What is a parking management system?

Summary:

• Parking management solutions include the innovative technology that solves problems within the parking industry.
• Park managers are gradually migrating from a hardware focus to a digital focus.
• Payment digitization, enforcement processes, access control, and reporting are important features to look for in a park management system.
• The cost of buying a parking management system is relatively low compared to other options.

A parking management system refers to the innovative technologies providing solutions in the parking industry. The core idea behind any parking management system is self-explanatory:

It’s a system that helps people, companies, and organizations to manage their parking spaces.

Managing car parks isn’t an easy task for companies and organizations because there are lots of moving parts including traffic and the availability of spaces. It is a time-consuming task, requires human labor, and is inefficient. Using a parking management system can help reduce a business’s administrative overhead on parking and reduce the impact of their parking space on their local community.

Parking software is used at educational institutions, municipalities, offices, businesses, and corporate organizations. This article defines parking management systems, discusses their key components, and the different use cases for the systems and software.

Components of a Car Park Management System

A parking management system can have several components based on use cases and application. There are four vital components that define a parking management system:

1. Payment Method

The preferred mode of payment for a car parking management system must be determined by the users due to the number of payment automation and technologies available. The chosen payment method is dependent on the use case.

For example, staff parking will be levied differently from commercial parking. Staff park payments are better processed digitally for ease of access while commercial parks can either be processed digitally or manually for reconciliation purposes. The payments required in a staff car park may be based on violations and imposed levies, while those in commercial cases will be required for all users.

2. Parking Enforcement Options

Enforcement is a necessary tool for managing and maintaining a car parking area. Used with the park operator’s chosen payment system, enforcement options allow drivers to access allocated spaces easily. Enforcement improves the flow of traffic and potentially increases the use of alternative means of transport for staff members who can’t get available parking spots.

Parking enforcement includes ticket issuance, lot numbering for easy navigation, and notification of current parking availability to users. The impact of a company’s parking traffic on the local community can therefore be greatly reduced and the safety of pedestrians within the community ensured.

3. Access Controls

Access controls are otherwise known as car park entry systems. They are important for ensuring the efficient use of parking software. They essentially permit the entry of drivers who have a confirmed booking, while those who don’t have booking confirmations are denied entry. The rate of users being turned back at the entrance can be reduced with the aid of notifications and booking confirmations.

4. Reporting

Reporting is one of the most important features of car parking software. It allows car park operators and companies to track their facilities, vehicle entry, and real-time reporting of the availability of parking spots. This helps companies manage their parks in a central digital hub offered with parking software.

Common Parking Management Solutions

Here is a quick overview of how the most common types of parking management solutions work:

Office Centric

Office parking processes were dysfunctional and companies adapted parking management systems from big hardware suppliers to solve their problems and manage their car spots. However, these were not fit for purpose and have led to large parking problems including security concerns, obstructive parking, and unallocated spots in many companies.

Currently, office-centric parking solutions otherwise known as employee parking software are the fastest-growing segment of parking management software.

What to learn more about what employee parking software can do for you business? Check out this cool explainer video.

Companies can increase the capacity of parking lots, without increasing the number of spaces they have. Administrative overheads and capital outlay also decrease as offices move towards full automation.

Looking to learn more about how to solve workplace parking problems? Here is a blog which has helped thousands of companies move the dial on employee parking issues, check it out – The guide to solving company parking problems

Residential

The parking experience at many residential and multi-family complexes has been dysfunctional for a long time. Who owns what space? Where can guests park? How can visitors get through the barrier? For a long time it has been an area which generally delivered a sub-standard experience.

Luckily for property managers & owners residential parking management systems are growing in popularity. For good reason too, they can make all residential parking problems disappear in a few clicks of a button.

Automating guest parking bookings, payments, managing space allocation and digitising entry & exit are just some of the popular benefits of solutions in this space.

Manual

This is the most basic type of car park management system. It is the traditional “man in a hut” who keeps an eye on who goes in and comes out. You find these operations in low-tech environments. For reasons best known to the park’s management, they are looking to keep a cash operation.

A staff member accepts payment from motorists as they enter and exit the garage. The individual also issues a manual piece of paper to check entry and exit. This role will also supervise the car park to make sure no one is staying longer than they should be. They’ll keep a track of all this in a big ledger or on a computer.

This is a very resource-intensive system with a large margin for error and corruption. The manual record keeping process may lack documentation and allow for corrupt staff members to keep part of the proceeds for themselves.

Hardware Focused

Pay-to-use car parks are generally run by car park operators. Operators prefer managing their parks using expensive pieces of hardware to control payment and access to their parking spaces.

Motorists only gain entry into the park via large barriers. An issued ticket is the only proof needed to enter the parking lot. Before departure, drivers need to pay at a pay station for the length of their stay.

