Streamlined communication for a municipal leisure organization

The challenge

This municipal leisure organisation runs two public swimming facilities. Lessons, lane swimming, recreational swimming and club activities fill the week, and the people who keep it all running, from pool managers and instructors to lifeguards and front-desk staff, rarely sit at a desk.

Information reached them through printed notices on staff boards and emails to shared staff accounts. Emails went unread by staff who spent their shift on the pool deck. Printed schedules were out of date the moment a shift changed hands. And because each pool updated its own board in its own time, the two locations were rarely telling the same story. The same problems kept coming back:

• Staff arrived without a clear view of the day's lesson timetable, lane bookings or who was on shift.
• News of a last-minute absence or a change at the facility was slow to reach the people who needed it.
• Every update had to be made in person at each site, because nothing could be managed remotely.
• The organisation wanted to be able to add facilities later without rebuilding the system.

The weather mattered too. It affects outdoor swimming and some programmes, and without a quick way to show it on site, decisions took longer than they should.

What they run

The organisation put a screen in the staff room of each swimming facility, each with a media player built for continuous operation, running Castit. The screens bring together what staff need at a glance:

• shift rosters and staff updates, such as sick reports,
• the swimming lesson calendar and planned activities,
• live weather, a news ticker and general announcements.

Content can be laid out in the organisation's own house style, with images, videos and apps side by side. Information for visitors, such as an announcement for a water polo clinic, can also go on displays in the public areas of a facility when it is relevant.

How it is managed

Both screens are managed from one Castit dashboard. A manager updates both pools at once, from any device with an internet connection, and the change is on the screens within seconds. Nobody prints, pins or drives between facilities to put up a notice.

The result

• Better-informed staff. Lifeguards and instructors see the day's schedule, any absences and the relevant announcements as soon as they walk into the staff room.
• Faster response. When someone calls in sick, the update reaches both locations in seconds, so cover can be arranged sooner. Changes because of the weather travel through the same channel.
• Less manual communication. Content is made once, published centrally and shown at both sites, which makes the way the organisation informs its staff faster and more professional.
• One look at both pools. Whether someone works at one facility or covers a shift at the other, the information looks and behaves the same.

Being able to add locations without overhauling the system was a key factor in the decision. The organisation is now considering a third location, which would run from the same dashboard.

See how Castit keeps internal communications moving for teams that rarely sit at a desk.