UFV’s Information Technology Services (ITS) desk has opened for the Winter semester with a new online queuing system design to improve students’ experience when lines are long.
The system, called QLess, was launched at the Abbotsford campus’ Office of the Registrar (OReg) on Nov. 17, 2019, and is now also in use at the Chilliwack and Mission OReg locations. The system’s cost was split by OReg and ITS.
Previously, OReg used a simple number-taking system with paper slips and a beeping LED display.
“There was no intelligence to it… It didn’t really help because you didn’t know how long you had, staff didn’t know who was in line. It didn’t give us any information about what people were coming for,” David Johnston, UFV registrar, said.
Now, students use a touchscreen to enter their name, the reason for their visit, and, optionally, their phone number. Students who don’t enter their phone number can wait in the waiting area, watching their name move up a list displayed on a screen. Students who do enter their phone number receive text messages updating them about their estimated wait time and their position in line.
With the new system, Johnston said, people can leave to get a coffee or go to the washroom without fear of losing their place. Students can text or use a free third-party app by the system’s developer to join the queue remotely, leave the queue, or change their position in line.
QLess also collects data about how quickly students are served, which Johnston says will help staff change their workflow to make lines move quickly.
“During busy times we’ll be able to run two lines,” Johnston said, “because people choosing to pay their fees can back things up a bit, so we can have a fee payment line, and everything else in the Registrar’s line, and that should help both lines to move people through more smoothly.”
Johnston says Abbotsford OReg plans to install a kiosk outside the doors so students can line up before the office opens, and to have multiple monitors in the waiting area displaying the line during busy periods.
At the end of the Fall 2019 semester, Johnston said that most students were not yet using the texting function when they first logged in, but he expects the number to increase as more students are exposed to the system.
Janelle Dochuk, who works at the front desk in OReg, said students “have been very positive and receptive” to the new system and that she’s “happy to have something updated compared to our old ticket system.”
Image: David Myles/The Cascade
