Parking Management System

If PRO’s can’t work right, how is it assumed WE should?!?

Gas in the Indianapolis area reached $4 a gallon (most stations are hovering at $3.99 currently), and I’m already noticing myself doing things to save fuel. Combining trips, making an effort to take our most efficient car when we can, and asking “do we really need to go?” or “Sure it may be a couple dollars more at the local store, but we’ll spend that in gas driving to the city.” While we’ll feel a pinch in the budget, we pay by credit card at the pump and will continue to fill up our cars, however unhappy it makes us.

Lots of people, however, don’t have that luxury. When the cash runs out it’s out. Period. Regardless of what day of the month it is. So the first thing that goes is the discretionary spending.  Rather than going downtown for an evening and paying for parking and a nice dinner, folks stay at home. Concert tickets and the expenses associated (along with parking)? Discretionary spending. Last time gas prices hit $4 a gallon, my wife started car-pooling to work with 2 other ladies. For over a year, they shared a single spot in a parking garage. Currently, their schedules aren’t “jiving” to carpool (funny that happened when gas was $2.50 a gallon), but I hear her talking about getting the carpool back together.

What happens when gas hits $5 a gallon like some “experts” are predicting? Is your business ready for less traffic or fighting harder for the traffic that you can get? What if there’s a major shift to micro cars, scooters, bicycles or even public transportation in your area? What can you do to maintain a loyal and happy customer base? 

Sometimes the first reaction to less traffic is to lower your prices. Before you do this, ask yourself why? What are the competitors doing, are your prices in line with theirs? Parking is a commodity to the average person, so a better deal will get their attention if all other things are equal, but why keep all other things equal? If your lot or garage is better lit and monitored than the next guy’s, there’s value to that. Are your people friendlier and more professional than the next guy’s?   Rather than cutting your prices, how about rewarding people for referrals, or offer loyalty rewards of some sort? 

Yeah all those things may cost something. But what about a warm “We really appreciate your business, Mrs. Jones”? Simple things like that can make a commodity seem like a relationship. If gas hits $5 a gallon, things could definitely change. The more prepared you are, the more successful you’ll be.

Over the holidays, I piled the family into the car and took about a 350 mile trip to take in a hockey game and some museums. It’s something we’d like to do every year, but it turns out to be about every third year we get to do it. So we’re in a town we’re not entirely familiar with, and need a place to park for the game. We find a likely garage, and I watch as cars are turning wide into the next lane in order to make the 90 degree turn into the entrance. One car stops, puts it in reverse to get a better angle, and nearly backs into the car in front of us. I make the wide turn, get into the lane and try to pay the attendant.

“You pay at the office” is what I hear as he waves me on.

Even for someone in the parking industry that statement left me confused. Questions run through my mind, “Where is the office, do I buy a permit and display it, or can I just pay on the way out?” Well, I’ll find a place to park, follow the crowd and figure it out from there. So we follow the crowd to the elevator, and there are several people standing around. I’m staring at the unlit “down” button for a few seconds, and I can’t stand it anymore, I have to press it. I do, nothing happens and I hear a few snickers from the crowd, and a “Yeah, I tried that too.” The crowd starts to disperse toward the staircase, we follow in step.

The stairs lead out to the street, where we have to cross the incoming cars trying to wiggle into the entrance lane. From there, we see the “office” – a glassed in area with a couple of Pay on Foot machines. I pay for my parking, get a ticket and wonder “Do I need to display this, or is it my ticket out?” I watch the crowd leave the “office” and head toward the stadium, so I decide it’s my ticket out.

We have a great time at the game, our team won and the stadium is incredible. We return to the staircase that we took down, and realize there is no door handle on the outside. Luckily someone steps out as we are standing there, so I grab the door and we climb the stairs. We wait patiently as the crowd works its way out of the parking garage, watch as a few cars stop and the driver runs to the office to pay for parking while everyone else is waiting. I approach where I expect to insert my ticket, and there is an attendant there, taking the tickets and pressing the gate open button. I pull out, and immediately curb a tire on the way out. What a great day to be working in parking. There has to be a better way!

I came away from T2 Systems User Group 2010 with Becca White’s challenge in mind: take something home and take action. The energy and information sharing at T2’s User Group is always exciting. Previous years as a PowerPark customer, I often felt a little “left out” because I couldn’t learn much more or contribute to the “new” Flex users. This user group was one of the most beneficial for me and our organization than any before. It wasn’t all Becca’s challenge that inspired me to bring something home, but it certainly helped to boost my confidence as a lone attendee from our organization.

