Astro Baltics / All news / NET Sports Hall: The Largest Net Sports Centre in the Baltics Enriched With Digital Solutions
NET Sports Hall: The Largest Net Sports Centre in the Baltics Enriched With Digital Solutions
The 7000 square meter NET Sports Hall, which just celebrated its first anniversary, has quickly gained popularity among residents of Southern Estonia. The hall offers various opportunities, mainly for net and ball sports.
According to Herle Laidvee, the manager of NET Sports Hall, a lot of work has been done over the year. Astro Baltics significantly contributed to achieving the goals of an environmentally friendly and as automated as possible sports facility with its innovative digital solutions.
We explored whether the initially set goals have been achieved and what the plans for the future are.
Tartu was missing a beach hall
NET Sports Hall currently hosts 11 sports, ranging from volleyball, badminton, beach volleyball, beach football, and beach tennis to padel, boxing, acrobatics, climbing, and group and gym workouts.
The idea for creating NET Sports Hall was conceived by Vallot Mangus, who noticed Tartu lacked a beach hall to enhance the city and offer its residents enjoyable sporting opportunities. The initial idea evolved, but from the beginning, it was clear that the entire facility should operate as independently and automatically as possible.
Hall manager Herle said, “The goal was to create a multifunctional building that would operate as independently as possible with minimal staff.” According to her, the sports hall, offering a variety of net and ball sports, is primarily aimed at amateurs, but it also provides both children and adults with opportunities for training and leisure activities.
According to Herle Laidvee, the year of operational experience has not forced any concessions in the sports centre’s concept. “From the initial planning stage right through to the end, I believe that this project turned out exactly as we envisioned it on paper,” Herle is convinced.
A 1700-square meter beach sand area, where a total of 1000 tons of sand has been brought in.
The software solutions were implemented despite a tight time frame
The representatives of NET Sports Hall had many novel ideas and special requests for intelligent software solutions. Still, these needed to be transformed from concept to functioning solutions within about a year.
“The initial task was to find a platform encompassing everything from initial booking to accounting and everything in between. For example, automatic lighting control so that the lights turn on when a customer enters the building and has booked a court, and also a self-service checkout that would assist the person or client at times when there is no administrator present, allowing them to rent necessary sports equipment, buy a drink, or a snack,” explained Herle.
“The challenging aspect of the implementation process was the limited time. When we brought the initial task to Astro Baltics, we tried to convey everything as clearly and specifically as possible: what our goals were and what could be the realistic outcome.”
Due to time constraints, Herle noted that the training and solution testing phase was brief, which led to testing during operation throughout the first season. After that, the digital solutions began to function well.
Astro Baltics’ project manager, Hannes Poll, said, “Although the window for implementing development processes was very narrow, we have largely been able to realize the client’s wishes and ideas. We have already helped simplify existing work processes from both the staff and the sports club visitor’s perspective. We are working on improving and making the existing solutions even more convenient.”
Online booking in a web environment
One key desire for the sports hall was a web-based booking system that was broad in functionality yet intuitive to use on mobile and computer.
Sports Director Krete Junson said, “For managing and operating NET Sports Hall, it is crucial for us that it’s clear to customers how they can book different courts—whether it’s padel courts, beach courts, or purchase climbing passes, training passes, and coming to the gym. NOOM and Astro Baltics have excellently resolved this aspect; our web environment for booking tickets is pleasant and convenient for our customers.”
The booking system created for NET Sports Hall allows visitors to log in using various authentication methods on the client’s device and create accounts for individuals and businesses. Different payment options are available for booking, and a QR confirmation is conveniently sent to the user’s email.
Convenient online booking system created for NET Sports Hall.
Versatile payment options: self-service
Since the goal was to establish a sports centre that was as automated as possible, all client-facing payment solutions were needed to support this. To simplify customer service, NET Sports Hall has installed a self-service checkout encompassing several functions.
The self-service allows customers to book various sports courts, register for group training sessions, and purchase gym passes. An essential requirement was also a self-service shop corner where clients could buy snacks and rent training equipment.
To facilitate the self-service shop, the checkout is equipped with a barcode reader, which can be used to scan snacks or drinks and pay for them.
You can purchase passes, book courts, and pay for products from the NET Sports Hall self-service checkout.
Smart lighting control through software integration
Since one of NET Sports Hall’s special requests was to automate lighting control, an interface was created between NOOM business software and Halored, a lighting solutions provider.
“When a client has made a booking for a court, we don’t have to worry about what time to turn the lights on or off; the lights automatically switch off and on according to the booking system, which is a great integration that NOOM has enabled for us,” said Krete.
The software integration between the lighting solution and the booking system helps optimize energy use in the sports hall, allows administrators to focus on customer service, and ensures visitors a more pleasant sports experience.
Comprehensive business software as a central management platform
In NET Sports Hall, NOOM business software is used as the central system, integrating all necessary software solutions into a cohesive whole for the sports facility.
In addition to self-service solutions, the booking system, and customer management, the sports hall also utilizes NOOM’s accounting module for financial accounting and reporting.
Furthermore, the sports club employs a comprehensive POS system solution, including a payment terminal, barcode reader, receipt printer, and a user-friendly customer display.
NOOM POS system in NET Sports Hall.
Recommendations for companies wishing to implement similar digital solutions
Sports director Krete advises that patience is essential in software development, and it’s important to carefully consider specific needs and expectations. “Different web developments and development tasks take time. It’s something you have to get used to. If we want better, automated solutions, building them isn’t that simple.”
The foundation of building a software system is a process map created in collaboration with the client to outline all necessary activities. A challenge is accurately mapping which functions are needed daily and how the final solution will actually work.
“You also have to remember that not everything you have envisioned or planned may work out as expected, and that’s just part of the work process. You must be prepared for special cases and later reworking certain logics.”
