ASSQ
ClientQuebec Ski Areas Association (ASSQ)/Canadian Ski Council (CSC)
ProjectE-commerce infrastructure, marketplace, portal and digital ticketing
RoleArt direction, UX-UI, Web development, Web infrastructure
SpecsAWS Solution « Serverless », NodeJS, MongoDB, GraphQL, PHP, Vue.js (single-page applications), AWS Lambda, AWS Rekognition, AWS S3, AWS CloudFront
The Quebec Ski Areas Association (ASSQ) is a nonprofit organization that represents all ski resorts in the province of Quebec. It acts in the common interests of the resorts and promotes winter sports by offering various products, including the famous “Ski Passe-Partout”. The Canadian Ski Council (CSC), is the Canada-wide nonprofit organization that represents ski resorts accross the country. The CSC offers products to encourage skiers of all ages to get out and enjoy the slopes, including the Grade 4 & 5 SnowPasses, making skiing accessible for many from a young age. From winter sports enthusiasts to families, both associations cater to skiers and snowboarders of all ages across the country.
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Objective
Over the years, the ASSQ and CSC have used many outdated platforms to make their products that offer discounts depending on the resort, age group, day and number of visits. Buying these products, managing reservations, enabling online payments and validating passes at the resorts became increasingly complex. It was therefore crucial to build technological infrastructure that would propel both organizations and all Canadian ski resorts into the future. Changing health regulations and the need for social distancing solutions during the pandemic have required unprecedented flexibility from both the agency and the Association. The clients were looking for a web agency that could fulfill their needs while also remaining flexible, Leeroy was mandated to complete this task.
The Mandate
To bring the platforms together and centralize product offerings, Leeroy developed a more efficient integral solution for resorts, skiers, and two the associations - all designed for management and a seamless pre and post purchase experience. Following the announcement of the COVID-19 measures, a second objective was added to the mandate: integrate the new solutions while complying with the restrictions imposed by public health within a short time period.
To meet these goals, the agency’s dedicated team focused on developing a core technology solution that included new infrastructure, management software, a transactional platform, an online store and a digital ticketing system.
Ticket validation
The Passcheck portion of our mandate is a bar-code validation system that benefits the ski area and association through the validation of tickets directly at the station, without contact. This can be used through a mobile app, adding a new level of convenience to the ecosystem, while also removing the need to print out tickets. This Passcheck feature goes hand in hand with the other components of the ecosystem that Leeroy has built. After a customer has purchased their ticket through the e-commerce store, used the booking engine to choose their date and time, the resort staff then use Passcheck to validate the customers ticket.
This bar-code validation system can be accessed through a mobile application, adding another benefit to ski areas by allowing their staff to mobile devices to validate through bar-code scanning and removing the need for a traditional scanner.
Portal
Using the custom-built portal, ski resorts and both of the associations are able to autonomously manage their offerings. In this portion of our mandate, there are many features that have helped create a more efficient workflow for the association. With the ability to directly process orders and refunds; manage products, closed dates, and bookings; and manage users and resorts, the portal acts a centralized information hub for the associations. This portal is a key segment of our ecosystem as all purchases made through the two association websites are directly reported on the portal, meaning that the associations also benefit from a reporting tool directly in the interface.
Used technology
AWS Solution « Serverless »
NodeJS
MongoDB
PHP
Vue.js (single-page applications)
AWS S3
AWS Lambda
AWS Rekognition
AWS CloudFront
In terms of ski resorts, they also benefit largely with having access to the portal. This gives them the ability to choose which products of the associations that they wish to offer at their resorts, and gain additional online sales touchpoints for their independent day tickets with the ability to add them as a product on the portal.
2020 - 2021 Qualitative Results
Centralization of all products on a single technological platform
Improved order processing times
Skiers can now book and secure their tickets with just a few clicks
Optimal user experience and contactless: thanks to digital ticketing
Contactless validation of tickets in resort
2020 - 2021 Quantitative Results
AverageAPI response time: 500ms
Average UI response time: 1.25s
Number of bookings made: over 185,000
Number of activated products: over 60,000
Number of stations in Canada: 213
Number of stations in Quebec: 76
Conclusion
Thanks to its simple, intuitive, and mobile-friendly design, as well as its impressive download capacity, skiers’ user experience was transformed. Today, ski pass orders and on-site validation of reservations can be carried out and managed on an innovative and future-proof centralized platform for all stations across the province.
