Carlsbad, California, Adds Document Management Functionality to its CivicPlus® Recreation Management System

Carlsbad, California, has much more to offer its residents than amazing weather — but it still has to be said that the weather is fantastic. Located in the northern part of San Diego County, Carlsbad’s 150,000+ residents enjoy its gorgeous beaches, year-round activities, and public spaces. With almost 270 sunny days per year, Carlsbad residents enjoy outdoor activities nearly every day, which means the City’s Parks and Recreation Department stays busy.

“Our biggest challenge is just managing all our offerings,” said Bonnie Elliott, City of Carlsbad Senior Management Analyst. “With so many things to choose from, the ocean right there, lots of active residents who regularly use our aquatic facilities, trails, bike paths, and seasonal classes, it’s a lot to manage.”

“Residents can also choose to take classes or use services offered by the large number of sports and recreation organizations in San Diego County,” adds Kelly Murphy, Carlsbad Business Systems Specialist.

In Carlsbad, every resident interaction with the City’s Parks and Recreation Department is an opportunity to earn revenue and keep residents returning to their public services. That means each resident touchpoint needs to be frictionless and positive.

To create such well-orchestrated digital resident experiences, the Carlsbad Parks and Recreation Department has partnered with CivicPlus since 2019 to access its Recreation Management software.

Before CivicPlus

“Before CivicPlus, we used Program for Success, then Class, and then ActiveNet, so we’ve been using an online reservation system for a while,” said Elliott. “We switched to CivicPlus because ActiveNet wasn’t user-friendly for members of our public to place reservations and registrations. Plus, the UI looked old.”

During a formal RFP process, Elliott and Murphy selected the CivicPlus Recreation Management system based on its clean, mobile-friendly interface and comprehensive functionality.

Saving Time with Each Update

After implementing the CivicPlus Recreation Management system, Elliott and Murphy benefited quickly from the cloud-based systems’ load speed.

“It’s so much faster to add a new class than ActiveNet, where there were so many screens to go through,” Murphy says. “It takes half the time for us to add seasonable programs.”

Personalizations and Configurations

Understanding that no two communities are alike, the CivicPlus Recreation Management system allows for system configurations at the individual account level.

“It’s been easy to create the configurations we need,” said Elliott — and it’s much easier than ActiveNet. We also appreciate that we can submit feedback and enhancement ideas to CivicPlus, and we know the team is listening. As part of the CivicPlus’ Recreation Department Customer Advisory Board, we meet regularly with the product leaders to discuss feedback. With ActiveNet, you’d hear crickets when submitting enhancement ideas or help tickets.”

Managing Information Logistics with the Document Management Feature
As long-term users of the CivicPlus Recreation Management system, Elliott and Murphy have experienced several platform improvements and feature updates, including the recent addition of the Document Management module.

“We just got our medical form set up in the CivicPlus system,” said Elliott. “We’ll meet with our programming staff and attorney soon to train them on how to use it. We are excited to start managing forms through the system.”

Murphy adds that they plan to start using the Document Management functionality to coordinate participant and instructor forms for spring camps.”

Easy Access to Familiar Faces

“CivicPlus’ support is also better than what we received at ActiveNet,” said Murphy. “There are more ways to get a hold of people. We have a dedicated service team that we always know we can contact. They know us, how our account is set up, and how we work.”

“They really care,” added Elliott. “I know CivicPlus is getting bigger, but you still feel they care about their customers and want them to be happy.