The Challenge:

To provide a modern state of the art admissions system that would dramatically improve ticketing and allow electronic capture of Gift Aid. The chosen system also had to be able to handle retail sales with a future consideration for catering sales.

The Solution

Vennersys supplied and installed the VENPoS software solution, which encompasses a complete admissions system including ticketing and electronic Gift Aid, in their retail outlet. This is linked to VENPoS Bureau (Back Office System) which provides full reporting and set-up for PoS. Finally information is fed into VENPoS Enterprise (Head Office System) which enables estate-wide control.

Other benefits cited include considerably less paperwork, from what was previously a spreadsheet-driven operation and largely manual processes - for planning staff rotas, or film schedules - to an automated system uploaded directly from head office. Staff claim the touch-screen system to be much easier to use; and management benefit from better informed decision-making, such as film programming based on regional, weekly takings, as opposed to gut instinct or personal tastes. Queue-busting, particularly at weekends, is also said to be extremely effective, because customers can now go to any till. At quiet times, such as late at night, Jones says that labour costs have been reduced, because traditionally they always had to have staff in the box office area at the same time as the food and drink stands.

Benefits:

Ability to sell admission tickets and retail items from the same point-of-sale, electronic capture of Gift Aid, increased revenue and control.

Dudley Zoological Gardens is situated in the heart of the Black Country in a 50-acre wooded site. It can be seen from all over the West Midlands. The remains of the 11th Century Castle overlook the Zoo with more than 200 species of animals from across the World.

On site you'll find the best Chimp enclosure in Europe, Sea Lions, Penguins in the moat, Peacocks roaming the Courtyard and there's usually a young Tiger or Lion cub nestling up to its mum in the paddocks - proof of their successful conservation and breeding programmes of endangered species.

Cost Effective Solution

VENPoS is a complete modular software suite, thus extremely flexible in its application. It proves to be highly cost effective, typically in Dudley's case where there is a consideration to extend the system to include other areas of the business such as cafés and restaurants. All of these areas can be run from the same server & Back Office system, reducing the overall investment and overcoming the complexity of disparate systems. VENPoS Interactive (EPoS module) also provides full restaurant functionality including table control and kitchen printing.

Flexible Application>

The Vennersys VENPoS application allows for a unique style of interaction between the admissions module and VENPoS Interactive. The Interactive module allows for admission tickets to be sold in conjunction with Dudley's retail sales.

Customised Ticketing

Tickets are printed on demand from the touch-screen point of sale terminals. Vennersys have customised Dudley's ticketing solution. Passport style tickets are produced, which include an area of free text, enabling them to promote forthcoming attractions and events.

Fast Return on Investment with Gift Aid

An immediate benefit of the new system was that it enabled Dudley Zoological Gardens to claim Gift Aid - worth up to 28 pence in every pound - on admissions. This alone meant that Dudley Zoo were able to recover their investment in technology within a short period of time of the new system going live. VENPoS enables capture of Gift Aid donations at the PoS terminal and can be processed as part of the ticket admission sale. The system is integrated to post code and electoral role databases to speed up the capture of customer information.

All Gift Aid transactions are electronically recorded and detailed reports provide the necessary information to the authorities. In the case of Dudley Zoological Gardens, the Gift Aid capture rate increased from under 10% to over 50% by automating the transaction at point of sale.

Enhanced Customer Service

By capturing Gift Aid transactions automatically, staff have more time to serve the needs of customers without filling out time consuming forms.In addition to assisting in the collection of Gift Aid donations the ability to collect postcode data from visitors will prove a useful source of information for future marketing activities - another key benefit of the VENPoS system for all visitor attractions irrespective of their charitable status.

Admit More Visitors

Barcode scanners have also been incorporated in the solution for speed of operation. The system has built-in 'Solve SE' software to manage credit and debit card transactions through fast ISDN modems. Thus all credit card transactions are processed with immediate authorisation from every PoS.

Enhanced Control - Reporting

To handle admission charges and gift shop purchases Dudley Zoological Gardens had previously relied on a number of unconnected cash registers. End-of-day reporting was handled manually, with sales information from each separate cash register being compiled into a central report. This process was slow, inefficient and potentially inaccurate, and there was little way for management to measure sales trends or predict stock levels.

VENPoS Bureau (Back Office) provides Dudley Zoological Gardens with a fully automated close of day system, which allows for central cash control of all tills. It also includes a complete stock system which controls all of their site-based products. Purchase orders, deliveries, transfers and all other stock movements are handled by the system which includes a comprehensive stock take facility.

Sales data is seamlessly replicated to the VENPoS Enterprise (Head Office) database to provide powerful business reports, including OLAP reporting. The system also provides extensive data and statistical reporting.

With centralised control it is now much faster and easier for management to change prices or product categories. The new data is simply entered onto the VENPoS system at Enterprise level, which automatically communicates it to all PoS on the network.

Both the Back Office and Head Office modules include the ability for till monitoring. This enables management to access any till on the network without slowing down the system. This is an important feature not only from a security point of view, but also for supervisor override where required.

Easy to use

The Vennersys solution has simplified sales processes at Dudley Zoological Gardens. The VENPoS software solution was quickly customised to meet their specific needs, and feedback from operators shows that they have found it easy to adapt to the new system