National Parks e-ticketing platform

A digital e-ticketing platform to replace paper park passes with scalable online services across Kakadu, Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Booderee National Parks.

Challenge

The Director of National Parks (DNP) operates federally managed national parks — Kakadu, Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa and Booderee — on behalf of their traditional owners. All visitor passes were paper-based, which meant DNP had no business intelligence about visitors (limiting targeted marketing), faced compliance issues (anonymous paper tickets could be passed between travellers), and could not manage variable pricing by season or traveller type. A traditional waterfall procurement commenced mid-2015 but by December, the best RFP response was three times the available budget with a 12-month delivery timeline — leaving just 4 months before the required launch date.

Solution

GoSource was engaged in early January 2016 to deliver an agile alternative. A small team of 4 FTE (part-time delivery manager, tech lead, front-end developer, back-end developer, and automated test developer) ran 2-week sprints following the Digital Service Standard (DSS).

• February: Prototypes tested with tour operators in Darwin; user research changed the course of delivery
• March: Working Alpha MVP deployed to AWS with highly automated DevOps
• April: Fully featured Beta soft-launched with early customers
• May: System went live for all users, a few days ahead of the 1 May target

The platform was built on the Python/Django stack using PEP8-compliant coding standards and Sphinx documentation. Testing used a Lettuce/Splinter/Selenium BDD stack achieving 80%+ automated test coverage. The application follows strict 12-factor app principles with stateless containers drawing configuration from backing services. Payments are processed via the Mastercard MIGS gateway. Source code is hosted in the Parks Australia GitHub account.

GoSource continues to sustain and enhance the platform, providing a system and park visitor helpdesk for ongoing support.

Outcomes

• Revenue impact: Over $10 million in pass sales processed per annum; initial project cost repaid 4x over in the first 3 months of operation
• Rapid adoption: E-ticket sales ramped up to 90% of sales volume
• 100+ post-production releases without failure via automated CI/CD
• Improved compliance: Named electronic tickets eliminated anonymous pass-sharing behaviour
• Transformed relationships: Responsiveness to evolving user needs transformed relationships with park staff and key resellers (tour operators)
• Rich analytics: Far richer traveller data enabled targeted marketing campaigns that improved visitor numbers
• Extended to other parks: Kakadu solution extended to Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa and Booderee, plus related activities such as campsite booking, venue bookings, merchandise sales, and digital wallet integration
• ANAO audit: Independent audit found full compliance with no adverse findings
• Secretary’s Award: Winner of the Secretary’s Award for best project in the portfolio
• DSS compliance: One of the first agencies to achieve compliance with the Digital Service Standard
• Sustainability: Digitisation of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa park passes eliminated 200,000+ paper passes per annum

Technologies & Methods

• Python / Django (PEP8, Sphinx documentation)
• React (front-end)
• PostgreSQL (database)
• Elasticsearch (search and analytics)
• Lettuce / Splinter / Selenium / Cucumber (BDD automated testing)
• Jenkins (CI/CD)
• Sentry (error monitoring)
• AWS Cloud (stateless containers, 12-factor app principles)
• Mastercard MIGS payment gateway
• GitHub (source code hosting)
• Agile delivery (2-week sprints, DTA Digital Service Standard)
• User research and prototype testing

Team Size

4 FTE average (on-demand skills scaling as needed)

Ethical Considerations

The system was designed as an enduring asset for the traditional landowners: the Bininj/Mungguy people (Kakadu), the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people (Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa), and the Wreck Bay people (Booderee). Under the EPBC Act 1999, the Commonwealth operates these parks on behalf of the traditional owners, with a long-term plan for them to take back management. The system was built with modular open-source software so traditional owner communities can take over operation with no ongoing licence fees or constraints.