Case Study —
YMCA of Western Ontario

Few organizations, charitable or otherwise, are known as widely as the YMCA of Western Ontario. Last year, over 54,000 individuals participated in their programs, a demonstration of the deep roots the YMCA has established in and around London since it was founded in 1856.

To meet the needs of so many people, the YMCA has expanded its services over the years. Today it operates five (with the sixth one to be opened in 2010) health, fitness and recreation branches; two in London, one in Strathroy, one in Woodstock and one in St. Thomas. It also operates 16 childcare facilities across the region and the much loved YMCA Camp Queen Elizabeth in Georgian Bay.

There's more, including the YMCA Children's Safety Village in London and a series of day camps for kids throughout the summer, which provided 6,420 camper weeks in over 60 camps at multiple sites in 2008. In addition, the YMCA has four Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada Centres (LINC), operates out of 72 locations and offers more than 25 programs spread over a large geographical area, catering to children and families.

Operating such a diverse structure can be challenging, and when the organization decided to upgrade its membership management and financial systems, it turned to Protek Integrated Business Systems for help.

"We needed a system to manage all of our programs and locations as easily as possible, so we could focus on meeting the needs of the community and not spend time thinking about computer systems and software," says CEO Shaun Elliott. "Protek delivered exactly what we needed."

As it has for numerous organizations in its 25 years in business, Protek designed a unique solution for the Y.

"There were a number of goals," says Al MacKinnon from Protek. "The new system had to deliver a high level of performance, security and reliability at a reasonable price across all of the locations supported by the Y while continuing to keep ongoing IT hardware and admin costs low. This goal must be achieved while utilizing the existing Internet and communications services and existing partner relationships."

The Protek solution was to design a secure wide area network over common Internet connections and to use Citrix Metaframe Remote Access solutions to extend the functionality of the new software solutions across the Y’s diverse and remote facilities. Protek’s experience implementing many complex Citrix solutions ensured a smooth transition to the new environment. To facilitate resiliency, and consistent performance under load, the new system incorporated load balancing and fail-over provisions. The result was something of a sea change in the way the YMCA manages its IT requirements.

"We were able to reduce our overall IT hardware costs per user as we grow, and everything is easier now," says Elliott. "For example, we no longer have to go to every desktop to upgrade software. Things like that make the whole system easier to operate, and we are able to put our focus where it should be - running our programs and serving the community."

Protek's ongoing support has also been beneficial to the Y. "They are quick to respond and provide excellent service," says Elliott.

Article and photography originally appeared in London Business Magazine