Implementation Examples - Entertainment & Education

Senior Center Activity Tracking - Oversight

The Challenge

A senior center offers its members various activities throughout the day and over the course of the week. Some of the providers of these activities are volunteers (Bridge Tournaments, Euchre Tournaments, Beginners Quilting) and some are paid instructors (Chair Yoga, Tai Chi, Water Aerobics). The center is funded based on community involvement and out of that general funding pool, pays the paid activity instructors based on their specific activity involvement or attendance. Center management is concerned that paid instructors are being overpaid or underpaid because there is frequently a variance between the number of members that reserve an activity and the number that actually attend.

The center's goals were:

To accurately monitor which members are participating in which activities.
To maintain an electronic log the participant activities and “mine” that data to provide activity services that conform more to community interests to maximize utilization rates and thereby funding.
To monitor individual members’ activities to spot fall offs that may indicate physical or mental health declines of the individual members, thereby providing an “early warning” that can be acted upon to increase longevity.
To keep an accurate record of activity involvement to minimize pay variances to paid instructors.

Sparrow's Solution

Each member of the senior center is provided a membership card that includes a Sparrow Client Time QR Code marker. The membership card can be reprinted if the member loses it or fails to bring it with them to the senior center and members are required to present it when they “check in” for any activity session offered.
Each activity provider (or organizer) is provided a tablet (or smartphone) that includes a free QR Code Reader Application. When the provider arrives, their assigned tablet is “unregistered” and they must scan a Sparrow Job Site QR Code marker to register themselves as the user of that specific device.
When a member arrives for a specific offered activity, the provider of that activity scans the member’s membership card.
At the end of the provider’s day, they return the device so that it’s assignment can be cleared, and it can be recharged for the next provider.

ROI & Benefits

Each scan of a Sparrow QR Code marker is logged in real-time. The identity of the activity provider is assigned to the device assigned to them when they arrive.
As members “check in” using their membership card, individual activity providers scan the membership card and a log is maintained in Sparrow’s Secure Online database linking each member to each activity.
Center management can export the log maintained to monitor which members are participating in which activities, determine which activities draw a larger participation, and follow individual members to monitor changes in activity participation.