"During the ski season we are so busy with bookings we need a system that 'just works' and can be accessed by staff wherever they are based that week. Through DataTherapy's hard work and the flexibility of FileMaker we have been able to achieve this. The FileMaker system has exceeded our expectations."

British Alpine Ski School

FileMaker Delivers Alpine Access for British Ski School

Established in 1989 in the French resort of Les Gets, the British Alpine Ski School (BASS) pioneered the development of British ski schools in the Alps. It was the first British ski school to be set up in the country and paved the way for similar businesses to move into the market – having fought hard to overcome objections from local schools and the challenge of getting British ski qualifications recognised in Europe.

Since then, Hugh Monney, managing director of BASS, and his team have successfully expanded the business in to some of the most prestigious Alpine resorts, including Chamonix, Val d'Isere-Tignes and St Moritz. Each school offers instruction from beginner to advanced, on and off-piste training and adventure sessions on skis and snowboards.

Challenging growth across a geographically dispersed region and multiple foreign countries

Building a single-site business is a challenge in itself. But aiming to grow across a geographically dispersed region, and in multiple foreign countries, presents some unique hurdles, not least in the IT arena. BASS needed a system that would enable employees to access centrally managed data – irrespective of where they are based during the season – while creating a user-friendly interface for consumers when booking their holidays.

BASS had been using DataTherapy, a specialist FileMaker developer, for over a decade to support its previous FileMaker data management solution. Despite the undoubted success of this system, it was getting a bit long-in-the-tooth, so in the Summer of 2007 BASS put together a new brief to update its IT infrastructure. The brief outlined a complete overhaul of the existing system to encompass the expansion of BASS into new regions and offer a more streamlined service to customers.

Connecting back office with front-end online customer and employee interface

FileMaker is the database technology that underpins the whole of BASS' IT infrastructure – connecting the back office with the front-end online customer and employee interface. FileMaker delivers the functionality to enable customers to input details about their holiday arrangements, choose the lessons they want to book, outline their experience, pay online and track their arrangements all via the website. This data is consolidated in a central FileMaker repository to deliver consistent and accurate responses to enquiries from remote BASS staff working across its resorts.

A robust and scalable information management system using FileMaker

According to Hugh Monney: "Growing the business has always been our priority. To ensure efficiency and synergy we needed a system that would give our employees in all the regions access to customer booking information. Our recent expansion has led us to need an overhaul of the system and DataTherapy helped us through the process by building a robust and scalable information management system using FileMaker."

The new booking solution was launched in time for the winter season 07-08 and employees were up and running almost straight away. Monney again: "As we built the system in FileMaker, our staff were already familiar with the layout. This ensured that, after a short training session, everyone was up to speed on the new functionality and able to take full advantage of the power of the new system."

"During the ski season we are so busy with bookings we need a system that 'just works' and can be accessed by staff wherever they are based that week. Through DataTherapy's hard work and the flexibility of FileMaker we have been able to achieve this. The FileMaker system has exceeded our expectations," concludes Monney.