Oracle Provides Chicago Parks With Online Class Registration

By William Welsh, Staff Writer




OCT. 25 ? Chicago residents now can register online for more than 1,000 adult education and recreation classes offered by the Chicago Park District through an electronic commerce and customer relationship management application provided by Oracle Corp.



The Chicago Park District paid Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., $1.3 million to design, build and deploy the technology that would make it possible for citizens to register online.


As part of the contract, Oracle also will provide business software that ties together internal operations such as human resources and payroll and public-sector financial applications, according to the company.



The online registration was deployed in two weeks in June, while other aspects of the project are still under construction, Oracle said.



For the online registration, Oracle used its iStore and Internet Application Server, which runs atop the Oracle8i platform. For internal business operations, the company provided integrated software from its E-Business Suite.



Nearly half of all transactions are made online by credit card after regular business hours, said park district officials. Previously, citizens had to visit park sites during daytime hours.



The Chicago Park District includes more than 500 parks and numerous facilities, including ballfields, swimming pools and skating rinks.