West Hillhurst Community Association recoups over half a million dollars and overcomes a $90,000 capital shortfall in six months with comprehensive association management software

Background

The West Hillhurst Community Association (WHCA) began with vision and volunteerism in the 1940s when a group of men riding home on the old Grand Trunk Streetcar struck up a discussion about the state of the neighborhood. They talked about the need for greater community cohesion and opportunities for children, and decided to form a community association to create playgrounds and provide other facilities for West Hillhurst residents.

Over the past 50 years, WHCA has held true to its original vision but recognizes that the community's needs are always evolving. In late 2010 WHCA decided to upgrade its recreation software to operate more efficiently and improve community services. The association also had financial issues and was facing a $90,000 working capital shortfall. Christa Hill, general manager for WHCA, and her team had to make operations profitable and fast. To begin tackling these issues, WHCA selected Active Network's community association software solution to reduce manual processes and redundancies. With the new technology, WHCA is more focused than ever on offering a community center that is as vibrant and dynamic as the community itself, and one that reflects West Hillhurst's diverse needs.

Challenges

Prior to choosing Active Network's community association software, WHCA was using a solution that was very basic and difficult to customize. The extensive paperwork that resulted required three full time admins to manage and perform data entry. Online access to registration and memberships was not reliable; reporting was limited; and information was dispersed and inaccessible. "It was a mess," says Christa. "Overall, we had separate systems for everything and all of our processes were manual. We needed one system to manage it all."

Solutions

WHCA chose Active's association management software because it came highly recommended. WHCA's financial consultant had used Active previously at a residence association. She liked it and had a good experience with the technology. "Active really had everything we were looking for," comments Christa. "It was a one-stop-shop to manage leagues, activities, programs, memberships and all of our amenities. Plus, the solution was web-based, so it could be accessed 24/7 from anywhere with Internet." That was a huge bonus for a small, busy staff that is often on-the-go and out of the office.

Active's association management software also offered specific functionality that benefitted WHCA:

• Program & Activity Registration: Previously, WHCA had disparate systems that did not connect to a central database. It was difficult to see who was registered for what and the staff found themselves making special exceptions left and right because they did not have complete information at their fingertips. With Active's recreation software, program registration is fully integrated with memberships and is available online 24/7. Registration is also customized by setting pre-requisites and custom questions. For the first time, WHCA can get a comprehensive picture of one person or family. The staff can easily look up a member and view exactly what they are involved in, from ice rentals to classes to health club memberships. Plus, the community now has the option to register online. "Online program registration brings a completely different face to our organization," notes Christa. "It makes all of our operations more efficient and it brings our programs right into the living room of our customers. They can sign up online at midnight if they want. It's so much more convenient for them."

• Facility Rentals: WHCA did not have the proper resources to manage facility rentals and reservations. The Association was using a Google calendar and frequently had double bookings and errors. Since implementing Active's facility reservation software, WHCA hasn't had any double bookings and its staff has noticed a significant decrease in data entry. "The administrative side is so much easier," mentions Christa. "It's especially nice because we often have recurring renters and the system stores their information. It's really quick and cuts down on receivables." Plus, with the robust reporting features available, WHCA can now track facility usage. Christa and her team can use those reports to track and predict when facilities will be most popular and from there, send marketing campaigns to targeted users. "Our plan is to really drive revenue through our facilities and with Active's reporting, we can easily do that."

• Point of Sale: Prior to Active, WHCA had lost nearly half a million dollars from accepting cash or check payments. Money was not tracked efficiently, checks bounced and the staff often relied on memory alone to follow up on payments. "Cash losses were our Achilles heel," notes Christa. "We did not have a solid grasp on our payment process." Within two months of launching Active's point-of-sale solution at the front desk, WHCA saw a huge improvement. Only credit card payments are allowed so losses and manual payment processing have been completely eliminated. As a community association, compliance and auditing is a looming concern which WHCA no longer needs to worry about. The Association now has clear visibility into finances and can see exactly where every penny is.

• Public Access: Not only can customers register online for programs, memberships and activities, but they can log in to update personal information, view schedules and make changes. This public access feature is a huge improvement over WHCA's previous system, which required all of these requests to be handled in person or over the phone. That caused frustration for customers waiting to be helped and resulted in piles of paperwork that had to be manually processed. "I can't tell you how much easier and efficient it is to have public access," comments Christa. "It has saved hours and hours of time and our customers love it."

• Reporting: Previously, WHCA had zero insight into member activity, registration status and financials. The Association was just trying to stay afloat and rushing around to make loose ends meet. Active's recreation software provided detailed, customer reports on everything from accounts receivable to cash distributions by account to attendance lists. WHCA now can track and report on everything that happens within its facilities. "We have a very active Board of Directors," notes Christa, "and now they can easily see and grade our progress. It's tangible. They appreciate the higher level of accountability and so do we." With this information, Christa and her team have been able to justify the need for an expansion, which will begin in the next two years.

Results

WHCA's top priority was to better manage staffing and resources—to incorporate one comprehensive technology that would help them operate efficiently with a small staff. With Active's help, the Association has accomplished that. Data is easily accessible and organized. Manual, paper-based processes have been eliminated, saving hours of time and paperwork. Financial processes have been strengthened and accountability has increased. Plus, customer service has improved and expanded. "Our cost savings on payment processing alone is going to be $16,000," notes Christa. "Plus, we have eliminated three full time administrative positions by automating registration, memberships and reservations online. That's a savings of $120,000 from just data entry! In six months, we have been able to turn this place around, pulling it out of the red by putting in a solid infrastructure of association management software." WHCA is only in the beginning stages of using Active's technology and is already impressed with the significant results. The Association expects to see even more benefits as time goes on. "The great thing about the software is that as we grow it will grow with us. It's totally scalable. As one of the first CAs in our region to use it, I know others will jump on board when they see our results."

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