Title
Recreation Management Software - Expenditure Approval
History
The Village of Orland Park Recreation Department has been using Active Networks's Class Database Software since 1997 to manage program registration, facility bookings, membership pass validations, and point of sale functions. In August 2011, the Board approved an agreement to use Active Network's public web-based interface to Class, known as Online Program Registration, giving residents the option of registering for recreation programs and events on-line. Prior to seeking approval to go with Active Network's Online Program Registration module, staff did extensive research, including going off-site to visit park districts and recreation departments, to determine if there were other softwares available that would provide the same functionalities as Active Network's software. All sites visited utilized either Active Network Class or Vermont Systems Rec Trac. These are the leading firms in the field. At that time, staff provided documentation to the Board that compared the features and modules of both software programs to determine which software the Village would advance with. The Village Board approved advancing with the existing vendor, Active Network's Class, and implementing Online Program Registration.
Existing Technology
The existing hybrid system of on-premise and hosted technology that is currently utilized by the Village is being phased out by Active Network in 2017. Currently, no software upgrades are available and certain portions of the software, including online registration, will no longer be supported by Active Network effective December 2016. End of support of the on-premise Class application prompted staff to once again look at different Recreation Management Software (RMS) types. Although a formal RFP was not conducted, staff researched RMS systems that have a robust internet face to the public, afford staff a comprehensive user interface to the system, and can provide a secure cloud based hosted solution. The research included reaching out to other Chicago area communities comparable to the Village.
The existing hybrid Class system consists of an on premise database and payment processing server, with a VPN tunnel to Active Net's servers. Recent developments allow for both the database and the applications to be hosted in the cloud, as both Active Network and Vermont Systems offer these Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions. Several benefits can be achieved by moving the RMS to the cloud, including (1) the ability to achieve PCI compliance via a hosted solution, (2) daily on-line backups accomplished off-site, (3) hosted servers offer redundancy and afford the Village a Disaster Recovery option, and (4) hosting will reduce IT staff support load of on-premise server applications. A hosted solution will also improve data connection reliability and customer experience by offloading Internet bandwidth.
Software Features
Staff chose to further analyze software from the two leading Recreation Management Software (RMS) providers in the Chicago area, Active Network’s “Active Net” and Vermont Systems “RecTrac” and "WebTrac”, as both solutions offered cloud based Software as a Service (SaaS).
Recreation, Finance and IT staff participated in demonstrations, as well as question and answer sessions, on both software packages. Staff then compared the features and functions and provided ratings on each category using a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest rating. The details are attached.
Rec Track and Active Network provide similar program registration functions. Active Network will allow us to go beyond our current uses of the systems by offering future mobile applications such as event/race management, volunteer management, online day of event registration, onsite check-in, online waivers and medical forms, digital media and marketing, and a dedicated fundraising and development module. Active Network will provide additional base modules at no additional cost, allowing the Village to expand the use of Active Network across other village departments. Other benefits include ease of use for customers and staff, minimal product customization, enhanced marketing and communications tools, integration of social media into program registration, strong reporting tools, unlimited use of software as workstations are added, and Active Net holds the highest available PCI certification for all payment processing.
Overall, the review committee rated Active Network higher than Rec Track using an established evaluation tool (see attached). Agencies called as references that currently utilize Active Net Class/Online Program Registration software have reported being very satisfied with Active Network and migrating over to the cloud-based Active Network software.
Costs
Active Network and Vermont Systems fee structure differ.
-Active Network fees are based solely on a per-receipt fee structure applied to each receipt. There are no costs for the software itself with Active Network.
In addition, current Active Network customers have the opportunity to take advantage of a buy-in discount rate of 34%, if the customer agrees to terms by June 30, 2015.
-Vermont systems fees are based on number of users licensed for each of the software modules. See attached Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis for details.
Since Active Network fees are based on receipts as opposed to users, the Village will be able to expand the use of the systems at no additional cost. Some examples of additional uses may be the Civic Center utilizing the system for facility booking and providing access to the system to Finance Department cashier so that residents can register for recreation program and events at the Village Hall.
Conclusions
After reviewing and rating the features of both solutions, the technologies each have to offer, and comparing to costs between the two systems, staff is recommending entering into an agreement with Active Network as well as purchasing Training and Technical Services which will include data conversion and customer brochure export configuration.
The recommendation is based on the following attributes Active Network offers the Village of Orland Park:
--Improved customer front end experience and customer and staff ease of use.
--Improved interface for staff, new modules including reporting, marketing and communications tools.
--Unlimited use of end user licenses.
--Larger system capacity to handle peak registration periods.
--Strong data centers for hosting data and security, including PCI compliance solutions.
--Lower overall projected cost of the two solutions.
On May 18, 2015, this item was reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Committee and recommended for approval.
Financial Impact
Based on actual 2013-2014 revenues, 2016 costs are estimated to be $87,070. The majority of the costs are transaction based, with the exception of a one-time payment, in the amount of $16,100, for training and technical services. See attached TCO for details. Funds are available in the 2015 fiscal year budget to begin the migration process in the third or fourth quarter of 2015 and to perform training for staff.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to approve an agreement with Active Network of Dallas,Texas and approve the purchase of training and technical services in an amount not to exceed $16,100.