Swelling Populations and limited man power: No Problem

Located in rural University Center, Michigan,
Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) has tripled
the student population during the last 20 years to
9,600 students, yet its parking service department’s
manpower and IT support was very limited. In fact,
SVSU relies on the county court system to collect
overdue ticket payments. So when the county court
system demanded they use a paperless system
instead of just providing paper tickets, the
university needed to adapt.
“We didn’t have all the info we needed in our
system, so it was difficult to track and collect on
past-due tickets,” said Lori Lipinski, Resources
Supervisor, SVSU. “And, we were required to work
in the 21st Century – with limited manpower.”
SVSU used three older DOS based handhelds,
which meant transferring data took twenty minutes
or more each morning. They also provided paper
tickets, which took much more time to issue and
left room for inaccuracy.
“Since the court system can no longer accept paper
tickets, we had to do something quickly. We were
already behind on collecting past due tickets by
about a year due to the change,” added Lipinski.
Lipinski turned to T2 System’s PowerPark Flex™ to
manage SVSU’s data, paperwork and parking
tickets. Since implementation, the department has
become much more efficient using the same small
staff and just two handhelds in the field.
“The system is very precise and all aspects of
parking are supported - permits, payments,
tracking, demand control, upgrades, backups, etc.
For example, if we need to look at a specific
citation or permit, its all on one screen. The data
interlinks together smoothly and we can access it
much faster,” added Lipinski. “We used to have to
switch screens all the time to plug in the right info,
which was slow and annoying,” she added.
Data and past citation information can now be
tracked quickly. And, since much less paperwork is
required, SVSU is able to catch up on past due
citations and other tasks.
SVSU no longer needs to find a hard copy of the
past due ticket to notify violators and PowerPark
Flex is able to use the past due ticket number to
send the right letter of notification.
“We have the ability to send more frequent
reminders and it has made a huge difference in
collections,” said Lipinski.
SVSU now collects approximately 75 percent of its
citations. Additionally, the T2 system allows for
greater accountability and accuracy in collections.
“When people come to the office or mail their
ticket payments, each employee is issued their own
cash drawer. We have yet to have a problem with
money shrinkage.”