One of the nation’s top ranked cancer centers, SCCA brings together skilled providers and scientists for leading-edge research and exceptional clinical care for the prevention and treatment of cancer. The work they do each day is vital to saving lives.
Luum is a next-generation parking management system that’s built on a suite of commute tools. We’re proud to partner with hospitals and clinics around the country like Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) to support them in their commute program goals—in this instance to provide a better staff commute experience and create seamless workflows for administrators. Through this work, SCCA moved away from monthly parking permits and spreadsheets towards daily parking charges and flexible, automated systems for commute management.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, SCCA’s essential staff began driving into work in record numbers. And because of social distancing guidelines and transit reductions staff were having to commute to SCCA clinical offices by car. This brought about a sharp increase in parking demand—over 750 additional staff needed parking. The SCCA transportation team scrambled to find spaces by reaching out to their neighbors at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, while simultaneously working with city officials to reserve street parking to help mitigate the overflow.
With some essential staff commuting daily and non-essential staff coming into offices one or two days per week, SCCA had to make a quick switch from monthly parking permits to daily parking charges to accommodate these new, flexible routines. With their manual spreadsheet processes and legacy parking systems, this transition was easier said than done. Inputting data into spreadsheets was a time-consuming process for staff, taking away from their core function of improving parking and commute experiences for staff. The move to daily parking overwhelmed their system and resources. Transportation leaders from the Materials Management and Support Services Department at SCCA quickly realized they needed a better way to manage parking.
Another challenge was their License Plate Recognition (LPR) system, which was only searchable via plate numbers. Admins had to take plate numbers and cross-reference with an employee roster. This meant that charges were not processed regularly and those with multiple cars in the LPR system (in some instances there were as many as 10 vehicles associated with one staff member due to carpool counts) were difficult to track.
Like many other organizations, SCCA spent countless hours each month manually entering staff parking data into spreadsheets. Apart from the being unable to process reports when needed, there were challenges with data fidelity due to the complexity of the spreadsheet and human error. Not ideal for record keeping, this spreadsheet was used for every aspect of their complex parking program—down to a manual workflow for parking payment adjustments and payroll entries.
In making the switch from monthly to daily parking for staff, SCCA discovered that the spreadsheets and legacy systems lacked the agility and automation needed to manage the parking needs for a hybrid work schedule. SCCA had moved to a daily parking policy to improve the commute experience for staff, but without the proper technology, this policy change was cumbersome for staff and admins alike. Cue Luum.
Contracts were signed and plans for implementation were finalized in August 2020. A Luum-SCCA launch date was set for October—just two and a half months later. The implementation went smoothly, as major implementation milestones were hit. Luum’s Customer Success Manager and Implementation Manager guided the process and engaged the proper teams at SCCA, such as HR, payroll, and IT. The final piece—seeding existing staff parking data into Luum—was a bit challenging thanks to ‘The Big Spreadsheet,’ but the Luum team was able to assist in formatting, fixing, and uploading the data into Luum. Ultimately putting ‘The Big Spreadsheet’ to rest for good.
The move to a daily parking policy was borne out of necessity, with staff commuting into clinics less frequently. Daily parking would give staff the flexibility they needed to drive and park just one or two days per week and, most importantly, only pay for those days. With Luum’s technology in place, staff members were now able to request parking access and accept an offer through Luum. The onboarding and application are automated with many self-serve elements wherein staff are able to input their vehicle information and pick their parking location.
No longer relying on ‘The Big Spreadsheet,’ SCCA transportation managers believe the payroll integration through Luum saves the most time and headaches. With parking charges automatically deducted from paychecks, they no longer have to manually manage the whole parking workflow. Additionally, having the capability to go into the ledger to adjust refunds and charges for staff has been “a godsend” for their support team. The Luum system is helping SCCA get to a place where individual vehicle details are easily inputted and updated by drivers for better data integrity. According to their team, “the clean and intuitive system makes things a breeze to click through and quickly add any missing data.” For administrators, Luum means that they spend less time worrying about the day-to-day management of parking access, applications and charges. With many of these aspects now automated and self-serve for staff, SCCA are spending more time creating the best possible commute experience for their staff.
The next goal, as things begin to normalize, is to start dissuading staff away from parking and back to transit. To do this, SCCA will implement Luum Rewards features to create incentives for those staff who take transit. This will be coupled with pricing changes to make transit more attractive than driving into the clinic and parking each day.
“Shout out to the Luum customer support team. Before Luum, we could expect seven days before getting a simple response on a support ticket. It would then take another week to sometimes two weeks to fix the issue at hand. Now, we get communication within hours and it’s a welcoming 1:1 experience with Luum support. There have even been instances where our Luum Customer Experience have been proactive in identifying problems before they arise.”
—Tod Sturgeon
The post SCCA Case Study appeared first on Luum | Commute Management Platform.