A local staff member will often be stationed at the park in case of any difficulties. The hardware has a backend that reports on occupancy and revenue generation.

Trying to navigate the world of parking hardware? Check out this handy blog – What type of car park entry system does your business need?

Software Focused

Consumers are looking for smoother parking experiences while park managers are looking to reduce upfront capital cost on parking equipment. Software-focused parking management solutions offer these functionalities and more.

Companies like Parkpnp are driving this digital revolution. Online payments and self-service booking make it easier to book a space at car parks that are fitted with such systems. These are some of the features offered by digital parking solutions:

• Drivers pay using their smartphones, credit cards, and direct debits.
• Overstay and illegal parking can be monitored by the software and reported via an app.
• Entry & exit to the park lots can be linked directly to smartphones or license plates.
• Real-time reporting park occupancy gives users access to insights instantly.

Car parks are slowly migrating from hardware focus to a digital focus. Although, hybrid parking management systems, a mix of both hardware and digital models are in common use.

How Do Employee Parking Management Systems Work

Employee parking systems feature functionalities such as booking management and allocation management to ease the use of parks for employees. Here are some of the core features to check for and how they work:

Booking Management

Employees use booking management functionalities to book available parking spaces ahead of time. This functionality gives employees the ability to plan their journey to the office and eliminates the guesswork from their daily commute. Employees who cannot get parking spaces can opt for alternative transportation means.

The efficiency of this functionality can be complemented with real-time availability and occupancy tracking information. Companies can now manage their parks by communicating in real-time to staff about space availability. Here are management types that are under booking management:

• Allocation Management: When there is higher demand than supply your business is faced with parking challenges. You can automate the allocation process with a good staff parking system. Companies choose a digital parking policy that reflects how they’d like to allocate their space.For example, if a business wants to give priority allocation to staff who live furthest from the office. Every day, the management software would evaluate the booking requests, it then allocates spaces based on the company’s business priorities and communicates these allocations to all staff.
• Automated Security & Administration: Obstructive parking is a bad practice and disturbs other park users. There is nothing worse than a parked vehicle blocking another in the car park and not knowing who owns it. This can be a real headache for parking administrators, who can often spend hours trying to figure out who owns the offending vehicle.When employees sign up to use parking software, they will enter their license plate information. This creates a unique ID for their vehicles and only allows car park access when there are spaces. The unique ID also makes it easy to identify who owns the car.
• Digitized Entry & Exit: Digitized entry and exit are key features of office parking technology. It makes it easy for employees to access parking spaces with little or no human contact. Car park entry systems and digital payment methods are examples of components that allow employees to gain entrances into the office park without a need to wait too long.

The Cost Of Parking Management Systems

The price range for scalable parking management solutions such as Wayleadr is relatively low compared to hardware-based solutions that are used in commercial parks. It also offsets the considerable hidden costs of parking which are outlined extensively in this blog.

Wayleadr prices include additional features such as dedicated account manager, multi-location management, and automated parking management.

Buying Considerations For Parking Management Software

There are several considerations including costs and the specific requirements of an organization before a choice is made. General features of parking systems may include payment digitization, and fittings like cameras and sensors. Custom features like plate recognition and advanced analytics may increase the pricing. Companies desiring customized parking solutions are charged higher than clients who have found perfect solutions in the existing price categories offered by the product.

Benefits Of Parking Management Software

There are several benefits of using parking management software in the parking industry and to individual clients. These include:

1. Safety Of Parked Vehicles

The access control feature in parking management systems helps to ensure that only vehicle owners and authorized persons can drive in and out of a car park. With this feature, users can manage the entry and exit rate at parks ensuring only authorized access.

2. It Saves Time And Costs

Parking management systems automate time-consuming processes such as finding vacant spaces, tracking vehicle entry/exit, and processing online payments. The time saved from all of these processes results in huge cost savings on labor and wasted working hours.

3. Enforcement Of Parking Rules

Tracking the entire garage and the movement of vehicles to and from the park help prevent the violation of parking rules. Drivers who have violated rules are fined via the software interface and fine payments are received via the same platform.

Conclusion

Car park user management issues raise huge concerns for organizations and park managers. With the aid of park management solutions, management teams can efficiently manage their parking spaces.

Although, user management issues differ in each parking, the parking solution should be simple, safe, and efficient. With ParkOffice, drivers can easily navigate the parking lot to their booked spots.

Management teams can use parking software for their overall organization’s benefits. With a clear objective for using the software including reducing costs, reducing time wastage, and increasing revenue, organizations can be sure the software will help to achieve their set goals.

Wondering how Wayleadr can help with your parking management system? Book a demo to learn how we can automate processes and save you time.

Last updated: 12th April 2022