Case Study: Checking in members at a front gate

Created by: Paul Nuschke on Jan. 3, 2019

There are many use cases for SpeedIn, but SpeedIn was built to help manage the check-in process for a swim club. The Wallingford Swim and Racquet Club had a fairly simple requirement - they wanted to be able to quickly and easily check in families as they arrived. They also cared about access control as it was common for families to stretch the rules, so they wanted either a card or a fob for check-in and the ability to keep a photo on file for each member.

Existing Setup

The swim club had an existing system and process that they were looking to improve. One employee staffed a check-in counter at the entrance to the club. A barcode scanner was placed at the entrance and members would scan their cards when they got to the counter. Each member was given a card with a barcode and photo on it, so that the club could verify members were not loaning out cards, if necessary. This meant that every year the swim club had to print and distribute 2000+ cards.

In addition, the check-in process was difficult for both members and the staff. The barcode scanner did not always work well outside and often members forget their cards, or had to fumble to get the cards out of their wallet. Manual searches for members in their desktop software were difficult and member-by-member, meaning a family of 4 or 5 was painful to check-in. Therefore, they often skipped check-in if the barcode scan failed.

Lastly, the old check-in software was, well, old. It was costly and hard to update. Every year, they had to manually update the members in the software, and then generate a member list for card printing. The club used QuickBooks for accounting and kept a member list there, in a spreadsheet, and in their old system. Keeping things in sync was very hard.

Requirements

  • SaaS instead of desktop based so that updates are free and instantaneous, and it can be used anywhere with an internet connection
  • Ability to use key fobs instead of barcodes
  • Ability to search the members by family and/or member
  • Fast so it would be used when a lot of people were arriving
  • Ability to take and use pictures as part of check-in process
  • Ability to handle 800+ families and 3000+ members
  • Manage member info from 1 place, ideally QuickBooks

Solution

The swim club has successfully been using SpeedIn for two summers, with a peak of over a thousand check-ins per day, supporting over 3000 members.

For check-in, the club decided to use key fobs. They bulk purchased key fobs and gave 1 our per family as part of the membership. They sold additional fobs for $5 each. During the first check-in for a family, the club took a picture with a webcam directly through the SpeedIn application.

The club staffed a front desk with a single person, as before, who checks in the members and verified the photos matched the person coming in when necessary.

The club used the QuickBooks sync feature, and committed to keeping the QuickBooks account up-to-date, synchronizing members to SpeedIn nightly at the start of the year.

In addition, based on the cost per members of competing solutions, the swim club saved hundreds of dollars per month in software fees.