Department of Computer Science Department of Computer ScienceQuestions concerning the running of the Leisure Centre and its future expansion Courts & Bookings
Opening Times and Session Lengths
How many courts and other bookable facilities will the club have after the planned expansion? NOT YET FINALISED.
Can other club facilities be booked, e.g. the refreshment area / bar? NO
Will there be a requirement to add further bookable facilities from time to time? YES
Are courts taken out of action for any periods of timr? YES. TRY TO TAKE OUT OF SERVICE FOR AS SHORT A TIME AS POSSIBLE, BUT CAN BE OUT FOR AN HOUR OR FOR MORE THAN A DAY.
How far in advance can a court be booked? IN THEORY THERE IS NO LIMIT. IN PRACTICE, BOOKINGS ARE USUALLY NOT FOR TOO FAR AHEAD. WE WOULD NOT WANT A LIMIT IMPOSED BY THE SYSTEM THOUGH.
What is the maximum number of advance bookings that a member can make? NO LIMIT.
What is the maximum number of courts that a member can book for a given session? ONE.
Can guests play on any court once they have been signed in by a member? NO, ONLY THE COURT BOOKED BY THE MEMBER.
What is a ‘regular block booking’? THIS TERM IS AMBIGUOUS. IT CAN MEAN THE BOOKING OF A SESSION ON A PARTICULAR DAY AND TIME FOR A NUMBER OF WEEKS/MONTHS AHEAD. A BLOCK BOOKING CAN ALSO REFER TO A BOOKING OF TWO OR MORE CONTIGUOUS SESSIONS. SUGGEST WE CALL THE FIRST A "REGULAR BOOKING" TO DISTINGUISH FROM A MULTI-SESSION BOOKING.
Is there a premium on block bookings? NO.
Can any member of staff record block bookings or only management? ANY STAFF MEMBER.
Should we implement group bookings? WE DON’T SEEM TO HAVE A NEED FOR THIS.
Cancellations and Refunds
Is the centre really open all year round? Surely it closes at Christmas and what about financial end of year closing, for accounting purposes? CLOSED CHRISTMAS DAY & NEW YEARS DAY ONLY AT PRESENT, BUT IT MUST BE POSSIBLE TO CLOSE ON ANY DATE.
What are the trading hours? SAME AS THE OPENING HOURS.
Is the club open the same hours every day? YES.
Does this vary from week to week? NO.
Is it likely that the current opening hours will change? QUITE POSSIBLE.
Is there any significance about the "cleaners/helpers arrive before 10 am"? NO.
Do we need to include information about them? NO.
Might sessions shorter than an hour be offered in the future? NO.
How long are the booking sheets kept for? 6 MONTHS.
Do you want the system to identify members who persistently do not turn up for a booked session? YES.
How often is persistent? DON’T KNOW REALLY, IT VARIES.
How do you want them to be penalised? WANT TO BE ABLE TO CHASE THEM UP FOR OUTSTANDING AMOUNT OWED.
Would you like the system to flag who the defaulters are? YES, WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO SEE HOW MUCH IS OWED BY A MEMBER AND BE GIVEN THE OPTION OF ALLOWING A NEW BOOKING OR NOT (I.E. WANT BOOKING WHEN OUTSTANDING DEBTS EXIST, TO BE AT THE DISCRETION OF THE MANAGEMENT).
Pricing and Payments
Occasionally the Centre must need to cancel sessions through unforseen circumstances. How do you deal with the situation? FIRST TRY TO MOVE ANY MEMBERS BOOKED INTO THAT SESSION TO ANOTHER COURT. IF THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE, TRY TO RESCHEDULE. ONLY IF CANNOT SATISFY MEMBER WITH NEW SLOT IS MONEY REFUNDED.
What are the criteria used to decide whether a customer is entitled to a refund if he or she cancels a session? IF IT IS LIKELY THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO RE-BOOK THE SESSION, THE MEMBER CAN HAVE A REFUND. OTHERWISE THERE IS NO REFUND.
If a member does not want to use the club any more, can a refund on the annual subscription be given? NO.
If a member does not renew his subscription at the end of August, but has booked and paid for sessions in advance, can he get a refund? YES, IF HE ASKS FOR IT, BUT HOW MANY SESSIONS WILL BE REFUNDED WILL BE AT THE DISCRETION OF THE MANAGEMENT.
Subscriptions
Can we assume payments will always be made at a cash desk? Or is it possible that members will be paying using a credit card at a terminal with a card reader in the future? WE TAKE CREDIT CARD, DELTA, SWITCH, CASH, CHEQUES NOW. NO CURRENT PLANS TO ALLOW MEMBERS TO HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO BOOOKING SYSTEM
Do you provide a receipt for membership payment? YES.
