Let the fun begin! With the end of another school year, summer is upon us, and parks and recreation facilities are kicking off their season of summer camps and activities.

Keeping that in mind, we are excited about adding CampBrain to the Vermont Systems family. We are thrilled to add a premier camp management technology to our family of recreation solutions.

In the May RecLine newsletter, you will learn all about the new acquisition, another great ePACT spotlight, product releases, available education and training times, operations, services, and support updates, and the Employee Spotlight featuring David Provost, our incredible Senior Operations Specialist.

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ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE ACQUISITION OF CAMPBRAIN

We are excited to announce the strategic acquisition of Toronto-based CampBrain, a best-in-class SaaS solution for camp management and registration.

“Our mission in the parks and recreation industry is to empower communities to connect through next-generation software built upon decades of industry knowledge and experience, and personalized services and support,” said Patrick Hayden, President of Vermont Systems. “I am thrilled not only about our ability to add a premier technology for camp management to our recreation management offerings, but one whose customers are raving fans of their software and service.”

Read More

 


CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT 


Hillsborough County Named a National Finalist for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management for Excellence in Park & Rec Management


For the second year in a row, Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation is a finalist for the 2023 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management. The American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration announced that the department is one of the four finalists for Class 1, which includes the nation's largest parks and recreation departments that serve populations of more than 400,000. Congrats on the well-deserved honor!

Read More
 

 



The ePACT Spotlight — Make Play Safe


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, concussions are a type of traumatic brain injury that can have serious consequences if not properly identified and managed. With summer sports season fast approaching, it’s crucial that we prioritize concussion awareness and prevention measures to ensure the safety and well-being of our players. That's why we’re excited to introduce you to ePACT’'s Emergency and Health Forms Automation service. Our customizable EHR, waivers, and consent forms are specifically designed to integrate seamlessly with rec management systems, making it easy for you to keep track of important player health information.

Book some time with ePACT to learn more about how we can make play safe.

Schedule a Time

 


Maple Syrup Winner of the Month


Who doesn’t like Maple Syrup from Vermont?! If If you want to enter next month's drawing, complete the Customer Service Survey that you receive once your support case is resolved.


Upcoming Education and Training Available 


The Vermont Systems Education team offers the most efficient way to become proficient and productive with the software as well as the fastest way to onboard new employees, with options to fit any time and budget. If one of your goals is productivity — learning from and with others is a proven path.

  • Every other Thursday at 2:00pm Eastern, RecChat offers conversations about new features, hot topics, and upcoming events that are included in your plan with Vermont Systems. Sign up for the latest and to view archived sessions. Sign up here.

  • The RecTrac Lab: Our free online series of micro-learning courses covers topics for everyone from new to advanced users. Contact us to find the right RecTrac Lab courses for you.

Sign Up for Education and Training



Employee Spotlight — David Provost 

Senior Operations Specialist
 
Resident of: Georgia, VT 

Time at Vermont Systems: 11 years 

Family: Wife, two kids, and one sassy Chihuahua 

Hobbies: Aquariums – Planted tanks, raising tropical catfish and shrimp.  

What I am Currently Binge-watching: Celtics, Red Sox and just finished Star Trek Picard  

Most Recent Accomplishment: Bundled my home and car insurance with Progressive, Thanks Flo!

Why I Enjoy Working at Vermont Systems: Co-workers from top to bottom are great to work with. I added many friends over the years and had some awesome adventures on the road. Germany, Alaska, and Hawaii were a blast. 

Favorite Quote/Words to Live By: Less is more, more or less!
 



 

Vermont Systems Symposium  


We have big plans for this November! The Symposium is back again and bigger than ever. New this year, we will be offering three educational sessions per time block for more learning options! We would love to see you there!

Register by June 30, 2023, to receive the early registration discount!

 
I'm All In


All Current Product Releases

RecTrac Elevate

Ready to Elevate your RecTrac solution? RecTrac Elevate was created to ensure that our customers can take full advantage of all that their class-leading system has to offer. Get all of the details HERE.

RecTrac 3.1.10.19.00 is Ready for Download 

We're happy to announce that RecTrac Version 3.1.10.19.00 has been released! There are many important updates in this release. If you have not taken action yet, we urge all departments to update as soon as possible. 


View All Current Releases


 

The WebTrac Virtual Waiting Room   


This a reminder for our hosted customers that we are still using the Virtual Waiting room for large online registrations. Please contact support several weeks prior to your scheduled event, and we will have the system setup and ready for you and your patrons if the event exceeds 900 plus households at the start of the registration for an Activity event and more than 300 for other events (campsites, tickets, reservations). 
 