What does the future hold?
Work continues rapidly, and NET Sports Hall representatives have several development ideas and thoughts on improving work processes and customer service further.
Manager Herle: “One idea is integration with Stebby, so customers could make bookings and join training sessions with their discounts directly through them. Another is upgrading the self-service checkout so people can make personalised bookings or purchase personalised passes, a development we want to tackle at some point.”
Sports director Krete also hopes for continued successful collaboration to create even more convenient systems.
The local IT company Astro Baltics, which develops intelligent software solutions
Astro Baltics, based in Tartu, has been offering flexible software and hardware solutions since 1998. The company’s portfolio includes innovative and unique payment and business software solutions used by hundreds of companies and hundreds of thousands of end-users worldwide.
The homegrown NOOM business software efficiently manages the workflows of companies of various sizes. It integrates booking and access systems, POS solutions, customer management, time tracking, financial accounting, and much more into a single platform.
Its modular structure ensures that NOOM business software offers extensive standard functionality and broad custom solution capabilities. Learn more about NOOM business software here.
Astro Baltics thanks NET Sports Hall for their trust and pleasant collaboration!
“With NOOM, we have achieved our actual goals – from the booking process to accounting, we can manage all our operations seamlessly, both from the client’s perspective and our own.”
We are always here for you.
Expanded customer support means a 24/7 access to Astro Baltics’ phone support and gives an opportunity to get on-site help.
Service fees will be added to monthly payment.
Price list can be found here: https://astrobaltics.eu/en/pricelist/
Salary data – enter and amend employees and their contracts
1.2
Payslip data – enter and amend employees and their salaries
1.3
Absence details – add absences
1.4
Table of working time – enter working time data
2. REPORTS
2.1
Salary table – an overview of the calculation of salaries for the selected periods
2.2
Pay slips – an overview of separate accounting for each employee
2.3
Other reports – TSD Annex 1 and Annex 2, holiday reserve
3. AUXILIARY ACTIVITIES
3.1
Electronic TSD – creating a TSD file for electronic submission
3.2
Management of user rights for a specified user
4. MAINTENANCE
4.1
Salary types and other parameters – setting salary and absence types
4.2
Working time calendar – manage working time accounting
4.3
Standard print forms (option of adding customer’s logo, if necessary)
5. OTHER INFORMATION
5.1
Shortened working days – add shortened working days
5.2
Tax rates – enter and amend tax rates
5.3
Holidays – add holidays
CONTRACTS
6. CONTRACTS
6.1
Management board member contract – add and amend contract
6.2
Employment contract – add and amend contract
6.3
Contract under the law of obligations – add and amend contract
DOCUMENTS
7. SALARY DOCUMENTS
7.1
1 Manager’s directive
7.2
PR Expiry of holiday
STAFF
8. STAFF
8.1
Staff data – enter and amend employees and their data
8.2
Absence details – add absences
8.3
Table of working time – enter working time data
9. REPORTS
9.1
Birthdays – list of birthdays
10. MAINTENANCE
10.1
Salary types and other parameters – setting salary and absence types
10.2
Staff parameters – setting parameters
10.3
Working time calendar – manage working time accounting
11. OTHER INFORMATION
11.1
Entering of staff parameters
GENERAL INFORMATION
12. CUSTOMERS
12.1
Possibility to add an unlimited number of customers and suppliers (included in a joint table)
12.2
Possibility to add an unlimited number of customer and discount groups
12.3
Assigning a group to a customer or a vendor
12.4
Possibility to request information about a legal entity from the register, on the basis of which the customer card is filled in automatically
12.5
Possibility to add an unlimited number of customer contacts
12.6
Determining customer locations
12.7
Mark an outdated customer as inactive
12.8
Adding discounts by customer, customer group and discount group
12.9
Options for filtering data
12.10
Customer specific discounts
12.11
Simple customer card module for using discount cards
12.12
Simple printing of data from a table
12.13
Copying of data from a table to Excel
13. GOODS
13.1
Possibility to add an unlimited number of goods and services
13.2
Possibility to add an unlimited number of commodity groups (additionally, the possibility to use the upper groups)
13.3
Assignment of a group and a preferential group to goods
13.4
An unlimited number of barcodes can be assigned to the goods
13.5
Adding goods and group benefits
13.6
Different VAT codes and units of measurement
13.7
Possibility to restrict who sees goods, based on job positions (goods department)
13.8
Filtering of data in the table based on predefined conditions
13.9
Marking of obsolete goods/services as old, i.e. archiving
13.10
Manual batch counting
13.11
Adding translations to goods/services
13.12
Addition of different price classes and department and/or point of sale prices
13.13
Tracking the movement of goods under the context menu of goods
13.14
Simple printing of data from a table
13.15
Copying of data from a table to Excel
13.16
Adding attachments to goods
* ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITIES
(Additional paid Noom functionalities tailored to the specific nature of your company)
Special solutions for table of working time
Working-time accounting based on the interfacing of access systems
Calculation of the balance of the holiday reserve
Web-based table of working time
Various notifications concerning staff data
Addition of specific information fields
Automation of calculation of various fees
Data importing to salary document (bonuses, additional fees)
Self-service checkout
The 199 € self-service checkout system includes a compact AIO (all in one) solution that consists of
ELO hardware, payment terminal and NOOM point of sale software.
Pre-ordering– customers can conveniently pre-order goods through the Cloudics mobile app.
Read more about Cloudics pre-ordering functionality here: https://astrobaltics.eu/en/cloudics-commerce
Smart shopping– scanning products in a store with a mobile phone and paying for the shopping cart in a mobile application.
Read more about smart shopping functionality here: https://astrobaltics.eu/en/cloudics-commerce
Noom
Cloudics
