City of Canning and the Hillview Intercultural Community Centre

Challenge

The 2016 national survey found that the City of Canning was the most culturally diverse Local Authority in Western Australia, with more than 50% of its population having immigrated from overseas and 40% speaking a language other than English at home. Following the census, the City identified the need to develop a facility to celebrate its culturally diverse community and provide opportunities for residents to access a range of programs and activities. Thus plans for the Hillview Intercultural Community Centre were initiated.

The City of Canning took a fully community-centric approach in developing the facility. Approaching residents, the City put together a focus group as a means to get guidance, insights and feedback directly from the community. Specifically, the City sought feedback on how bookings of the new community centre should be managed. The focus group identified the ability to see availability live as the most important requirement for bookings management at the venue.

Further to this, other important requirements included:

• Ability for customers to book and pay online, outside of office hours
• Ability for customers to manage booking requests, including cancellations and amendments, independently without being required to contact the City
• Ability for City staff to manage multiple regular hirers' bookings and payments

After collecting the feedback from the City arrived at an impasse. The City could either implement the existing booking management software used by their Facilities team and attempt to adapt the software to meet the needs of the centre, or the City needed to explore alternative solutions that addressed the requirements put forth by residents.

Solution

In mid-2021, the City of Canning was reintroduced to SpacetoCo, having trialed an earlier version of the platform in 2018. The variety of features and functionality that had been added to the platform was immediately apparent. It was at this point that a potential match between the City and SpacetoCo was realised. Key features of SpacetoCo that stood out for the City included:

• Live availability of bookable spaces for customers
• Ability for customers to submit booking requests 24/7
• Ability to accommodate regular hirers through automated invoicing and bulk booking creation
• Ability for customer information to be stored in a single place reducing the requirement for staff to enter data

The City also recognised that SpacetoCo met and exceeded the requirements identified by the community reference group. It was of the utmost importance that the decisions surrounding the centre were community driven. So, the City sought special permission from the council to implement SpacetoCo at the Hillview Intercultural Community Centre.

The Activity Room is located on the First Floor of the Hillview Intercultural Community Centre. The space is ideal for training, large meetings and art workshops, and includes a smart screen and kitchenette. Book the Activity Room here

The Multipurpose Hall located on the Ground Floor of the Hillview Intercultural Community Centre. The Hall is a function room which includes a stage and an adjoining commercial kitchen. Book the Multipurpose Hall here

Outcomes

Even before the rollout process was completed, the City immediately started reaping the benefits of partnering with SpacetoCo.

The City released an Expression of Interest to the wider community to identify groups and individuals who were interested in booking the new centre on an ongoing basis. As it was a new facility, the team had to spend time mapping requested time slots to identify clashes and find alternate times that could be offered. The City noted how simple it was to do this within the SpacetoCo platform by using the manual booking and Verified Application features. This allowed the City to accommodate 79 new regular hirers in their first year of operation.

After opening bookings to the public, the City's customers enjoyed full visibility with many excited about the ability to book after hours. Customers were able to find, view and book at their leisure at any time of day. Availability was always 100% up to date, which meant both the City's staff and customers didn't need to worry about double bookings or potential clashes.

Supporting customers with bookings were made simple and easy. The City staff were able to collaborate with supporting customers as all communications and customer information was stored in one system. City of Canning have also noted that the mobile friendly version of the site had allowed them to support customers when they were not able to be in the centre in person; something that would not have been possible if a desktop-only software had been adopted.

After one year of operation, not a single invoice was outstanding. City staff have enjoyed a 100% collection rate on all their regular hirers' bookings as result of the automated invoicing and payment flow. Customers were able to track invoices and update payment methods independently; giving them full control over their bookings.

Finally, SpacetoCo came with in-built credit card and direct debit facilities, saving the City from needing to explore point-of-sale options for its customers. SpacetoCo leveraged Stripe and GoCardless to handle all payments on the platform. Data was stored securely with them, reducing the requirement for the City to handle such information.