The COVID-19 pandemic pushed Americans outdoors, spurring an increased focus on outdoor spaces and activities and prompting recreation agencies to improve public access to state parks.
The software, from Tyler Technologies, aims to help NSP better serve the visitors of the 27 state parks in Nevada — last year, this meant a total close to 4 million visitors, as stated in the announcement.
As NSP Administrator Robert Mergell explained, this upgrade will help visitors who are planning trips but are hesitant to travel without a reservation in place.
Mergell said he believes that the new software will help visitors and staff alike, although initially, there will be some operational changes for staff. For example, if site reservations are made online, staff will need to adjust signage to accurately reflect reservations. On the other hand, it will make planning easier for staff from a management perspective as they will have a better understanding of site availability and use.
Sascha Ohler, senior vice president of outdoor recreation at Tyler Technologies, underlined that automating processes for staff will enable them to spend more time serving visitors more directly, enhancing safety and focusing on things like educational programming.
“I think that’s really, ultimately the goal that we’re trying to strive for with all our clients: How do we help them both be better stewards of the resources they are entrusted with, but then how do we also make the outdoors available to the largest number of people in a safe way and in an enjoyable way,” Ohler said.
Both Mergell and Ohler noted that Nevada is the last state to adopt a digital reservation system for its state parks.
The initial phase is the launch of the digital reservation software, but Tyler has other modules available that NSP may integrate in the future, such as one focused on automating its marketing campaigns.
Mergell said currently the plan is to focus on reservations and the point-of-sale system NSP uses for gift shop sales. Having these systems integrated means one less platform for employees to train on. In addition, having all parks revenue in one system helps streamline the reporting process.
The collaboration process with Tyler involved regular meetings to understand the logistics and compile necessary data to integrate processes into Tyler’s platform.
According to Ohler, NSP was a unique agency to work with in that it is a smaller agency with fewer staff than some other state park agencies. In these cases, Ohler said Tyler takes a more hands-on approach, supplementing their team as needed.
He also underlined that training is always a significant part of any rollout, but with NSP, there was an even greater emphasis on this being that the state was moving from paper reservation systems to digital, rather than simply upgrading to a different digital system.
Parks agencies often face the issue of connectivity in more remote areas, but Ohler noted that many of the Tyler modules operate in both online and offline mode so staff will still be able to track inventory offline and input information as needed.
Mergell said that NSP has been conducting visitor surveys, which he expects to provide insight as to the improved user experience or any issues that need to be solved.
NSP Deputy Administrator Jonathan Brunjes noted that the system will track data related to annual pass usage, showing how often and where passes are being used and help with broader planning efforts.
“We can get visitor data down to a very granular level,” explained Ohler. “Overall, we are utilizing that data for customer engagement or visitor engagement but then also really to support the staff from a planning perspective.”
The greatest impact for NSP, Ohler said, will be the ability to measure visitation data, allowing the agency to better plan future site build-outs, pricing structures and programming.
Although digital reservations make visiting the park easier for travelers, Mergell mentioned that there may initially be some hesitation from locals who prefer the existing first-come, first-serve system. Jennifer Jackson, NSP education and information officer, explained that the agency will be using its website to make people aware of the forthcoming changes to the reservation process.
The digital reservation system may come online as early as June 1, although Mergell suggested the live date may be late summer, estimating to go live by Sept. 1.
