University of California, Irvine
Parking and Transportation Services
Application for 2010 Larry L. Sautter Award for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Information Technology
Project Title
ANTPARK – Automated Networked Transportation and Parking Administration
Reporting Kernel
Submitted By
Lynn Harris
Sr. Administrative Analyst
Parking and Transportation Services
200 Public Services Building
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-4525
leharris@uci.edu; 949.824.1467
Project Leader
Ron Fleming, Director, Parking and Transportation Services
Parking and Transportation Services Team Members
Jennifer Cartnal, Interim Associate Manager
Desiree Fleming, Sr. Administrative Analyst
Kevin Fong, Programmer/Analyst
Clint Maruki, Manager, Information Systems
Jeffrey White, Programmer/Analyst
Project Summary
ANTPARK is Parking and Transportation Services’ (P&TS) primary parking
management system allowing single portal entry to an integrated, centralized system for
P&TS staff and its patrons. ANTPARK was created by P&TS staff to better manage the
variety and complexity of parking products on the UCI campus, to aid in maximizing
parking resources on campus, and to create a flexible system for patron needs.
ANTPARK is fully web-based and secure, allowing staff to manage campus parking
resources and products from any computer terminal while simplifying processes and
access to data. Through ANTPARK, P&TS patrons have access to data pulled from
several P&TS modules and databases, allowing them to view, change, and obtain
products specifically available to their personal account. Patrons may also view their
personal product history, citation history, and sustainable transportation history.
Project Description
UCI’s continued campus growth necessitated the implementation of a dynamic and
flexible parking product management system that could administer the increasingly wide
variety of parking products and services necessary to help mitigate issues such as motor
vehicle traffic on campus, increased competition for parking space in high demand areas,
and create a more flexible online system allowing for more and better patron options.
P&TS manages over 14,000 parking stalls utilizing over 100 permit types so it was
imperative that a new system enable patrons to determine their eligibility for permit types
and locations. P&TS designed a web-based platform that integrates P&TS’s other
systems such as Point of Sale (POS), Sustainable Transportation (ST), Citation
Management, and the Event Parking Integrated Computer System (EPICS), P&TS’s
event and guest services system.
P&TS endeavored to design a system with ample flexibility to handle various parking
rules and methods of delivery needed to serve the parking community. Efforts were
focused on allowing patrons greater online access to their parking account while giving
non-IT P&TS staff the ability to directly create or edit products, product rules, sale dates,
sales caps, acceptable payment types per product, and other items affecting the terms of
product dispersal. ANTPARK is more robust than the previous system and commercially
available products. ANTPARK’s comprehensive design allows for greater resource
management efficiency, while simplifying the compliance process for both P&TS patrons
and P&TS staff.
Two main client-side modules allow access to the ANTPARK system; the Staff Gateway
for P&TS staff management and myCommute for patrons. Based on their level of
management or area of expertise, ANTPARK gives P&TS staff the determined amount of
access as designated by management. Staff has the potential to access and modify all of
the ANTPARK systems.
Benefits in management and administration processes
 The ability for parking management (non-IT staff) to create rules and limitations
via a simple, user-friendly form that directly interfaces with and relates to the
back-end of the system for every product in ANTPARK. Changes can be made in
a timely and effective manner and are tracked to see when and by whom the
changes were made.
 Product rules include but are not limited to product types, product groups, product
permissions, product caps, method of product sale (online, over the counter only,
etc.), method of product delivery, permit sales dates, product active date and end
date controls, and method of payment type (i.e. payroll deduction).
 Simplified query form allows any user to create their own reports based on userspecified requirements.
 P&TS staff may override rules, with manager approval depending on level of
access. Rule overrides are tracked for auditing purposes.
 Payroll deduction process encounters fewer mistakes as report submitted to the
Payroll Office is generated directly from ANTPARK.
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Accounts update instantaneously which reflect in financial and payroll reports.
Payroll deducted amounts automatically pro-rate, and update in payroll reports.
Payroll deduction pulls from various databases to determine correct permit rate
based on permit rules (i.e. union contract).
Integrates permit sales information for other purposes such as for lot and permit
utilization studies to ensure appropriate parking models are being used. Also
directly updates interactive map (currently in beta testing phase).
