MINTO – This municipality is moving to a cloud-based system of facility booking and program registration.
At the Jan. 11 meeting, council approved the purchase of the Active Network platform for $21,635. A portion of the town’s provincial municipal modernization grant funding has been allocated to the purchase, which will streamline the facility booking and program registration process, states a staff report from director of community services Matt Lubbers.
The report explains the town’s current software programs don’t provide residents the ability to register online.
“We use a method whereby booking or registration requests can be made by completing an online form, that form is then emailed to staff, who need to manually enter it in our system. As we continue to offer more programs over longer periods of time, specifically in childcare, coupled with the flexibility we want to afford our residents and customers, a better solution is required,” Lubbers states in the report.
Over a six-week period in November and December, five different online solutions were reviewed, stated Lubbers, noting “the one that stood out from the rest was the Active Network platform.”
Lubbers said the new system “will provide flexibility for our participants and reduce the double entering of data moving forward.”
Lubbers explained the price includes a one-time fee and an annual subscription.
“If I’m an old lady – oh, wait, I am – and I want to book something and I don’t have the foggiest notion how to use that system … does the phone still work?” asked councilor Judy Dirksen.
“A phone would still work. What would happen is we would just take the information from the resident over the phone and we would enter it and create their account on their behalf,” replied Lubbers.
