Parking Revenue Control System

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!

Training Camp Highlight Reel

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 by LaDonna Sloan

Wow! What an awesome week. I really enjoyed seeing many of you, our customers, at UserGroup - those that I haven't seen in a while, those that I had only previously talked to on the phone, and all the first-time attendees who I hadn't had the opportunity to meet before Training Camp. I know it was a great opportunity for you to learn all those things that Flex can do to make your life easier, save a little time and keep you out of trouble...but User Group was a great opportunity for me, too. I got to learn about your operations - how you are using Flex for your parking permit management (especially as it relates to inventory control), how you are using Flex for your total parking revenue control system, and how you are using the Flex to track your carpool and vanpool participants. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the training table to say "hi" or chat about a challenge.

Remember to take advantage of everything T2 has to offer to make sure you are getting the most out of your parking system software - the free release training, Flex On-line Help, the T2 Listserv and everything you learned in the Training Camp classrooms. But most importantly, lean on all the contacts you made this week. The people who are already using the parking solution you are considering are an invaluable resource.

I'm off to climb some stairs to work off all that good food we ate all week. Hope to see you all next year in Orlando for another event-filled parking adventure!

Maximizing Efficiency with a Unified Parking Solution and Asset Management

Monday, November 14, 2011 by Sarah Kimmett

Facilitating the Asset Management class at T2's User Group always proves to be a learning experience - even for the instructor. This year I was happy to see the turn out was as good as it was a few years ago when I taught the class. In those few years, T2's Asset Management module, which is part of of the T2 Flex parking system software, has evolved quite a bit. It now includes automatic assigned work order responsibilities and scheduling for reoccuring work orders.

We discussed ways to become more unified in how we use T2's advanced parking solution during the session. Many customers also take advantage of T2's Parking Access and Revenue Control solution, Handheld Ticket Writers, and Event Parking Management solution. With the Asset Management module, users can now track the hardware and other assets used for those solutions!

Tracking regular maintenance of parking garage equipment, handheld ticket writers, customer self service kiosks, even elevators and vehicles with T2 Flex's Asset Management makes our customers live's easier, and nothing feels better than that. Asset Management in T2 Flex conveniently maintains the scheduling for an asset to be used with an event or scheduling regular maintenance or a repair as it prompts the user when a schedule conflict occurs.

Many of T2's customers were also excited about taking another approach at being unified in that they could use the T2 Flex Report Scheduler to send automatic notifcations to workers about assets they manage that require maintenance. Even better is the fact that parking enforcement officers can enter, maintain, and close work orders (including attaching photos!) right on the handheld ticket writer!

Becoming unified means becoming more efficient with your parking system software.

Shifting Gears

Thursday, November 10, 2011 by Mark Della-Croce

After 7 years of working in a major retailer's IT department, I decided I needed a change of pace. While I built up some great relationships with my coworkers, the work itself was monotonous. I needed to work on something bigger and more creative. So when I got a call from one my friends who worked at T2 Systems, I was curious. Two of my friends had left my current company to work there, so I'd heard a lot about the awesome T2 culture. But how would it benefit my career as an Application Developer? How complicated could software that lets you in and out of garages be? I mean, you drive up, press a button, and get a ticket, right? Turns out, there is a whole lot more involved than just that! This week has been eye-opening as I've learned about everything our main product, T2 Flex, does. It is a single unified parking solution covering everything from parking access and revenue control to parking permit management to even handheld ticket writers. It is all highly advanced and fascinating to learn about.

So how will this move benefit my career? T2 has taken pains to stay ahead of the curb--I mean curve--in the industry, and the technology that makes all of those things possible is innovative and interesting. I'm now able to develop and code with experts in the field using software and technology that is industry-leading, be challenged by my work, and have opportunities to be creative!

So now I'm shifting gears and looking forward to the future with T2!

Parking Management Software is Synonymous with... Awesome?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011 by Sarah Willig

If you had asked me 6 months ago what my ideal marketing career would include, I can tell you I would never have imagined responding by mentioning parking access and revenue control systems or parking enforcement software. It wasn't on my radar.

After just one day at T2 Systems, I can tell you my answer would include parking payment systems and parking permit software. Who knew the parking management industry and even moreso that a parking software company could be so awesome?!

The culture at T2 Systems is one that will foster my creativity, and the people are great! After all, the whole is the sum of its parts.

You've heard the saying "product of your environment". Metaphorically, I believe our product is a "product of our environment". The flexible culture is the foundation of what has built FLEX. I believe it is our flexibility that sets us apart from competition, with our people and with our product.

