Background

At the core of WinShape Camps is the relentless pursuit to provide a camp environment that challenges campers to sharpen their character and deepen their Christian faith and relationships. Founded in 1985 and based in Mt. Berry, Georgia, WinShape Camps offers residential and day camp programs to thousands of youth each year between the ages of seven and 17.

Challenge

By 2003, registrations were growing rapidly and WinShape Camps’ one registrar and three to four assistants were often working late due to the enormous amount of manual data entry required.

Chris Lewis, IT Coordinator for WinShape Camps, took a lead role in researching a new way of doing things. “Our Camp was not open to a fully online database just yet, and Active Network was the only company willing to talk with us about how to download registrations into an offline database. Because Active demonstrated this willingness to work with us and offered a compromise package that would enable us to take the application and initial payment online, but collect medical forms and remaining payments the old way via paper and mail, we really had the sense that Active would meet us where we were and best serve our needs.”

Solution

Many campers are under scholarship or some type of financial assistance through community partnerships and financial aid programs. So when the Camp was ready to convert to a full online registration system just three years later, it needed a flexible system that would work with all of its unique needs.

“We did evaluate multiple solutions, but the other camp management software programs just did not instill the confidence in me, in large part, because of the experience I’d had with Active. I talked to several other camps that used or switched to CampRegister and all were very happy with Active’s service, technical support and interface presentation to camp parents. For us, Active’s pricing structure, functionality and flexibility most closely aligned with our current needs.”

WinShape Camps began using CampRegister, a camp management and online camp registration software system from Active Network. WinShape Camps also selected Active’s integrated eCamp photo and email services tool to offer parents access to photos during their children’s time at camp, and a medium to communicate daily with their campers via email.

Results

After using the full online database and registration capabilities of Active’s CampRegister system for three full summers, Lewis is quick to say the most immediate benefit the Camp experienced was a significant time savings on manual data entry. “We had to account for a great deal of overtime hours in the past. We greatly reduced these expenses with CampRegister just by giving parents access to self-service registration options online.”

In addition to time savings and reduced expenses on overtime, Lewis notes that the growth WinShape Camps has experienced in online registrations “is huge. After switching to the full online system, approximately 75% of our registrations were processed online in just the first year.” Today that number is nearly 85%.

“When you have that many registrations coming through the online system, you’re really able to look to your staff to take on additional responsibilities, as so much of the time spent on data entry is removed. I just cannot imagine ever returning to the paperbased, manual way of processing registrations. The number of hours actually spent registering campers is immeasurably reduced.”

But Lewis is also happy to say that the benefits are not just internal. “We have received nothing but positive reviews from parents of our effort to make the registration process as convenient and smooth as possible. They can update their own accounts online, without having to call or email us about a new address or credit card number. We drive to do as much online as possible and that has been great for us, great for paper reduction, and great for giving our parents all the program and camp information they need in one convenient place.”

WinShape Camps’ Advice about Online Registration:

1. Question Your Operations: (1) How much overtime is your registrar working? (2) How much more could you do to extend your reach as a camp if your registrar was not focused solely on manual data entry? Think about your programming, activities, and customer service. The growth of our Camp would not have been possible in terms of manpower if our registrar was still manually entering in paper applications. The online registration system has freed our staff to do other things, which in turn, allowed us to grow.
2. Manage Recruiting. We are quite heavily using the CampRegister system as a means of recruiting and handling staff applications. We have a rather extensive process for applying to work at our Camp. With CampRegister, our prospective staff submits applications online and registers for interview sessions through a process similar to our campers. The system collects three to five references from each applicant and automatically sends emails out to each reference with link and brief description. It’s all automated.
3. Go Online. You will love the technical support, set-up assistance and the entire experience using CampRegister. Your parents will love the convenience, security and access to information on demand.