After over two years of development and millions poured into developing a new website, the Steamship Authority decided to pause the project until a new reservation system has been implemented.
Steve Coleman, the ferry line’s information technology director, said during the Steamship Authority board meeting on Tuesday that there were some shortcomings with the new website while testing how it would handle a significant number of users.
“After a two-week period of time, it’s been determined that it will not sustain the level of activity necessary,” Coleman said about the website.
As a result, Steamship executives decided it would be better to hit pause.
“It’s being paused, but it must also be advanced forward for the introduction of the new reservation system, which will essentially be bolted onto it,” he said.
Coleman also pointed to the “competing priorities” of the ferry line — like looking for a new reservation system and the need for the ferry line to focus on the current website to be ready for the upcoming general openings that will be happening in a few months — made the pause the right decision.
Still, a contract for a new reservation system isn’t expected to be determined until next spring.
Thomas Innis from Gibbous, the information technology consultancy hired by the Steamship Authority, said while technological changes are being considered, potential operational changes for the ferry line are also being analyzed.
“Everything touches the reservation system,” he said. “And … we’re not just talking about the reservation system, we’re talking about all of the systems you see every day at the terminal.”
That includes the ticketing process and the website. “That all leads back to the reservation system and that is all going to be a part of this project,” Innis said.
No vote was made by the board on Tuesday. And board members were not surprised by the decision to punt.
“We put the [cart before the horse],” Martha’s Vineyard representative Jim Malkin said.
“I don’t find this surprising, but it’s disappointing,” Falmouth representative Peter Jeffrey said. “I do believe that this is the only responsible action for us to take … we have one chance to get the website right and to do that we cannot have our technology debt with that reservation system.”
Jeffrey said project managers may need to be brought in for the website project.
Coleman said the pause allows the organization to focus more on the reservation system request for proposal and agreed that project management had been a weakness in getting the project to completion.
The possibility of shelving the website until a new reservation system could be implemented was also raised by the Port Council earlier this month.
The Steamship Authority’s website also experienced an issue on Tuesday evening that temporarily prevented customers from being able to make reservations online. The problem has since been resolved.
Has anyone heard of The Gibbous Group, the IT consulting firm hired to advise the SSA? Their website looks lame and small-time. What are their qualifications to advise on these critical decisions? Did they recommend rebuilding the website (now shelved) before tackling a new reservation system?
29K a month for doing nothing? Where do I sign up?
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