How I was a Parking Doctor

Saturday, October 1, 2011 by Irena Goloschokin

One of the cool features of the Canadian Parking Association annual conference is Lunch with a Parking Doctor, where delegates come with their parking management ailments and get a prescription for the cure from experienced professionals in the parking business. Sounds, great, doesn't it?

Since I have never managed a parking operation, and since my primary goal at the Conference is to meet with T2 customers and others in the industry to learn about trends and needs in parking enforcement, permit management, acess and revenue control and event parking, I am typically the patient at these lunches. But not this year.

I was summoned to one of the tables by CPA's Sandra Smith and given a patient to consult with. To be honest, I did suffer a short moment of panic (did I mention I had never run a parking operation?). But then I summoned all the knowledge I had gained over the years from my friends and customers who run some of the most advanced parking operations in North America, took a deep breath, and started the consultation.

The patients were quite new to parking and I actually was able to provide them with reasonable recommendations. Their need was to increase revenue from a downtown garage in close proximity to an arena that was only used for monthly parkers. Here was my prescription:

1) Implement a Parking Access and Revenue Control System, collect and analyze occupancy by different groups (residents, employees, etc.) by time of day and day of the week. Then allocate identified open capacity to transient parkers.
2) Make the building security card the parking credential for Parking Access Control.

3) Use the relationship with the arena management group to start pre-selling parking online when patrons buy event tickets, to drive event parking customers to your facility.

4) Offer online coupons to parkers to attract them to your facility.

If you have other ideas please send them to me and I will share with my patients during the next consultation.

$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.

Parking in the Cloud at the Southwest Parking Association

Friday, September 23, 2011 by Jim Hutchins

This week I set a new personal record for the ratio of time-in-a-plane to time-on-the-ground. I spent about 9 hours on Tuesday flying to/from Arizona to hang out with the good folks at the Southwest Parking Association for about 5 hours. I landed just in time to hear Liliana Rambo give the keynote address. She talked about her initiatives with High Performing Teams as she works with the three Houston-area airports and her experiences with City Parking Solutions in Miami and Houston.

After a great lunch with a table full of folks from Arizona State University ( a T2 Flex customer that uses our Hosted solution ), I was privileged to have the opportunity to give my presentation "Parking in the Cloud - Practical Benefits of a Hosted Parking Solution".

There are so many good reasons for moving to a hosted Parking Enforcement System or Parking Access and Revenue Control System. Hosting with a good partner provides increased uptime, headache-free access to data, huge cost savings, and much, much more.

But that's all I've got room for here. If you want to hear more, I guess you'll just have to catch me at my next speaking engagement.

Happy parking!

Jim

Avoiding Big-Dollar PCI 2.0 Infrastructure Surprises

Friday, September 9, 2011 by Jim Hutchins

Recently, I got a question from a customer about PCI – one of the many that I answer on a regular basis - and it caused me to pause and think about what PCI means for T2 and our customers. One of the things I'm very proud of about the T2 Systems Hosted Parking Solution is that we're a PCI-DSS Level 1 Service Provider. That said, PCI is a *pain*. It is a really big pain to become a Level 1 Service Provider. It is expensive. It is time-consuming. It is difficult. So why do we do it? So our customers will have Parking Access and Revenue Control systems, parking permit and enforcement systems and eBusiness solutions that require a lot less work on their part to become PCI compliant. We're already hard at work on meeting all of the compliance standards of PCI 2.0. It is better that we do the work once, for all of our Hosted customers, than require that each one go through the process on their own.

Most PARCS solutions are validated to PA DSS 1.x. Like T2, they're working on PCI 2.0. The key difference is that the PCI 2.0 compliant version of T2 Flex comes as part of the customers’ subscription at no additional cost. And the substantial hardware upgrades for the server environment, which can cost tens of thousands, are taken care of by T2 as part of our hosting. And no expensive upgrades to peripheral devices like fee computers are required.

Lower cost and less work are always good.

T2's Hosting Environment includes a dedicated PCI Card Processing environment, and it is T2 that does the upgrade work to the hardware and software as all of the compliance work for PCI. For all of the pain that PCI compliance induces, it is intended to protect merchants and cardholders from many of the modern dangers associated with credit cards.

Security is important. Our focus on security makes it easier for our customers to focus on their parking operations.

Parking Lot Ghosts

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 by Alec Synnestvedt

If your parking lot is full of ghosts, then you've got a problem. But you've got a bigger problem on your hands if your lot isn't full at all.