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA)
Luum is a next-generation parking management system that’s built on a suite of commute tools. We’re proud to partner with hospitals and clinics around the country like Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) to support them in their commute program goals—in this instance to provide a better staff commute experience and create seamless workflows for administrators. Through this work, SCCA moved away from monthly parking permits and spreadsheets towards daily parking charges and flexible, automated systems for commute management.
The Challenge
A Parking Surge Unlike Any Other
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, SCCA’s essential staff began driving into work in record numbers. And because of social distancing guidelines and transit reductions staff were having to commute to SCCA clinical offices by car. This brought about a sharp increase in parking demand—over 750 additional staff needed parking. The SCCA transportation team scrambled to find spaces by reaching out to their neighbors at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, while simultaneously working with city officials to reserve street parking to help mitigate the overflow.
Monthly Parking No Longer The Norm
With some essential staff commuting daily and non-essential staff coming into offices one or two days per week, SCCA had to make a quick switch from monthly parking permits to daily parking charges to accommodate these new, flexible routines. With their manual spreadsheet processes and legacy parking systems, this transition was easier said than done. Inputting data into spreadsheets was a time-consuming process for staff, taking away from their core function of improving parking and commute experiences for staff. The move to daily parking overwhelmed their system and resources. Transportation leaders from the Materials Management and Support Services Department at SCCA quickly realized they needed a better way to manage parking.
All Systems No
Another challenge was their License Plate Recognition (LPR) system, which was only searchable via plate numbers. Admins had to take plate numbers and cross-reference with an employee roster. This meant that charges were not processed regularly and those with multiple cars in the LPR system (in some instances there were as many as 10 vehicles associated with one staff member due to carpool counts) were difficult to track.
Administrative Burden (AKA The Big Spreadsheet)
Like many other organizations, SCCA spent countless hours each month manually entering staff parking data into spreadsheets. Apart from the being unable to process reports when needed, there were challenges with data fidelity due to the complexity of the spreadsheet and human error. Not ideal for record keeping, this spreadsheet was used for every aspect of their complex parking program—down to a manual workflow for parking payment adjustments and payroll entries.
The Solution
In making the switch from monthly to daily parking for staff, SCCA discovered that the spreadsheets and legacy systems lacked the agility and automation needed to manage the parking needs for a hybrid work schedule. SCCA had moved to a daily parking policy to improve the commute experience for staff, but without the proper technology, this policy change was cumbersome for staff and admins alike. Cue Luum.
Implementing Luum
Contracts were signed and plans for implementation were finalized in August 2020. A Luum-SCCA launch date was set for October—just two and a half months later. The implementation went smoothly, as major implementation milestones were hit. Luum’s Customer Success Manager and Implementation Manager guided the process and engaged the proper teams at SCCA, such as HR, payroll, and IT. The final piece—seeding existing staff parking data into Luum—was a bit challenging thanks to ‘The Big Spreadsheet,’ but the Luum team was able to assist in formatting, fixing, and uploading the data into Luum. Ultimately putting ‘The Big Spreadsheet’ to rest for good.
Managing Demand With Daily Parking
The move to a daily parking policy was borne out of necessity, with staff commuting into clinics less frequently. Daily parking would give staff the flexibility they needed to drive and park just one or two days per week and, most importantly, only pay for those days. With Luum’s technology in place, staff members were now able to request parking access and accept an offer through Luum. The onboarding and application are automated with many self-serve elements wherein staff are able to input their vehicle information and pick their parking location.
All Systems Go – Automation and Integration
No longer relying on ‘The Big Spreadsheet,’ SCCA transportation managers believe the payroll integration through Luum saves the most time and headaches. With parking charges automatically deducted from paychecks, they no longer have to manually manage the whole parking workflow. Additionally, having the capability to go into the ledger to adjust refunds and charges for staff has been “a godsend” for their support team. The Luum system is helping SCCA get to a place where individual vehicle details are easily inputted and updated by drivers for better data integrity. According to their team, “the clean and intuitive system makes things a breeze to click through and quickly add any missing data.” For administrators, Luum means that they spend less time worrying about the day-to-day management of parking access, applications and charges. With many of these aspects now automated and self-serve for staff, SCCA are spending more time creating the best possible commute experience for their staff.
What’s Next For SCCA With Luum
The next goal, as things begin to normalize, is to start dissuading staff away from parking and back to transit. To do this, SCCA will implement Luum Rewards features to create incentives for those staff who take transit. This will be coupled with pricing changes to make transit more attractive than driving into the clinic and parking each day.
On Customer Experience
“Shout out to the Luum customer support team. Before Luum, we could expect seven days before getting a simple response on a support ticket. It would then take another week to sometimes two weeks to fix the issue at hand. Now, we get communication within hours and it’s a welcoming 1:1 experience with Luum support. There have even been instances where our Luum Customer Experience have been proactive in identifying problems before they arise.”
—Tod Sturgeon
The post SCCA Case Study appeared first on Luum | Commute Management Platform.