Broken Hill City Council
Customer Profile
Broken Hill City Council began its Attekus journey through the tender and onboarding process in September 2024, with the Civic Centre going live in April 2025.
Shannan Botten, Civic Centre Coordinator, advised that while Council uses Attekus Bookable across broader areas, the Civic Centre is currently the most complex use case and the key focus of this discussion. The Civic Centre has a wide variety of event types and customer requirements, making it a strong example of how Attekus Bookable supports more detailed venue and event operations.
Prior to Attekus, the Civic Centre venue hire and event management process was managed through a combination of:
- Outlook calendars
- an online records management system
- manual administrative processes
While these systems supported record-keeping, they did not provide a single place where staff could view and manage all venue and event-related information efficiently.
What Civic Centre was trying to improve
The key driver for change was the need for a more effective management system for the Civic Centre that could support:
- multiple event types
- complex customer information
- pricing consistency
- automation of administrative tasks
- improved efficiency for staff
A particular challenge with the previous process was that pricing could vary depending on who was handling the enquiry, due to human error and manual processing. The Civic Centre wanted a more consistent and automated approach.
There was also a strong need to bring venue hire and event information into a single system, rather than relying on separate calendars and document storage processes.
Customer experience improvements
Customer feedback has been positive.
A major shift for Broken Hill City Council has been that customers can now:
- book online
- view availability
- access venue information directly
This has been particularly beneficial because the community previously had no self-service access to venue information. Shannan described this as a significant change for customers.
The online visibility of venue availability has also helped address misconceptions that the Civic Centre was often sitting unused, when in reality the venue averages activity on 3 to 4 days per week across the year.
Operational impact and efficiency gains
Shannan noted that the move to Attekus Bookable has not reduced the number of staff required, but it has created meaningful efficiency gains.
Rather than spending as much time on manual booking administration, staff are now able to focus on other important areas of the business, including process improvement and continual service enhancement.
Shannan estimated that from a management perspective alone, Attekus Bookable has returned approximately 5 to 10 hours per week. This has allowed higher-level operational responsibilities to be delegated more effectively and freed up time for more strategic work.
Within the function officer area, Attekus Bookable has also created enough efficiency for one of the officers to now manage processes that previously sat with the manager.
For the administrative side of the Civic Centre, Shannan estimated the team has likely gained around 3 to 4 hours per week, allowing them to better follow through on post-event improvements, debrief actions and ongoing service refinements.
Better data and reporting
One of the strongest benefits identified in the discussion was improved reporting and access to more meaningful data.
Previously, reporting was more limited and often focused on simple measures such as number of bookings. With Attekus Bookable, Shannan can now report using actual hours of utilisation, which provides a much more accurate view of how the venue is being used.
This has improved reporting to senior management and is expected to support:
- better marketing of underutilised spaces
- more informed operational decision-making
- stronger resource and asset planning
- improved budgeting, particularly for AV and venue-related resources
Shannan also highlighted the improved visibility of customer payment status. Previously, this often required checking with the finance team. Now, payment status, reminders and overdue information can be seen directly within the system, which makes it much easier to manage income and customer follow-up.
Event management and enquiries
Attekus Bookable has also improved the way venue hire enquiries and event opportunities are documented and followed through.
The inquiry pipeline now provides better visibility of:
- how many enquiries are coming in
- where they sit in the process
- whether they convert, progress or are lost
While many customers are booking directly, the inquiry and expression of interest functionality has been particularly useful in managing more complex and high-demand use cases.
Example of Attekus Bookable solving a practical problem
A standout example shared by Shannan was the use of Expressions of Interest for Broken Hill’s end-of-year school presentation events.
The Civic Centre hosts almost every local school’s end-of-year event within a concentrated two-week period. Historically, coordinating this created complexity, inconsistency and fairness concerns, particularly where dates were highly sought after.
Using Attekus Bookable’s Expression of Interest process has helped Broken Hill City Council:
- keep the relevant calendar period reserved while schools apply
- reduce direct administrative workload on staff
- improve fairness and transparency in allocating dates
- create a clear first come, first served process
- avoid taking bookings that may later need to be cancelled
This was described as a strong practical improvement for both staff and schools.
Additional benefits
Other benefits discussed included:
- improved ability to track payments and overdue amounts
- better visibility of customer activity
- more customer-friendly terms and conditions for hire
- stronger foundations for venue reporting, budgeting and asset planning
- greater organisational value as more teams begin using the system
Shannan also noted that Broken Hill is now moving towards a more structured internal user group approach so that future system changes can be considered across the organisation, rather than by one team alone.
Talk to the people who care about the experience you deliver.
If you’re looking to:
- Consolidate bookings across teams and venues
- Improve payment flexibility and reduce refund friction
- Strengthen governance and reporting without adding admin
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City of Whittlesea
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