Offers a full range of customizable financial reporting features that automatically
matches to UCI ledger system and which generates an audit trail and summaries.
Improves IT environment
 Integrates multiple parking databases.
 Integrates databases from other campus units including Campus Payroll, Office of
Information Technology’s Data Warehouse, the Registrar, and various student
housing offices.
 Interoperable and integrated within UCI.
 Eliminates IT staff time to run reports, created or edit rules, or complete relatively
mundane tasks as P&TS staff now completes these tasks.
 Works in anticipation of future technology.
P&TS patrons access parking data by logging in to their personal parking account via the
“myCommute” module. All UCI faculty, staff, and students access their myCommute
account using their standard campus-issued UCInetID and password. Patrons may view
and select parking products that are available to that specific account holder such as
permits and sustainable transportation products and incentives, based on information
received from the Office of the Registrar, Housing and Administrative Services,
Payroll/Personnel, Human Resources, and other campus groups. Patrons also have the
option to link to the Citation Management to view and pay citations.
Patron highlights and benefits:
 Patrons are only shown products that are available to their specific account status,
based on product rules and product availability (sales caps).
 Patrons are allowed to choose their permit length of time based on selection of a
start and end date. This is important for new employees or students who may be
waiting for loans or other funding to arrive.
 Patrons no longer are limited to a few permit options but may select their
preferred permit zone until sales caps are met, at which time choices are simply
dwindled.
 ANTPARK calculates the price of the permit using a pro-rated scale based on the
number of active days between start and end date of the permit.
 Faculty and staff who are union members and still under a negotiated contract are
automatically charged the correct product rate based on product rules.
 Patron chooses permit receipt method, which for all students can be mailed or
picked up at any drive-through manned kiosk, utilizing permit print-on-demand
technology, or unmanned Parking Transaction Kiosk (PTK) which are similar to
ATMs.
 Students avoid long wait times to buy permits.
 Because ANTPARK integrates various parking databases, including Permit Sales,
Citation Management, and Sustainable Transportation, patrons can keep track of
their parking account information and be notified of things such as citations,
permit expiration, and other product history.
Technology Utilized
P&TS created their own system because off the shelf products did not provide the level
of customization needed to support the department’s various products. IT created unique
modules for each P&TS function. Each module is customizable and portable and
integrates all P&TS systems into one main system, uploading information from the
relevant database to administrative or patron account.
ANTPARK is an SQL back end and ColdFusion front-end system running on Windows
servers using IIS. Each user may be granted different levels of access to each module,
called tiered access. The system uses SSL encryption to protect all transactions and
restricts sensitive areas of the system by IP as well as user login. This allows staff to
deploy ANTPARK over any network with proper preparation. The Parking Transaction
Kiosks (PTKs) are a peripheral, mobile ATM-like system which allows patrons to
purchase or pick up permits at various locations.
ANTPARK uses third party credit card processing APIs, and card swiping technology to
process credit card transactions.
Project Timeline
Fall 2008 – ANTPARK build
June 2009 – Launched Beta test of over-the-counter sales; payroll deduction build
Fall 2009 - Launched Phase I:
 all over-the-counter sales
 student web permit sales
 payroll deduction
 Campus Credit Card integration
 citation management integration
 Sustainable Transportation integration
 PTK/EPICS peripherals
Time and step savings
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Measureable error reduction in payroll deduction processing because there is now
no need to input payroll information in by hand. ANTPARK offers payroll
deduction options on each account so P&TS staff clicks link to select option
rather than cut and paste information or manually insert as in the previous system.
Complaints about incorrect payroll deductions have been reduced 94%, an 18:1
improvement.
Updated ANTPARK revenue breakdown report is more accurate than previous
system reports. Variance in details of updated ANTPARK revenue account and
general ledger account is less than half a percent.
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Programming a daily cut-off time ensures accurate credit card revenue data.
Revenue breakdown reports from product sales can now be generated for a range
of one day to one year.
There are more options available to generate different reports including: permit
days, average, payroll deduction and extended reports by permit type are
available. The automated nature of reporting results in accuracy, time savings and
a reduction in manual calculations.