I came home and suggested, rather strongly, that we needed to implement the waitlist process in Flex. We have talked about waitlists for years, but there was always some reluctance to change and the promise that we would consider it later. I knew that Flex could meet our needs and the time was right to just jump in!

Waitlists were to replace what we called “Wednesday Permit Sales” that had been used in this office since before my time in Parking. The process went like this with online permit sales:

·         I would have to disable all student sales late on Tuesday afternoon.

·         The manager would give me the numbers of what permits would be available and to whom.

·         I had to check the control groups to be sure the right subclasses were included (since that often would change)

·         Allocate the appropriate number of permits (after being sure that there were hangtags available to accommodate the number to be released)

·         Our code made the permit sales available at midnight on Wednesday’s date.

·         Needless to say, the first couple of weeks when we would release more “prime permits,” we would literally have a couple of hundred students waiting up until midnight and hitting the site concurrently trying for that “25” or “20” or whatever number of permits. Lots of unhappy people, ones who didn’t get what they wanted, emailing us the next day, calling to ask when would more be available, etc. Also, the hundred or so who purchased all hit the office the next day to pick up the new permit (since classes were already in session, we required pick up). It was a cumbersome process to explain to students. Waitlist could solve these issues.  

I volunteered to take on the responsibility of a manual implementation: direct students to a page on our Web site with details about the “New Waitlist Process for spring 2011. “ They sent an email to our office with a “Waitlist request for XX” subject line. (It was some consolation that we would be able to address any ‘exceptions/issues’ on an individual basis by managing it manually). All I could think about over the holiday break when we were closed (our office is not an essential function on campus during breaks :-) were the hundreds of waitlist requests and emails that would be streaming in…I never voiced that anxiety but was confident it would all be done and it was going to work. The long term gain was well worth my short term stress/anxiety level!

I was pleasantly surprised that we only averaged about 50+ emails at the peak of requests. It was easily managed, they were added to the appropriate list and a reply email was sent in Flex to acknowledge they had been added. I had to create some subclasses and still change the control group to allow those awarded the right to purchase to buy online, but it has gone very well! We have awarded rights to purchase and sold over 200 permits, but it has been spread out over 2 weeks. It has evened out the traffic in the office. Phone calls have been almost non-existent since the third day of class. Less stress overall for the students and the office. Whew! It has been busy making it all come together, but it is a success and I look forward to the smooth transition to offering the waitlist option online for fall 2011! What a huge improvement for everyone involved!

Next project…Event management enhancements! I look forward to the new “what can Flex do for me now” session at UG! Thank you, Becca, for reminding everyone about how truly valuable the UG experience is (but I really did already know that! :-). I hope to see ya’ll in Indy, November 8-10!

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.

So your boss has put you in charge of a special project, and it has to be done by a certain date.  Everybody’s counting on you.  “Great,” you think, “I know parking and what we do, but I don’t know anything about Project Management.  What am I getting into?  Why me!?”

Fear not!  Even if you’ve never officially managed a project, you probably know more about project management than you think.  While every project is different, there are several constants in Project Management.

First thing that every project has is a triangle of three items.  Think of the statement “We can provide products that are good, fast and cheap.  You can pick any two.”   If you want it Good and Fast, it won’t be cheap – you’ll have to pay overtime or throw more resources at the project.  If you want it Good and Cheap – well, it won’t be fast.  As people have time to work on it, they’ll get around to it, eventually.  And finally, if you want it Fast and Cheap, it won’t be any good – corners will get cut, etc.  Finding the right balance is the key.

In project management, we use a similar triangle – but we call it Cost, Scope and Schedule.  If any of these sides of the triangle change, there is an effect on the overall quality of the project.  Let’s say your boss has given you a task of painting lines in a parking lot.  The Scope is painting the lines, a budget that covers the cost of the paint, labor, materials, etc, is the Cost, and the Schedule is when it’s supposed to be done.  Now if your boss says “I expect 2 coats of paint” and you were planning on 1, that’s a Scope change.  It’s going to affect both the cost (more paint needed) and the schedule (as it will take longer to paint, and you’ll have to wait for paint to dry in between coats).  Now be forewarned of a truth in Project Management – all good projects include some Scope Creep! 