Luckily, T2 Flex has the hutzpah to deliver quality solutions for all your parking woes. From handheld ticket writers and access and revenue control systems to online payment systems, collections services, and parking permit software, the T2 Flex unified platform equips users with the power to fill their lots with real cars, not ghosts. And, thanks to the powerful reporting capabilities our data wharehouse enables, users can better understand their opperation, optimizing the resources they have and identifying oportunities for growth down the line.

So, if you have a friend with ghosts in their lot, don't tell them to call the ghostbusters. Tell them to Call T2 (317.524.5500).

Parking is Complicated

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 by Jim Hutchins

I just passed my four-year mark working in parking. After nearly nineteen years in banking, it took me a while to really understand. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a long, long way from being prepared to sit for the CAPP test, but I think I can honestly say "I get it" when taking about Parking Access and Revenue Control, Parking Garage Software, Handheld Ticket Writers, and a lot of what goes into managing them.

For me, all that complexity translates back to computing systems that talk to all of those advanced parking solutions that are out there in the world dealing with all of the parkers. Even in the summer when many of T2's customers that use our software as a campus parking solution are at a relatively low volume of parkers, we're seeing around 20,000 transactions a day amounting to around a million dollars and that's just for our customers that use our hosted parking system software. A similar number run their own computer systems running T2's parking software.

Each of those transactions generated has a "footprint" on the servers that we use to host. They translate to memory usage, CPU usage, and disk reads/writes. As a geek and a numbers guy, it is absolutely fascinating to watch the metrics as the complex transactions are processed and completed. The main reason we monitor everything that goes on in our Hosting Environment so that we can make sure there's enough hardware to support all of our customers efficiently and well, but I still think all of those metrics are just plain cool.

Happy Parking.

Our Customer's Success is Our Success

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 by Stef Faulkenberry

As you know T2 Systems develops parking solutions. We offer software like permit management and access control, we offer equipment like revenue control equipment and handheld ticket writers and we also offer parking ticket collection services through CCS. Who do we offer those products to? Glad you asked, last year at our annual User Group conference we put together a short video concentrating on our customer successes. We did this because we wouldn't be here without our customers and we wanted to highlight a few facts and figures from them. Feel free to watch the T2 Customer Success video:

Parking in America isn't so bad

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 by Stef Faulkenberry

You know, we Americans have it really pretty easy...parking included. Yeah, we complain about having to pay for parking and when we don't, we complain about having to pay that parking ticket. But really for the most part, we are pretty lucky. We have technology to help us find parking spaces, automatic access control and revenue control facilities to get us parked quicker and for the most part, we have paved lots and garages.

Recently, I was in Roatan, Honduras and snapped this photo of a parking lot. I tried to be the good T2 corporate citizen and sell them a new parking management system, but they weren't biting. Maybe next time... :)

The Future: Partly different with a chance of crazy

Friday, January 28, 2011 by Jason Wolfgang

Did you know the iPhone 5, expected to be released at some point this year, is rumored to have Near Field Communications Technology (NFC) on it? This has the potential to change your customer's mobile phone into an access control device and a payment method within your Parking Access and Revenue Control system.

How would this change the dynamics of your operation? I drive up to your garage for the first time, wave my phone in front of the reader and the gate vends beginning my parking transaction. Maybe the entry station asks me if I want join your customer loyalty program to entice me into repeat visits. Or upgrade me by purchasing a permit privilege linked to my phone. Parking Permit Management straight from the entry lane.

How would this change how you market your garage parking to your customer base? How would this change the equipment you buy when shopping for garage parking solutions?

How to get Beat Up and Fired in the Same Day

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 by Jim Hutchins

Recently I was talking the manager of the company that cleans our office building about facility security to insure that they were following all appropriate security procedures in our space. During that discussion, he told me a story about one of their employees that had a very bad day. The cleaning company has a company-wide policy against propping open doors (even for just a minute). This policy exists to protect their clients as well as their employees. One of their employees didn't follow that policy one night. He had a bunch of boxes to carry out to the dumpster and wanted to do it as quickly as possible. With all of the best intentions, he propped open the door figuring that it would only be for a few minutes. Unfortunately for him, some "bad guys" saw him do that. While he was inside getting a load of boxes, they came in, beat him badly enough to subdue him, and then stole a bunch of computers from the office he was cleaning. Fortunately he fully recovered physically. Unfortunately, his company had to fire him that same day for violating security policies and causing the cleaning company’s client to be victimized because of that violation. Double ouch.