What are the current prices for the existing bands A - D?
Price Band
Hourly Rate
A
£3
B
£3.50
C
£4
D
£5
Is there a need for the system to keep a record of dates and prices of old price bands? WHEN A PRICE CHANGE IS TO BE MADE, WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO CHARGE AT THE CURRENT RATE FOR BOOKINGS PRIOR TO THAT DATE AND THE NEW RATE FOR BOOKINGS ON OR AFTER THAT DATE.
Is it likely that further bands will be added or removed in the future? YES
Who can make changes to the price bands? MANAGEMENT ONLY.
Should the price or the pricing band be recorded with the session booked? THE PRICE.
Has the possibility of offering discounted rates to regular customers been considered? If, for example, one free session was offered for every 10 played this might encourage customers to book more sessions and promote customer loyalty. NO DISCOUNTS FOR EXISTING MEMBERS.
Will customers always play the same price for any court / facility at a given time? For example, might squash be made more expensive than badminton at a given time? NO.
If a member has booked a session in advance but not paid in advance, and the prices go up before the session is played, will the member have to pay at the old or new price. THE NEW PRICE.
Can sports equipment such as racquets be hired? NO.
Is the cost of a session per person or per court? PER COURT.
Members & Membership
Can membership be paid in advance of 31st August and if so, how far in advance? YES - WE DON'T SEE WHY THERE SHOULD BE A LIMIT ON THIS.
How is the pro rata subscription worked out, when a new member joins part way through the year? Is it rounded up or down for a part month? EACH MONTH’S SUBSCRIPTION IS ONE TWELFTH OF THE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION. NO PART-MONTH ALLOWED. LIKE THE TAX DISC, MEMBERSHIP ALWAYS RUNS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTH.
Does the flat yearly subscription rate apply to everyone? YES For example are there special rates for senior citizens, children, unemployed people etc.? NO.
Can someone who hasn’t yet paid their subscription, still continue to book sessions for a period after the due date? ONLY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE MANAGEMENT.
Are subscription rates likely to change? YES.
Do you want the system to automatically calculate subscription fees? YES.
Do you want mailmerge integration to the customer database for subscription renewal? YES.
Guests
Are you interested in promotional offers? PERHAPS IN TERMS OF OFERING A LOWER MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION RATE FOR A LIMITED TIME PERIOD, FOR NEWCOMERS ONLY THOUGH.
Do you offer a trial membership? SEE QUESTION ABOVE.
Do you want to mailshot promotional offers to guests? YES.
Is there a maximum number of members? Will this increase after the planned expansion? NO. NO.
Can example cards from the membership cardfile be made available for analysis? Are there any additional member details to be stored besides those already recorded? ?? MEMBERS CARDFILE CONTAINS: MEMBERSHIP NUMBER, NAME, ADDRESS, TEL NOS. (HOME & BUSINESS), SUBSCRIPTION DATE & AMOUNT, PAYMENT METHOD (CASH/CARD TYPE & CARD NO.)
What does a membership card look like? JUST WILLOWBANK LOGO + MEMBER NAME, MEMBERSHIP NUMBER & EXPIRY DATE.
Are members allocated a unique membership number? YES.
Are membership cards shown at the desk? SOMETIMES - WE USUALLY KNOW WHO OUR MEMBERS ARE.
Would you like to be able to enter member number and details via a swipe card? YES, AN INTERESTING IDEA FOR THE FUTURE.
To stop members from forgetting to renew and subsequntly losing their custom, would you like to mailshot them prior to subscription renewal time? YES, ABOUT A MONTH BEFORE.
Would you like to be able to mailshot members who have not renewed? say after 2 months? YES, BUT WE WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO DETERMINE ON AN AD HOC BASIS WHEN THE REMINDERS SHOULD BE SENT.
Do you have to come along as a guest of a member before you can join as a member? NO.
Do members and guests have to sign in? NO THEIR NAMES ARE RECORDED ON THE BOOKING SHEET BY THE STAFF.
What is the system in place at present to determine if a member tries to sign in a guest for a third time? IT’S A BIT HIT & MISS. BOOKING SHEETS ARE CHECKED BY MANAGEMENT TO LOOK FOR NAMES APPEARING MORE THAN A ACOUPLE OF TIMES, & WE RELY ON BEING ABLE TO RECOGNISE THE GUEST.
What if a member has two friends with the same name that he brings in as guests, how can you differentiate. WE CAN’T.
Under the current system, what information is recorded about guests? JUST THEIR NAME.
Would you like to be able record guests’ addresses? YES.
