Chicago Park District

The Chicago Park District is charged with managing the largest park district in the United States, which includes over 220 facilities with 7,300 acres of parkland. The Park District also hosts thousands of special events, as well as sports and recreation programs, throughout the year.

Problem

The Chicago Park District needed to re-design its website to make park and program information easier to find and to make online registration and payment possible. It also had to accommodate an ever-growing list of events and programs, and the site traffic that accompanied registration periods.

Solutions

  • Relational Database: Duo created a central repository for program and facility information, as well as news items, which allowed relationships to be assigned between them based on categories, such as park name, park location, facilities included, program type, and intended audience.
  • Usability Analysis:  Duo worked with the Chicago Park District to understand the best way to categorize and present the overwhelming amount of information that accompanied 500 plus parks. After conducting a complete site audit, Duo established an information structure that could easily accommodate additions and ensured that program information was accessible within three clicks from the homepage.
  • Content Management Solution:  Duo designed an administrative interface that allows documents to be added and related to other items with a few clicks of the mouse, allowing updates to be made by multiple people from each department with minimal effort and training. 
  • Load Testing & Performance Analysis: By monitoring traffic logs throughout the year, Duo was able to establish baseline traffic levels and make predictions about future growth. This enabled the team to anticipate, and build to accommodate, the traffic spikes caused by registration periods.

Results

  • Website content can be easily updated by employees within each department
  • The design of each page reflects the CPD brand and can accommodate content of any length
  • Users can quickly find the program and facility information they need
  • CPD has seen a 33% increase in online registration since 2003, processing almost $5 million dollars in registration fees through the website since the functionality was added
  • The site can accommodate 3,000 simultaneous program registrations and payment transactions

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