“Who, or What, is this Scope Creep?”  Here’s where I always have an image of a crazy old guy in a trench-coat, chugging mouth-wash, but that’s not Scope Creep.  Scope Creep is when a customer realizes that they want more than what was originally decided upon.  You’re building a house, and you decide that yes, it would be nice to add a ½ bath off the bonus room.  That’s Scope Creep.  It’s going to require more time, money and effort, and your builder is going to request a change order to cover the costs – and he’s going to charge more for this than had been in the plan all along.  Back to our painting stripes on the parking lot, things look so good your boss wants you to go ahead and paint the gates too.  Maybe you have to adjust the schedule, or maybe you have to hire a temporary worker to help, but at least one of the other two parts of the triangle have to change.

“Okay, I understand the scope, cost and schedule, but how do I get started?”  If somebody else has done a similar project, by all means get their help and learn from them.   Let’s say you are blazing new trails here.  There’s no way we can cover everything related to Project Management in one article, but here’s a start:
 

·        Document the scope of the project.  Write it down and make sure you’re in agreement with your customer (or your boss) of what is included.  In Project Management, a verbal discussion without documentation is a bad thing.  If nothing else, write an email or text message saying “Here’s my understanding of the project.”  If things go bad later on, you have something to fall back on.

·        Document when you can start on the project, when it has to be done, and dates that you can’t be working on it.  If your lot is used for Sunday football parking, you certainly don’t want to try to work on it during a football game!

·        Determine what has to be done and in what order.  If you’re not sure, start a list and list everything you can think of related to the project.  Some items can be done simultaneously, some have to be done in a certain order, some items just have to be done at before the project is complete.  Think about “wait time” – let’s say you’re project’s scope creeped into patching potholes.  You’d have to patch them early in the project and wait for them to set up prior to painting – and this is exactly the kind of thing that causes trouble in meeting a deadline – there’s nothing you can do (realistically) to speed up concrete or paint drying.  Plan ahead!

·        In Project Management we identify the Critical Path.  This is the longest path through the project that defines the minimum amount of time a project can take.  Sounds confusing, but it will make sense.  What’s on the critical path?  The items that have to be done, in order and cannot be done at the same time as something else.  Generally, critical path items cannot be sped up by throwing more resources at them, but, resource limitation may put an item on the critical path that could be sped up if more resources were available.  Let’s say you’re painting the lines and you have to do it by yourself.  The time it takes you to prepare, paint and cleanup are on the critical path to completion.  If you can add a part-time helper, you can “dual-process” during the time you have help and speed things along.  But, let’s say you order the paint today, and it takes two weeks for the order to be approved, shipped and delivered.  There’s likely nothing you can do to speed up that process.  A good test to see if something should be on the critical path is to ask yourself “If this didn’t get started on time, what would the affect be on completion?”

·        Share your timeline with your resources.  In Project Management, we tend to call anyone that works on a project a “resource”.  The best project plan in the world is no good if your resources aren’t aware of their commitment and agree to it.

·        Document deadlines and action items.  People forget things, even those with the best intentions.  It’s better to remind people of upcoming deadlines and commitments than to have them not complete their tasks.  A simple action item list is a great tool – list the person’s name, what their task is, and the due date.  Share it with the entire group throughout the project.  It’s better to over-communicate than to just expect someone to do their part.  If someone fails to meet their deadline, ask them “What’s your recovery plan?”  or, “How do you plan to get this back on schedule?”  Then wait for their answer.  Many times, people will put more of a deadline on themselves than you would have asked for.  If they don’t have an answer, you may have to escalate the situation to a superior, and this is where your documentation is critical.

·        Learn from your mistakes!  Every project has something that could have gone better.  I deal with projects regularly that have more than 100 tasks that have to be done.  Do I truly expect every one of those to go perfectly?  No – but, I do learn to recognize patterns, repeat offenders, etc. and I make adjustments accordingly.

This should get you started on your project.  Clearly there’s no way to cover everything in Project Management in one short article, but this should get you thinking.   If it’s your first project, it’s okay to be nervous and not know what to say to people.  Being prepared with solid data and a plan helps. 

If you have questions or comments, please let us know – I’d be happy to go into further details, answer questions, or give advice.   Thanks for reading!

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