Problem
Coronet Peak (credit: Yun Huang Yong)
NZSki oversees three of New Zealand's most successful ski fields — The Remarkables, Coronet Peak, and Mount Hutt. To handle the hundreds of thousands of visitors that come through the ski fields each season, NZSki uses a number of systems to manage complex booking (travel agents the world over need to be able to book tickets on behalf of their customers), issue ski passes, and make administration easier for staff.
NZSki recognized that while each system was valuable, there was a significant competitive advantage that could be had by integrating them. They decided that what was needed was a system that integrated ski product purchasing, customer ski activity, and administration of the business, all via a web portal.
- Australian and New Zealand wholesale agents needed to be able to book ski passes and lessons, and see the status of their accounts with NZSki.
- Skiers also needed to be able to purchase passes online, and to see their daily ski activity (including number of vertical metres skied and runs).
- NZSki needed visibility into their business, including real-time updates on KPIs, forward bookings, payments due, and so on.
How we solved it
Solution
Alchemy designed and built the system as a web application on top of a relational database, supporting two main sites within the application: one for wholesale agents and NZSki administrators, and one for customers and the public.
The user interface of the site for wholesale agents and NZSki administrators was designed with the workflow processes of each carefully accounted for. With role-based access control, each logged in user has their available functionality customized, allowing everyone to focus on just the functionality they need.
The site for customers has a brighter, lively user interface that enables them to purchase ski products, see their ski statistics, and update their profile information.
In 2012, the ability to load cash onto their ski pass, known as mypass Money, was introduced and customers can now use their passes to make purchases on the mountain. A rewards system exists to complement mypass Money. Customers' purchases can be made online using any combination of rewards, mypass Money, and credit card payments.
Result
NZSki has successfully been using the system since June 2010. The integration of purchasing, payment and ski activity is unique in the world of ski field management, and has garnered worldwide interest.