By Dominic Abassi

Parks and wreck: new City registration software crashes on busy opening day

Aug 22, 2018 | 6:17 PM

NANAIMO — Many hopeful parks and rec participants were left on the sidelines after the City of Nanaimo’s new online registration system was eventually shut down on opening day.

After months of preparation behind the scenes, the City rolled out a new registration system on Aug. 22 for residents to book parks and rec programs and facilities. But shortly after people were able to begin registering for fall and winter programs, online users quickly discovered they were unable to checkout and actually purchase the bookings.

A 9 a.m. Facebook post from the City asked residents to bear with them, warning of potentially longer wait times as they broke in the new system. By 3 p.m., the issues remained unresolved and the City eventually turned off the online booking portal.

City phone lines were jammed, with busy signals greeting callers well into the early afternoon. Several City facilities saw long lines of frustrated parents anxiously hoping hard to come by spots in highly sought after programs were still available.

“I have been trying since 6:15 this morning online, on the phone, I have now sent my husband in person. I am not certain why anyone thought it was a good idea to roll out a brand new program on the same day as registration starts. This is profoundly unacceptable,” Rachael Rennie commented on the City’s Facebook post.

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After 21-years with the previous booking program, the City began working with the new software in December 2017. A staff report said the new program would cost $450,000, $125,000 for implementation and $65,000 per year over a five-year contract.

Liz Williams, the City’s manager of recreation services, said Wednesday was the system’s first big roll out and the online portal ran into unexpected issues.

Williams said the feedback “certainly wasn’t positive.”

“I’m empathetic to their frustrations. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot we were in a position to do. We’ve spoken to our provider and shut down the online component until they can fix those problems and we can be confident the public can have a better service online,” Williams said.

She said typically upwards of 5,000 people will register for programs on the first day registration for a given season opens and it’s likely some people missed out on getting spots in popular programs. Those programs include critical daycare spots.

“I’m sure we’ll see some frustration with that…We’re calling people back individually and those will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”

Williams said at this point the software provider, PerfectMind, doesn’t know what went wrong. The first priority, she said, is fixing the issue and from there they will debrief what happened and if the City deserves to be compensated for the mistake.

Despite the chaos, some online users didn’t run into any problems.

“I logged on via Google Chrome this afternoon and registration was seamless. Love the new system now that I got it working. Thank you City of Nanaimo,” Paula Hopkins said.

A Wednesday evening posting on the City’s website said people can still register over the phone or in person at parks and rec facilities.

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi