How Pitchbooking Automated 75% of Admin Tasks for Harpers Football Centre

Harpers Football Centre operates as a multi-use facility adjacent to Home Park stadium, functioning as a sub-site of Plymouth Argyle Football Club. The centre manages a complex schedule encompassing eight 5-a-side pitches, a 7-a-side pitch, a clubhouse, and a dugout room. Their daily programme requires precision scheduling to accommodate competitive leagues, casual sessions, children's parties, and specialised partnerships. Managing this volume manually presents a clear challenge and potential operation bottlenecks for the team on site.

Pitchbooking  spoke to Harpers Centre Manager, Samuel Harlow, to review the impact of the Pitchbooking platform on their high-volume & highly popular sports facilities.

Operational Breakdown

The Challenge: Managing Block Bookings and Payment Friction

Prior to implementing the centre's software, facility staff were operating under a heavy admin load. The reliance on legacy booking methods created systemic inefficiencies, primarily surrounding schedule accuracy and revenue collection. Without a simple way for the public to make their own bookings, staff spent excessive hours managing phone inquiries and untangling administrative errors associated with block bookings.

Samuel: "Before using Pitchbooking we struggled with different administrative errors such as double bookings or customers not realising that their block bookings had ended and then other customers booking their slot. We also struggled with customers not being able to make online payments for bookings."

The Solution: Pitchbooking Best Practice to Remove Friction

To eliminate these bottlenecks, the onboarding process focused on migrating the centre to a fully digital, self-serve model. The primary objective was to replace manual data entry with autonomous workflows. This transition allowed Harpers Football Centre to introduce dynamic pricing through customisable customer memberships and provided staff with an accurate, real-time daily calendar.

One of their favourite features? The introduction of direct payment links to streamline financial reconciliation.

Samuel: "One of the best features of Pitchbooking that we have found is the ability to send payment links to customers for bookings. This gives customers a quick and easy way to make payments for bookings and enables us to receive monies more effectively."

The Outcome: Reducing Admin Load and Driving ROI

The key takeaway? By digitising the booking process, Harpers Football Centre achieved a significant and measurable return on investment. Increased online visibility directly drove new business, while the daily internal processes were vastly simplified. Financial reconciliation and facility usage can now be analysed via clear, automated reporting dashboards.

The core data points driving their ROI include:

• 50% reduction in inbound call volume: Customers now utilise the online portal to self-serve their bookings.
• 75% automation of administrative tasks: Freeing management to prioritise practical, on-site operational needs.
• Zero Booking Duplication: The live calendar eradicated overlapping sessions and protected ongoing block bookings.
• Increased Financial Clarity: Daily, weekly, and monthly reporting provides an immediate snapshot of facility revenue and usage.

Samuel: "75% of our booking administration has become autonomous, enabling us to be able to save on administrative hours and free up more time for operational and practical work that needed doing at the centre. We have had nothing but positive reviews from our existing customers who all prefer Pitchbooking from our previous provider in all aspects of the business."

To find out more about how Pitchbooking can help your venue or club visit https://­pitchbooking.­com/