December 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 58

NRPA Update

PRORAGIS Magnet Sessions:
Attracting a Nationwide Audience
NRPA is bringing the power of PRORAGIS to your area
By Daina Ajayi

ow much does it cost? What can I do with the information in PRORAGIS™?
How will PRORAGIS benefit my department?
These are just a sampling of questions that NRPA receives daily as
members become familiar with the newly updated park and recreation database, PRORAGIS.
If you have been curious about PRORAGIS or have asked one of these questions yourself, you are in luck! Help is on the way!
Twenty-eight Magnet Sessions are
rolling out across the United States
over the next year to increase user
knowledge of the new PRORAGIS features. Magnet Sessions will be
hosted by park and recreation professionals who are familiar not only with
PRORAGIS, but also with the local
area departments attending the sessions. During these sessions, hands-on
instruction and assistance with completing a PRORAGIS profile will be

Parks & Recreation

provided. Along with Academy presentations on the Gold Medal Awards
and AARPA's free consulting services,
a Q&A session will close each meeting, giving attendees an opportunity
to ask questions that they might have
regarding PRORAGIS.
The main motivation in offering
these local Magnet Sessions is to provide an opportunity for multiple departments from a local region to gather and learn about PRORAGIS from
their peers. Departments may vary in
size, but there will be common questions and relatable experiences shared
that are applicable to communities of
all sizes. For instance, a session recently held at the Maryland-National
Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) headquarters in
Prince George's County, Maryland,
drew departments from across the
state. Attendees came from locations as varied as the nearby City
of Greenbelt to Kent County, a
locale nearly two hours away. At this
event, agencies that were interested in
learning about or using PRORAGIS
were provided with information about
the system and one-on-one assistance
in getting started by park and recreation professionals from their area.

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The improvements in PRORAGIS,
which will be discussed at the Magnet Sessions, include greatly enhanced
reporting functions and GIS system
improvements. PRORAGIS users are
now able to quickly access the most
commonly requested benchmarking
ratios using the new " on-demand " reporting feature, allowing easy comparison of their agency to other agencies
with a single click. The GIS system
of PRORAGIS has been entirely revamped, allowing use of GIS layers
including U.S. Census data to spatially analyze your facilities in relation to
your changing jurisdiction population.
The goal for each of the Magnet
Sessions is to allow for the opportunity to explore and explain the
features of PRORAGIS in a personalized setting. In many cases, PRORAGIS Magnet Sessions will offer you
the opportunity to earn CEU credits
while learning about a powerful tool
that can help you do your job more
effectively. So, watch your inbox
for future messages from NRPA to
learn about Magnet Sessions in your
area. And, if you just can't wait for
a Magnet Session to come to you,
we encourage you to get started
with PRORAGIS on your own! Visit
www.nrpa.org/PRORAGIS to learn
more and start using PRORAGIS today, and contact Daina Ajayi if you
are interested in attending or hosting
a future session.
Daina Ajayi is NRPA's Research Specialist
(dajayi@nrpa.org).

December 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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