Improve utilisation rates and allocation of sports facilities with digital real-time activity registration.

At many sports facilities, there is little connection between bookings and actual use. Digital real-time activity registration affords insight 365 days a year as opposed to manual registration which is time-consuming and resource-heavy, and limited to a few weeks a year.

With digital activity registration the utilisation rates of the facilities of the local governance area can be compared across local areas, facilities, and activity types. As a result, you will gain an overview of the actual pressure on the specific facility, for example during prime-time between 4 and 9 pm, allowing you to see if certain facilities have more available capacity than others.

HallMonitor makes it possible to collate the activity registration with data from booking systems. This can reveal how many booked times are actually utilised. If there are repeat non-attendances, it might form the basis for a procedure where a dialogue with the clubs is opened.

When the administration gains insight into whether the hall is used for for example badminton or handball, where there are more players present, it is afforded a qualitative insight into the utilisation rates of facilities across the local governance area.

At the specific hall, it can provide a clearer picture of how small and large facilities are used for various sports. In some cases, it might mean that activities can be moved from larger to smaller places and vice versa.

Odense Council revises allocation principles

Digital activity registration in the governance area of Odense Council in Denmark has formed the basis for the Council now revising its allocation principles for hall times.

“Traditionally, we have allocated times to the clubs who had times the previous year if they have used their times. We have now begun to look further into the reasonableness of the allocation principles,” says Rasmus Vestergaard Tander, Leisure Consultant, Odense Council.

At the same time, the council has begun the great puzzle of future allocations.

“Now we ask: Which sports needs to be in large facilites and which can be moved into smaller? And does football need to be indoors, or can they be outdoors year-round on our artificial pitches?” Rasmus Vestergaard Tander explains.

When it comes to capacity, Odense Council also have a goal of optimising the collaboration with the neighbouring local areas to make better use of the facilities in the greater area.

Lyngby-Taarbæk Council has achieved much more play in just a year

For many years, Lyngby-Taarbæk Council in Denmark has had too few facilities compared to demand. The Council has had clubs with long waiting lists, but without the ability to offer more hall times.

With the project “Less waste, more play”, in 2021, Lyngby-Taarbæk Council went to work with a systematic activity registration over 16 weeks. It turned out that more than 7 out of 10 bookings was not utilisde. With digital activity registration, it has now succeeded in improving the utilisation rates of the council’s sports facilites with 10 percentage points in just a year.

“We have been afforded a far better basis for allocation and adjustment. And if you as a citizen open Wannasport – a portal to see available times – there is now reasonable “prime-time” times to find, and not solely the less attractive times Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon,” says Jakob Kloster Pederen, Project Manager, Lyngby-Taarbæk Council.

5 reasons to improve the utilisation rate with activity registration

Activity registration at sports, leisure, and cultural facilities throughout the season forms the basis for a more strategic approach.

1. Clear allocation principles
It is possible to develop clear allocation principles able to account for seasonal fluctuations and different sports. For example, artificial grass pitches make it possible to move football clubs outdoors for longer. It is also possible to account for sports needing a small facility, and sports needing a larger.

2. Fair allocation of times
Activity registration makes it easier to allocate clubs the hall and pitch time they actually need. This affords a fair allocation of times, rather than being based on “usually”.

3. Room for new clubs
If requests for times occur from clubs during the season, the administration has a better overview of where available times are – including times in facilities that are booked, but unused.

4. Allocation according to geographic affiliation
In many local governance areas, there are more demand in the larger cities compared to facilities further out. In these cases, an analysis can reveal whether the allocation makes sense. For example, it might make sense to move a club and their activities to other facilities closer to their members. It might also be possible to collaborate across local governance area borders, increasing the options for a growing club.

5. Easier access for other citizens
It is easier to book/gain access to facilities without being a member of a club, as available capacity is always viewable.