The virtual waiting room allows Vermont Systems to meter traffic destined for your WebTrac site at the onset of registration launches. This allows us to pull all patrons into a randomly assigned queue just prior to the start of the registration and then release them to your WebTrac site in a manner that promotes a positive and predictable customer experience. We have successfully deployed the virtual waiting room for many recent high-volume registrations and are now positioned to use this as a tool if we determine the demand may exceed the ability of your WebTrac site to sustain a positive user experience.

For events that are known to Vermont Systems, we can monitor traffic leading up to the event and determine if the virtual waiting room will be needed to support the demand. Please continue to inform our Support or Hosted Services teams of high-volume upcoming registrations.  
  


News and Updates from Operations


OPS Team: After more than 30 years with Vermont Systems, Cullen Barber is retiring! Cullen has been a fixture at Vermont Systems since 1993, most recently serving as the Director of Services. His effect on our customers and company has been immense. Cullen epitomizes “calm, cool, and collected” and has had a positive impact on anyone who has been lucky enough to work with him. We know he will be greatly missed by all. Best of luck in all future endeavors!

With Cullen’s retirement, we've taken the opportunity to combine our military and municipal teams into a single operations group. Many longtime customers will recognize that this is a return to our staffing model pre-2018. As our military customers move to the 3.1 platform it makes sense to bring our teams back together. This re-org better positions both our support and implementation teams to provide the highest level of service across our customer base. This combined team will be led by Rob Coli as the Director of Operations. Rob most recently served as the Director of Military Services and started his career with Vermont Systems in early 2012.


 
News and Updates from Services and Support 


HelpDesk Team: We have strengthened our Helpdesk shifts to prepare for the higher case volume that ramps up for the outdoor facility openings around the country near the Memorial Day weekend. We are here to help! Use the real-time chat for quick questions and answers via the Support portal.  Check out the self-help guides with specific help on hardware setup and testing. RecChat: Pool Season Prep - 04/06/2023 - Vermont Systems Next Gen (helpjuice.com) 

Implementation Team: Do you have new staff members that have never been trained on RecTrac 3.1?  Are you new to your organization and ever wondered, “why was the setup in RecTrac done a certain way, and could it be improved?”  Would you like to streamline the online services and ensure your patrons are getting a good experience online with WebTrac using their mobile device?  If you said yes to any of these questions, we are here to help!  Please check out the new “Elevate” option for training bundles: [email protected] or email Brian Hatch (Implementation Manager) [email protected] with specific training questions or to set up discovery calls. 


Education Team: The Education team (EDU) led by Zach Malloch has moved all of our Field level help and Topic Documents to the new Vermont Systems Next Gen Knowledge Base. This change from having content within our RecTrac database now points to this new platform with the 3.1.10.18.00 release.  Our Support Portal Knowledge Base and videos have also moved to this location. It’s pretty exciting and has taken more than a year to complete. We encourage you to check out hundreds of new articles, videos, and other self-help resources. Here is the direct link for our customers to access: Vermont Systems Next Gen Knowledge Base (helpjuice.com). Don’t forget to check out the bi-weekly free RecChats with Zach and the team on software and industry topics. Look for the invite via the VS Connect email.  


Reminders: We encourage all customers and IT departments to keep the RecTrac version up to date to ensure you have all the latest updates and features. On-premises customers should plan to update 5 times per year. Fully hosted customers are all set and get each update loaded automatically.

Support Portal and Knowledge Base: Access the support portal to chat with an expert, view the system education documents, and find FAQs. Be on the lookout for the new knowledge platform mentioned above, and look forward to an improved experience in the knowledge base.

Visit the Support Portal 


VS Assist: Our team of RecTrac experts can ensure that you hit the ground running with a database and solution that’s move-in ready. Whatever your needs, VS Assist will help you reduce training requirements, accelerate your implementation timeline, and enable you to start better serving your patrons and community faster.  
 
See all the ways that Vermont Systems can assist you.


 
Is Cloud Hosting Right for You? 


It’s hard not to miss the trend: the vast majority of organizations are moving to cloud-hosted solutions. The reasons are clear, Cloud Hosting simply delivers far more advantages and allows your team to focus on serving your community. But is it right for you? 
 
Take a look around your organization and see how you would answer the questions.


Download this Checklist