The main challenges for Places for People were to strengthen the company’s position in the leisure market and to increase the diversity of new business through expansion. This called for the deployment of an effective management solution that would help organise their centres and aid business development.
Places for People Leisure partnered with Xn Leisure to implement a centrally-hosted management solution. The goal was to allow the organisation to integrate all elements of its business and provide critical data analysis that would support effective decision-making.
In 2011, Xn Leisure installed the On Course system into the Places for People Leisure centres for use with the swimming lessons programme. On Course allows centres to easily manage participants in sports activities by providing an interactive portal which can be accessed by the instructors and parents. Instructors can check student attendance, track progress and ensure payments are kept up-to-date while parents can see their child’s progress.
“On Course helps to enhance the relationships we as an operator have with the parents, who really appreciate the ability to interact with their children’s course progression.”
— Phil White, Head of Technology Services and Support.
On Course, which can be used by instructors via iPods, is a great way to ensure each student is being monitored effectively and in real-time.
Since the implementation of On Course, Places for People Leisure has expanded exceptionally. They now boast 120 facilities, 35 more than before, and employ 8,000 members of staff, up from 6,500. On Course has helped Places for People enrol more students onto their swimming lesson programmes by offering a more efficient way of managing the system. Prior to On course, they had 44,910 students enrolled onto lessons across 63 sites. They now have 74,507 students across 72 sites; a phenomenal increase of 45%.The system has since been set up for trampoline, gymnastics and tennis courses.
Phil explains, “The new solution does away with duplication, such as making notes poolside and then typing them up on computers in the office later on. On Course also saves staff huge amounts of time, which they can devote elsewhere to the good of the centre.” Consistency and a driver to streamline processes with enhanced visibility of all sites’ information allows Places for People Leisure to analyse business growth including revenue, staff availability and bookings, a major benefit of the On Course system and other Xn Leisure software.
“Many of the actions facilitated by On-Course and the iPods simply would not be possible with the paper based systems that instructors used to deploy” — Phil White