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Show Saturday, October 25, 1997 The Park Record A-17 Computers are vital to resorts Continued from A-15 gram, illustrated the problem. "Payroll had been using a construction-worker-payroll program which had been adapted and adapted. adapt-ed. It just wasnt doing the job any more," Stecki said. He used Deer Valley's 336 ski instructors as an example. ' "We pay our instructors at different differ-ent rates, depending on what they're doing at the time. If they are on a lift, enroute to an appointment, they get one rate," Stecki explained. "If they are teaching a private lesson, they get another rate, and it's different again if they teach a group lesson. There can be a dozen different permutations per-mutations in a ski instructor's day, and we have to schedule and track it at 15-minute intervals for each instructor, each day." Stecki said that the ski area needed need-ed a program which would schedule instructors' time and days off, track what actually happened and allow for changes on-the-fly, and compute the payroll numbers so the accounting account-ing department could make out their paychecks. Noble said that Park City Mountain Resort had similar needs, and both areas also needed to track information for lodging reservations (which often include multi-day lift ticket deals for multiple people), numbers of lift tickets sold (on a near-real-time basis) and other data. The two ski resorts' needs diverged in several areas. Deer Valley, for example, includes ski rental as part of the resort's services, while PCMR is not in the ski-rental business. Deer Valley includes food service in-house, while Park City is just getting into the food service arena. Both IS managers started with the same system design concept, though the end result differs. Common was the decision to work off centralized data bases, with each function using only the pieces of information needed to do its job. "Why should I drop my kid off at day care, give them my name, address and phone number, then walk down to rent my skis and get asked the same questions again?" Stecki illustrated. "The data goes into the system the first time the customer gives it, and other departments depart-ments which need it can access it immediately." At Park City, the decision was made to better track the number of people on the mountain by imprint ing bar codes on each ticket and pass, then scanning the tickets at mountain entry points. "The system is aimed at customer cus-tomer convenience. That has been our focus in everything we do," Noble said. "A holder of an EZ Pass (the replacement for the Local's Coupon Book) now bypasses by-passes the ticket window completely. complete-ly. A family which makes lodging and multi-day ski pass reservations will receive their passes in the mail, and will never have to wait in line at the ticket window, either." Noble said that a by-product of the scanning approach is instant information about how many people peo-ple are using their lift pass products, and how many days of multi-day passes are being used before they expire. "It will be interesting the be able to track how many days that a season sea-son pass is used," Noble said. "We believe that we have developed a fairly accurate estimate over the years, but this season will tell us just how accurate we've been." At Deer Valley, everyone except season-pass holders will still stop at the ticket office, Stecki said. "We took the approach of increasing the number of ticket windows and employees so the wait is never long." He also said that he's content to let Park City experiment with the bar-coding technology and look at it seriously when they have some experience under their belts. "We looked at the available technology tech-nology for Deer Valley. Solitude is using a 'card-swipe' system which they started last year, and we chatted chat-ted with manufacturers of both barcode bar-code and 'smart card' technologies," technolo-gies," Stecki said. Each has strengths and weaknesses, he said, and Deer Valley will not shift to a new technology until we are positive posi-tive that the guest experience will be enhanced by it. Stecki said one of Deer Valley's concerns with the new technology stems from potential resentment on the part of skiers. While the information database is centralized, both areas are also taking the approach of improving communications systems and decentralizing decisions made using the data. "Reservations agents at Deer Valley will not be advising callers on which skis to rent, but we will have the capability of transferring the callers to each department they need to work with," Stecki said. Noble said that PCMR is work ing their system similarly. He coordinated coor-dinated a near-half-million-dollar upgrade to the resort's communications communica-tions and computer systems this past summer. The upgrades included includ-ed the installation of fiber-optic cable for high-capacity data transfer, trans-fer, a new software system for Park City Mountain Holidays (the reservation reser-vation operation), new servers, and a broad-band radio-frequency system sys-tem for transmitting the on-hill scanners' information to the system. "John (Cumming) has been great to work with throughout the process," Noble said. "Illustrate for him how your proposal will improve guests' experience, and he will make the resources available if they are there to be had." "Once you take on the project, you have both the authority and the responsibility to put it into place," Noble said. Stecki's experience at Deer Valley is similar. "Bob Wheaton is probably the 'least wired' guy in the organization. He has a computer at home, but doesn't use one much at the office. That doesn't mean that he doesnt understand," Stecki said. "If he wants a piece of information, he goes to the expert in the organization, organiza-tion, or he asks his staff to get it for him. He expects us to do our jobs, and that is to focus on the 'Deer Valley experience' for our guests." "When we ask for a system upgrade, the focus is on how it will make things better for the organization, organiza-tion, so that focus on our visitors can be sharpened," said Stecki. He, too, has coordinated a massive mas-sive changeover and upgrade of systems, sys-tems, software and computer types. When he arrived at Deer Valley six years ago, most of the organization's organiza-tion's computers were Macintosh-based. Macintosh-based. Today, about 75 percent of the system is based on PCs running Windows NT or Windows 95. "So much has changed in computers," com-puters," said Wheaton, who has been with Deer Valley since before it opened to the public. "I remember when we had to make the initial choice between Macs and IBM PC's which were more difficult to operate at the time. We chose Macintosh because it was easier to train people in their use," Wheaton said. "Now we're turning around and heading toward the PC platform, running Windows. It's a big investment for any business to make, but we have to do it. The PC gives us much better response than did the Mac network." Lodging reservations climb Continued from A-15 until January, when foot-a-day totals piled up dur- Automating of homes is focus Continued from A-16 the convenience such systems offer. "We can program systems to mute the television when the phone rings, for example, and we can overcome over-come the problem of separately controlling multiple light fixtures which are on one switch," he said. Pamer said that Future Systems can also work to make a home more friendly for people with disabilities, disabili-ties, such as installing automatically-opening doors, caller identification boxes which "talk" to the visually impaired, and making the lights flash for the hearing impaired when someone rings the doorbell. Low-end systems start at about $3,000 to $5,000, with total costs dependent upon factors such as the size of the home, and the number of systems and actions desired. Pamer meets at the client's home and surveys what is desired, working with the client to design a made-to-order application. For more information, contact Future Systems at 647-0916. The office is located at 1678 Bonanza, Suite 3, in Park City. ing the Sundance Film Festival. "Snowmaking saved the early ski season," Lansche said of the '95-96 season at the time. "If Park City didn't have manmade snow, nobody would have been skiing at Christmas." Las Tarascas has authentic Mexican meals, appetizers Continued from A-16 seemed to believe the wait to be worthwhile. Perhaps most telling about the authenticity of the food is that the Hispanic community dines there often. (In Southern California, that's a sure sign of good Mexican food.) The restaurant is truly a family operation. At any given time, family members are found behind the grill, washing-up, preparing and serving food and beverages. bev-erages. "We are very grateful for the opportunity to fulfill our dream," said the brothers. "Park City residents have all been very supportive and happy to see us moving up. We know that we would fail without the support of all of our customers, and we are thankful for the wonderful people here." 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Per Family Florida Small Pink Grapefruit For Effective October 25 & 28 at our Park City Store Only IZZ) C-rv Creek Drive (Behind the lit. Air Cafe & Top Stop Station) No Rain Checks After 6 p.m. Sunday Greg Sardo Keara Sardo I |