Genesis Place will be replacing their booking and registration software in early 2017.

Manager Greg Lockert explained the company that provides their current software is going out of business, so the facility is in the process of choosing a new software that will allow them to coordinate event and activity schedules, as well as book participants. Lockert explained these types of software are universally used at recreation centres.

Once a new software is chosen, there is a possibility that residents of Airdrie will be prioritized for access to Genesis Place. Lockert said that decision is up to City Council.

"Regional agreements are in place all throughout Calgary with Airdrie as well as Rocky View County, and Council will have to consider all of those when they make the decision as to whether or not they want to allow citizens of Airdrie to book first."

If Council does prioritize residents of the city, those regional agreements would have to be severed.

Lockert explained that the current software is still usable until 2018, so Genesis has the upcoming year to make sure everything is in place for the transition. The new software will be chosen in the first weeks of the new year. From there, Lockert said that it will take around three to four months to make sure the software is implemented and working on the back-end, making sure all the data from the current system is transferred to ensure any prepayments or credits on membership accounts are kept. Once that process is complete, both systems will run side by side to ensure the new software is working, and once it looks like everything is in place and working properly, the new system will go live. Lockert anticipates the new software should be ready in the fall of 2017, and Council will have made their decision about prioritizing citizens before then.

Lockert says if the system works well with Genesis, it might be put to other uses as well.

"It is mainly for Genesis Place, but there will be opportunities to use it for Bert Church Theatre, for parks, for anyone else that has a need to book something in the city of Airdrie as well."

 

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