T2 Flex Parking

In recent years, UMass Boston has both tackled a crumbling underground garage and created new above-ground parking, but neither of these endeavors streamlined the overly long processes in place for obtaining permits, updating vehicle information in the system, or other seemingly simple tasks. This year, the IT Department partnered with Transportation Services to put in place software offering a self-service portal that is both more efficient and more dependable for the customer. The new software also aids those employees in charge of dealing with parking matters, eliminating the tasks they were doing manually but which a computer can easily cover. For instance, staff and students previously needed to fill out a web-based form or send an email if they lost a card or had a vehicle change before the new parking portal. Then, an employee would need to manually update everything, which took more time and was more laborious than it needed to be. Now, there is a daily feed from the Beacon card office that is refreshed every morning, greatly speeding up the process for all.  

T2 Flex is a product specifically designed for parking permits, and it offers a completely self-service experience for the end-user. The SSO portal allows people to see what specific parking options are available to them based upon their role at the university, then choose the one they want. There are also increased payment options for student and staff in the new portal, and decreased steps in everyday parking processes. For instance, parkers used to have to take a photo of their ID card and license plate number when they applied for a permit, each semester. In addition to an easier renewal process, the portal has similarly easy options for license plate changes, permit cancellation, and payroll deduction initiation. “The services that they need, they are getting faster because of those automated processes,” says Timothy Dunn, Director of Transportation Services.  

With roughly 3,000 parking transactions per year, errors are bound to happen—but the parking portal greatly decreases the chances of that by digitizing processes. If someone cancels their permit, for example, the portal ensures it is definitely cancelled across all areas with relatively limited work on the part of the user. The system will make sure that their card no longer grants access, that any deductions stop coming off a paycheck, and that the plate number is no longer in the system. Previously, each of these things needed to be manually completed, so the SSO portal is also a huge win for parking office employees, who were receiving upwards of 75 emails a day (as well as phone calls) during peak times. According to Dunn, employees in the parking office were sometimes working 10-to-12-hour days due to the demand for their services. 

A move toward an online parking portal was one that was long overdue—Dunn recalls, mentioning the need to move things online when he interviewed at UMass Boston in 2022—but the mid-January 2024 debut of the Quad Lot put a ticking clock on the need for a new system. This is because, unlike all of the lots that came before it, the Quad Lot was ungated and policed entirely by mobile cameras. The university needed a quicker method for updating permits and plate information so the monitored cameras would be effective as enforcement. While the team was tasked with having everything up and running in time for the Spring 2024 semester, a vendor contract was not signed (with T2) until September 2023, which illustrates the fantastic speed at which collaboration occurred thereafter. Eight different integrations were involved in setting up T2 Flex, involving many different offices and departments. “This project was a really great example of lots of coordination and cooperation between tons of different areas,” says Data Integration Specialist Mary Ryan.