Running a water ferry and passenger cruise business is like Fullers Group is mostly about maximising capacity. Fullers is powering ahead of the fleet, through superior service, reputation, and now a fully integrated electronic ticketing and booking system called TranzTicket.

Fullers is the leading water ferry transport provider on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf. Its fleet of 14 ferries carries over 14 million passengers a year on a combination of scheduled sailings, charters, and tourist cruises.

In 2002 the company took a hard look at its ticketing systems, which were based around preprinted ticket books sold at land-based and onboard sales counters. Though adequate as a transaction system, the paper-based system did not provide any scope for the level of cash and ticket inventory control, passenger capacity management, and accounting integration Fullers was looking for.

The problem with paper
Using a variety of ticket rolls to sell up to 80 ticket types, Fullers encountered many of the issues that accompany manual paper-based ticketing systems.

There were challenges with controlling ticket inventory, cash management, applying discounts and refunds consistently across different sales counters, and monitoring and reporting ticket sales according to sales counters and agents. Other dynamic point of sale information such as sailing schedules, seat allocation and passenger manifests, were paper-based, and integration with EFTPOS was missing.

“We needed a platform that could tidy up point of sale and automate business rules and procedures that most other

businesses take for granted,” says group IT manager Stanford Low. “Central to that was an electronic ticketing and booking system that could integrate with our accounting system and provide the central management functions for all aspects of our sales.”

The Fullers criteria called for an off-the-shelf, fully integrated, PC-based ticketing and capacity management system that was quick to install, easy to use, supported both web and network deployment, and touch screen technologies.

First piloted at two sites, the entire TranzTicket system was up and running at five sites in just two months.

TranzTicket just the ticket
Delivered from a head office server running SQL Server database, Windows 2000 and APPX accounting software, TranzTicket was deployed over a virtual private network linking touchscreen PCs integrating cash draws, ticket printers, and EFTPOS.

Fullers’ TranzTicket ticketing and booking system is now part of the company’s enterprise systems, providing Fullers with a single, real-time window into its business, not previously achievable.

“The paper trail was the biggest thing, with the speed of getting information together a close second. It was taking three-to-four days to deliver cash-up spreadsheets to head office, which is a long wait when you need to know the performance of individual sales offices,” says Low. “Having this information at our fingertips makes life much easier. We have also eliminated opportunities for fraud or misinterpretation of procedures. So, control and security have been vastly improved.”

Every point of sale scenario has been improved. Cashiers now have a wealth of information at their fingertips, including sailing information, schedules, vessel floor plans and discounts, which are determined at head office.

Previously handwritten passenger details are now entered at the time of ticket booking or purchase, which helps to automate the generation of sailing manifests and provides a real-time view of ticket sales and seat availability.

The cash management reporting and backend accounting interface of TranzTicket have made a big difference to the Fullers sales operation.

By combining touch-screen technology with point of sale efficiencies, Fullers has introduced better cashier control and reporting. This information, together with end-of-day cash-up reports, interface with the company’s accounting system, enabling easy reconciliation with ticket sales and all but eliminating previous backend paperwork.

“We’ve managed to introduce better standardisation, so there is a lot more consistency and control across ticket offices,” says Low. Fully integrated with peripherals, TranzTicket has inbuilt ‘wrappers’ which allow it to work seamlessly with any number of EFTPOS handhelds and printers that are managed and configured from a single backend. Similar functionality is built into the TranzTicket application itself, whereby all updates are administered by a simple drag-and-drop routine to update remote machines.

“We’re trying to get away from requiring people to race around configuring machines. We wanted as much centralisation as possible and a good degree of future-proofing,” says Low.

Business impact
Fullers now has in place a fully integrated, centrally managed and controlled sales platform, which has established new business rules that have had an immediate bottom-line impact.

The TranzTicket platform has also introduced new levels of reporting and control that weren’t possible with the old system. This includes both sales and capacity management information, which provides management with a real-time view of the sales operation, says Low.

“Everyone sees the same information and follows the same business rules and procedures. Nothing is left to chance. Even training of front-end staff is much easier. Everything is much more intuitive, whereas previously the paperwork and informal processes invited too many errors.”

TranzTicket has established a technology platform for the future, enabling Fullers to introduce further improvements to its business operations. The company is looking to broaden its sales channels, to also include web-based platforms, such as kiosks, website and vessel sales, which TranzTicket is able to support.

“We’re now able to consider new technologies that support better customer service and enhance our business. TranzTicket has been a quantum leap and delivers a future proof technology platform that enables us to integrate with other systems as they are introduced into the business.”

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