also completing my degree. Over the course of the next few years, I worked in customer service, wrote parking citations, booted and towed vehicles, and helped in the parking office. I worked in three different parking operations which were all managed by the same private company. Eventually one of those operations switched their software to T2 Flex and I was introduced to T2 Systems.

Natalie Baird

Don't push my new v7.0 buttons... well, ok - you can...

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 by Mark Freeman

Well, it is summer. And with it comes the fun of the kids being out of school... running around the house screaming they are bored, trying to find things for them to do... and pulling your hair out... while trying to remain flexible to the point where you don't snap...

I guess I should jump to the positive portion of my latest blog… :)

T2 Flex v7.0 is officially out the door! The rollout has gone really well, and it looks like it is going to be loved by all. The coolest item: new buttons. Well, I guess many will argue that this isn’t the coolest item, but to me – it is pretty cool. I love the new look, and this alone would cause me to upgrade.

Other cool stuff?

For those accepting credit cards online, PA-DSS validation is here and is part of the release.

Also, there is a new search filter that can be invoked after doing a search to better refine your search results.

And the Event Management/PermitNow modules have been enhanced and are much more flexible and easier to use.

There are lots of changes that you should read about online in our release notes that cover many other items, such as having the Amount Due on the vehicle record that displays the total citations due and other fees (like boot and tow) that’s owed on the vehicle. This is another one of my favorites.

If T2 Systems is hosting your Flex site, you will be notified soon on when you are scheduled to be upgraded. If you host your own data, then the installers and upgrade docs are online and are ready for download.

And if not for the cool features… do it for the buttons. They are soothing and will help to eliminate the stress from working in a parking office each day. :)

Have a nice summer!

Mark Freeman
T2 Support Services

They Met Over a Parking Citation

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 by T2 Systems Guest Blogger

One gentleman had called to pay his parking citation, he received it that day so our Citation Collection Service representative told him it wasn’t in the system yet and that he could call the next day. He called the next day and the same CCS representative was the lucky recipient of the call and he said "Hey, you member me? I talked to you yesterday and I need to pay a parking ticket and you told me to call back". The CCS representative told him that she remembered him, he paid the citation then was telling her how friendly she was and how good it was to get a kind person and he then asked if they were going steady yet. The CCS rep then told him that would take a couple more calls he said "Well honey, I like you and you sound cute but I don’t want that many parking citations."

I think it is true love:)

Cindy