Can a member bring in more than one guest? YES.
If a guest comes a second time with a different member, is this a second visit? YES.
If a member brings along 3 guests to play doubles, do you record information about all three guests? YES.
Might team sports be offered in the future? Would you record details of all members and guests playing a session NO PLANS FOR THIS AT THE MOMENT.
Would it be a good idea to put in place a system to send guests letters inviting them to join? YES.
What are the rules with regards to guest opponents? NONE.
Printing
Should the existing booking sheet provide a basis for the final screen display layouts or can a more flexible approach be taken? DO NOT NEED A SCREEN TO LOOK LIKE THE BOOKING SHEET. WE ARE LOOKING TO YOU TO DESIGN US AN ERGONOMICALLY APPROPRIATE ALTERNATIVE.
Do you have any ideas on how you would like the user interface to look? Colours etc. NO. DON’T MIND IF IT IS MENU-DRIVEN, USES WINDOWS, POINT & CLICK ETC. JUST AS LONG AS IT IS EASY TO INTERACT WITH.
What kind of interface does the accounts package have? WINDOWS BASED.
Reports
Is there a requirement to be able to print out hard copy? YES.
Would this just be for reports or also for routine screens showing bookings, customer details and so forth? YES, ALL OF THAT.
Would you like to be able to produce hard copies of old bookings in booking sheet style? YES.
Integrating with, and using, existing hardware and software
Jenny has asked for management information. We need to explore this further. What reports are required? Our ideas are reports to:-
Identify persistent defaulters - those who book a session without paying and either don’t turn up, or cancel at the last minute.
Reconcile payments received with sessions played.
Discover the percentage of sessions a given court was used for
SOUNDS GOOD.
Would it be useful if we added functionality so the system would produce a mailshot reminding members that their subscriptions are due? Do you have any other ideas relating to retaining members? YES. PLUS A FOLLOW UP MAILSHOT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T RENEWED. HOW LONG AFTER THE RENEWAL DATE SHOULD BE A PARAMETER THAN CAN BE SET/ALTERED BY US.
Training and Documentation
- Is there a requirement for the booking system to communicate with the existing accounts package? NO. If so, details of the accounts package and the data to be transfered will be needed.
What screen resolution is used on the existing Pentium PC? OTHER SOFTWARE MOSTLY (A/C PACKAGE) USES 1024 x 768.
Is the computer linked to the till? NO.
Are you going to change/upgrade your existing hardware? NO IMMEDIATE PLANS TO CHANGE.
Is your hardware similar to the hardware we will be developing on? YOUR M.D. HAS SAID THIS IS THE CASE.
Security, Backups and Archiving
What documentation is required? For example manual / on-line help? ON-LINE HELP FACILITY.
How familiar are your staff with computers. VARIES, ASSUME THEY ARE NAIVE USERS.
What training is required? WE WOULD HOPE THAT A MINIMAL INTRODUCTORY (SAY HALF A DAY, MAXIMUM) SESSION WOULD BE SUFFICIENT.
Miscellaneous
Do you want access to the system passworded? YES.
Do you want multiple user access built in? YES, SHOULD BE DESIGNED IN.
Can staff access the accounts system? NO.
Will all staff have access to all the housekeeping functions? NO.
Do you need different levels of security for staff who will be using the system? YES, NEED AT LEAST MANAGEMENT ACCESS AND GENERAL STAFF ACCESS.
What functions of the system should be available to the public on the client / server version? NONE.
If the system has not been accessed for a period of time, should it time out? YES.
What backup facilities do you have? NONE, BUT WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO BACK UP THE SYSTEM.
What data needs to be archived, how often and in what format? NOT SURE - POSSIBLY OLD BOOKING INFORMATION. WHAT FORMAT WOULD YOU ADVISE?
How long do you want to keep past booking data? AT LEAST 6 MONTHS, PROBABLY MORE.
Can staff use the facilities? YES. THEY CANNOT BOOK COURTS BUT CAN USE THEM IF THEY ARE FREE. THEY DO NOT PAY FOR THIS USAGE.
Are helpers paid? OF COURSE.
What housekeeping is required? BACKUPS, FILE MAINTENANCE (ADDING /DELETING /MODIFYING COURT INFO FOR EXAMPLE).
What kind of errors happen now? THE USUAL HUMAN ERRORS.
Can we have examples of all your paperwork (members cardfile for example) IF YOU INSIST - ANSWER TO QUESTION 53 SHOULD BE ENOUGH, THOUGH.
Last Updated: 14/01/99 by M.Wood@herts.ac.uk
© University of Hertfordshire Higher Education Corporation (1999)