So what does that have to do with Parking, Parking System Software, and Parking Access and Revenue Control? It is all about balancing security with convenience and expediency. Lots of parking facilities accept credit cards. If you take credit cards, you’re subject to PCI compliance rules. Much like the unfortunate employee in the cleaning crew, if you take shortcuts that compromise security, your parking facility could face some rather severe consequences. A parking lot can't be beat up or fired, but your bank could take away your ability to accept credit cards, you could be subject to fines and even huge civil penalties resulting from a credit-card related security breach. When an important or valued customer asks you to "just keep their credit card on file" or emails you their credit card information, it is tempting (and often good customer service) to just do what they ask. Unfortunately, like our ill-fated cleaner, doing that can get you in a lot of trouble.

The key is finding a way to balance good service and following good security practices. Unfortunately, security and convenience are inversely related. It is a heck of a lot more convenient to leave your home unlocked rather than fumble with keys when you come home in the dark with your arms full of groceries, kids, or both, but most of us don’t do that. We lock our homes (and often arm alarm systems) because we want and need to take reasonable precautions to keep our homes safe.

T2 Systems has recently completed our PCI-DSS Assessment to become a Service Provider. As a result of that project, we have been listed on the Visa Global List of PCI DSS Validated Service Providers (http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/cisp-list-of-pcidss-compliant-service-providers.pdf). This is a long, complicated, expensive process, but it was well worth it for us and for our customers. By T2 being a PCI-DSS Service Provider, our Advanced Parking Solutions customers have a lot less PCI-related work ahead of them by using the integrated Parking Payment Systems within our products. Our customers still can’t keep credit card numbers on post-it notes, but they have a whole lot less computer system work to do. Regardless of whether or not you are a T2 Systems customer, diligence with credit cards is critical. Credit card breaches typically don’t result in physical beatings, but if you have to deal with a breach, you may almost envy the guy that was only beat up and fired.

T2 Systems User Group Recap

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

We did it! We made it through another User Group conference. And what a User Group it was! We held it at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa in Phoenix, AZ which was an absolutely awesome location. Beautiful, serene mountains to look out on after a hard day of informative sessions.

Speaking of sessions, our instructors really knocked it out of the park this year. We covered T2 Flex, T2 Flex access and revenue control, handhelds and Crystal Reports to name a few. We also had a special "Customer Says" track where our customer presenters spoke on some of their solutions and how they are used in everyday situations. This track proved invaluable to the attendees and was a huge success.

We also had our vendor partners demonstrating everything from handheld ticket writers to access control gate arms. There was even a paystation in the "See it Live" area. Pretty impressive and the customers loved being able to check out the new options and speak with the representatives.

All in all, we had a fantastic time and can't wait till next year when we come home to Indy. No, it won't be as warm as Phoenix, but it will be a guaranteed great time since we are on our home turf!

See you all November 8-10, 2011!!

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!

Hello from IPI!

Monday, May 10, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

The IPI Tradeshow opened this morning and right from the start we were busy with demos of T2 Flex, PermitNow and our handheld ticket writers. This year we have two new tools to demonstrate as well. Of course, our new T2 Revenue Control hardware is creating quite a buzz on the tradeshow floor. T2 is also debuting a new integration with Genetec as well as an eTicketing solution where parking enforcement officers can write and issue parking tickets from a laptop computer.

It has been a big year for T2 Systems and we aren't even half way through...stay tuned for more from IPI.

T2 Company Meeting

Monday, May 3, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

We are back from the annual T2 company meeting. The meeting was a huge success. We learned about new solutions coming from T2 including the new T2 branded parking access and revenue control hardware. This is cool, T2 Systems now has our own brand of revenue control hardware. This means we offer not only the parking industry's first unified software solution where parking operations can manage both the permits and enforcement and the access and revenue control portions of parking in one web based, fully hostable system, but we also offer the parking access and revenue control equipment in conjunction with our distributor partners. Pretty awesome, huh?!

Back to the T2 Systems company meeting. I promised some photos in my last blog, so below you will see T2 in action at the Shepherd Center. There we cleaned up a bit and installed new patios for the community.

Coming soon...IPI updates (and maybe some pics)..so stay tuned

City of Indy and CCS...a Winning Combo!!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 by T2 Systems Guest Blogger

A few months back, T2 Systems entered into a venture with the City of Indianapolis. With Citation Collection Service's (CCS) help, the city opened a new court in which parking violators can protest the fines. The new court is open five days a week and is in an easily accessible building with ample parking (so you don't run the risk of getting more tix).

Well to update everyone, preliminary numbers are in and it appears the pilot program is a huge success. CCS has helped the City of Indy increase parking revenue by 80%!! What's better than that? Come May 1, the City of Indianapolis will double the number of customers they take to court. This can only mean more revenue for the City from those parking tickets.

WAY TO GO CCS!!

Cindy Scheich
Collections Manager
T2 Systems, Inc.