Atlantis Consulting Group Inc

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Virginia State Parks is a division of the Department of Conservation and Recreation which is an agency of the Commonweatlh of Virginia. I am the Retail Business Manager and as part of my job duties I oversee and manage the Point of Sale System.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atlantis Consulting Group Inc, and what were your goals?

In 2000, Virginia State Parks began the process of developing an Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new point of sale system. Atlantis Consulting was the chosen vendor for the point of sale system due to their newly developed internet based system and their reasonable cost. State Parks wanted a POS system that would provide faster reporting, allowed both central office and park staff to manage the inventory and was easy to use. The Commonwealth has very strict revenue reporting requirements and Atlantis was able to incorporate all of our needs into their software.

Over the past eighteen years we have asked Atlantis to add various reports and programming to the system and they have always given us exactly what we needed in a timely fashion. The most difficult project was asking Atlantis to create deposit certificates within the software, that would provide park staff with the breakdown by revenue source code of the revenuies collected by terminal over one or more days. Atlantis was able to replicate the Revenue Tracking System into BMWeb for the Commonwealth. The project was completed earlier than anticipated and tested with several parks before being rolled out to all parks.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

After putting out the Request for Proposal, Virginia State Parks staff reviewd the submissions for responses that provided the solution we were looking for in a point of sale system. The desire was to contract an internet based system that would provide information within 24 hours, was easy to use, could be accessed from anywhere, the office, a park, home, etc. The system had to robust enough to allow parks to sell anything within a park. BMWeb and BMPOS offered everything we needed in a point of sale system and at a reasonable cost.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Virginia State Parks needed an updated Point of Sale system. A Request For Proposal was published, and proposals were accepted over a set period of time. After reviewing the proposals, Atlantis Consulting Group was chosen as the contracor for the Point of Sale system. The contract was executed in March 2004 and Corey , the compnay President, came to Richmond to begin the process of developing the POS software to fit the needs of Virginia State Parks and the Commonwealth. BMWeb is a web based software and Corey assisted the central office staff with the development and preliminary steps needed to set up the database.

Once the database was set up, four parks were selected as test parks and Corey and Central Office staff spent several days training the park staff so they could test the system in a live environment before it was rolled out to all parks. Once the test parks had used the system for a few months, we brought all park staff together for Corey to provide onsite training. Since the new POS system was internet based, we moved to using computers as the cash register, and the training actaully started with how to hool up all the peripherals needed to create a cash register out of a PC.

Parks were then trained on how to use both the POS software (BMPOS) and the backroom software (BMWeb), before returning to their park and putting the hardware in place. The project had a definitive timeline to have the point of sale in place in parks by September 2004 and the goal was met.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

In the beginning, Corey met with us in person and staying in Richmond, VA as needed to be onsite to assist with the set up of the system and to work with the finance section to ensure revenues would be reported as needed. There were developers at Atlantis that worked behind the scenes, but I am not sure who they were. Once the system was in place, Corey continued as our main contact/help desk person until his passing in November 2012.

However, he had hired a dedicated customer service manager, Darren, who has been on call as our techincal support person for at least twelve years. When Darren will be away, another technician is assigned to assist parks until his return. From day one, Atlantis has provided Virginia State Parks 24/7./365 customer support and has gone above and beyond in assisting parks with hardware and software problems, developing new reports, and adding features that parks sugggest or ask for.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Virginia State Parks has used BMWeb/BMPOS since 2004, and sadly in ending their contract in June 2022. The end of the contract is only because the Virginia Information Technology Agency made us bid out our current resrvation contract due to its age and changes in technology, and the new State Parks Director deisired a combined reservation and POS system. BMWeb/BMPOS was easy to use and train staff on. The staff at Atlantis always went above and beyond.

I have often been setting up a new CPU for a park on a weekend and emailed Darren to set up the download on Monday for the park, only to find out moments later that the download file is ready. When we ask for new reports or changes to the reports they are often in my mailbox within minutes of asking for them. There has never been a request made of Atlantis Consulting that was not fullfilled for state parks,. Atlanits is always on time and even ahead of schedule in delivering results to us.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We have direct access to our account manager Mr. Desu and our customer service manager, Darren at any time. Both are quick to respond to requests and work with us on a personal level. Both Mr. Desu and Darren have come to Virginia and met the park staff and Mr. Darren has come to provide onsite training to staff several times over the years. The staff all know they can call Atlantis at anytime for assistance and that their emails and calls will be answered in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Over the life of our contract the parks and I have been able to develop a personal relationship with the Atlantis Consulting Group Staff. My relationship with Atlantis goes back to the days when it was Atlantis North America and Corey came to Virginia to train a computere illiterate in how to manage a state of the are POS system. I have never been talked down to because I was not a techie, and everything has always been explained to me in laymans terms. I have called for support and had the phone answered while Corey was in the hospital, or by Darren when he was on vacation but forgot to leave a point of contact with me before he left.

The customer service is above and beyond. Even now that we are ending our contract with Atlantis, I am still getting the exact same level of service and they have even told me that I can continue to come to them for any report or data needs that I have. They will be maintaining our data for us for as long as needed or it is transferred to the Commonwealth. That to me is outstanding service.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Atlantis Consulting Group is a top-notch company with true customer support and they value their customers. There is nothing that Virginia State Parks has asked for that we did not receive. I am truly sad that our partentship is ending, but that was a decision made by others, that I must abide by.