Court schedule grid
A colour-coded grid showing all courts and time slots, with filters for day, coach and event type.
Case Study · Sports & Club Management
Sports / Club & Membership Management
Plugin – Tennis club management web app for courts, bookings & members
A custom-built web application that gives club staff a live view of all courts, lessons and memberships – replacing whiteboards and spreadsheets with a single source of truth for tennis operations.
Industry
Tennis club · Sports facility management
Region
Switzerland (remote collaboration)
Platform
Custom PHP / CodeIgniter web application
Engagement
Discovery → MVP → Payment integrations
Key outcome
Unified view of courts, bookings, members & payments
Share your current scheduling, operations or product challenges and we'll respond within 24–48 hours with practical next steps.
Plugin – Tennis Club Management Web App
Switzerland
About the client & context
About the client
The Plugin solution was created for a tennis club that needed a reliable way to manage courts, coaching sessions, tournaments and memberships. As bookings increased and new pricing models were introduced, the existing mix of whiteboards, phone calls and spreadsheets made it hard to keep operations under control.
Club staff had to juggle daily schedules for multiple courts, coaches and member types. Payments were captured through separate terminals and accounting systems, making reconciliation painful. The organisation wanted a single web-based product that could centralise bookings, handle flexible pricing, support online card payments and still be simple enough for front-desk staff to use throughout the day.
Sports / Club & Membership Management
Switzerland
The challenge
The challenge
Before Plugin
Before the custom web app, the club relied on manual schedules and phone calls. Staff updated a physical timetable, took bookings over the phone and manually checked which courts and coaches were free. Membership information lived in separate spreadsheets and card statements, making it difficult to understand utilisation or revenue per court.
This is often the point where generic tools and makeshift processes start to slow down growth. Our first step is to map the real-world workflows and understand where time is lost, where mistakes happen and what is blocking the team from scaling with confidence.
Goals & success criteria
Project goals & success criteria
Clear goals upfront help us make intentional trade-offs during UX and engineering, and define what “successful launch” actually means for the client team.
Business goals
Why the project matters to the business-
Give the club a live, accurate schedule for all courts, lessons and events.
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Increase court utilisation and reduce idle time through better visibility and pricing.
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Simplify membership management so staff can quickly see a player’s status, packages and balances.
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Connect bookings and payments so reconciliation is faster and more reliable.
Product & technical goals
How we translate goals into product & architecture-
Design an intuitive schedule grid for courts that front-desk staff can update in real time.
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Implement flexible pricing rules for peak / off-peak periods, member vs. non-member rates and special events.
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Integrate with Stripe and PayPal to support secure online payments for bookings and memberships.
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Build on a modular PHP / CodeIgniter architecture that can evolve to support new sports or locations.
Rollout approach
We agreed on a phased rollout: first digitise the court schedule and core booking flows, then add payment integration, membership management and more advanced reporting once staff were comfortable with the new system.
Our solution
Our solution
QalbIT designed and built Plugin as a central hub for the club’s daily operations – from court bookings and coaching sessions to memberships and payments.
We started by analysing how the club actually planned its days: which courts were most in demand, how coaches allocated time and how memberships were used. Based on this, we designed a calendar-style schedule grid with drag-friendly interactions for staff, plus structured forms for bookings and memberships. Behind the UI, we modelled courts, slots, members, packages and payments in a single data layer, and implemented payment gateway integrations so online transactions automatically update booking and membership status.
Product features & UX
Key product features & UX highlights
Everything club staff need to manage courts, members, pricing and payments in one tennis club management platform.
Booking & rescheduling flows
Fast flows to create, move or cancel bookings while automatically checking court and coach availability.
Membership & packages
Structured membership records with package types, validity dates and remaining credits where applicable.
Flexible pricing rules
Configuration for peak / off-peak pricing, member vs. guest rates and special event pricing.
Online payments integration
Secure integration with Stripe and PayPal so players can pay for bookings and memberships online.
Admin dashboards
At-a-glance views of today’s schedule, upcoming busy periods, membership renewals and payment summaries.
Reporting foundation
Baseline reports for court utilisation, revenue per court or coach and membership activity, ready to be extended.
Responsive UX
Layouts tuned for desktop and tablet so staff can manage operations from the front desk or on the move.
Each feature is designed to slot into the team's existing workflows – with just enough structure to reduce errors, but not so much friction that adoption becomes a struggle.
Architecture & stack
Architecture & technology stack
The technology stack is deliberately simple, maintainable and aligned with the team's long-term roadmap — powerful enough for today's needs without locking the product into unnecessary complexity.
Backend & infrastructure
Reliability, security & maintainability-
PHP / CodeIgniter application layer structured around courts, bookings, memberships and payments.
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MySQL database with indexed tables for courts, time slots, members, transactions and audit logs.
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REST / JSON APIs for booking operations and payment callbacks.
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Role-based access control for admins and front-desk staff with audit trails on key actions.
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Environment-specific configuration for staging and production deployments.
Frontend & UX
Clarity, speed & accessibility-
Responsive HTML5 templates styled with Bootstrap and custom CSS.
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Clear typography and information hierarchy on court schedules and booking forms.
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Reusable components for schedule cells, booking dialogs, lists and reports.
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Progressive enhancement to keep core flows usable even on slower connections.
PHP (CodeIgniter)
MySQL
REST APIs
Bootstrap
jQuery
HTML5 & CSS3
Stripe & PayPal
Git-based workflow
We favour stacks that your in-house team or future partners can understand and extend — with clear boundaries between frontend, backend and integrations so the product can evolve without constant rewrites.
Delivery process & collaboration
Delivery process & collaboration
We favour a transparent, iterative delivery model with enough structure to keep momentum, and enough flexibility to adjust as we learn from real usage.
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01
Discovery & operations mapping
2 weeksWorkshops with club management and front-desk staff to map court booking flows, membership rules and pricing models.
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02
UX flows & interface design
2–3 weeksDesign of the court schedule grid, booking forms, membership screens and admin dashboards using the QalbIT design system.
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03
MVP implementation
4–6 weeksBackend, frontend and database implementation with iterative demos and feedback from club staff.
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04
Payment integration & pilot
2 weeksStripe and PayPal integration, followed by a pilot on selected courts and member groups to validate flows and edge cases.
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05
Rollout & continuous improvements
OngoingFull rollout to all courts and membership types, plus ongoing enhancements to reporting and configuration.
Each step includes regular demos, async updates and clear ownership so both teams know what is happening, what is blocked and what is coming next.
Results & impact
Results & impact
From manual court charts to a structured, data-informed tennis club management platform.
Court booking accuracy
Significant reduction in double bookings
Conflicts between courts and coaches became rare once all bookings were handled through the central schedule.
Staff efficiency
Less time spent on manual coordination
Front-desk staff can now manage bookings, memberships and payments from one interface.
Payment tracking
Improved link between bookings & payments
Online transactions are automatically associated with the correct booking or membership.
Foundation for growth
Ready to add new sports & locations
The platform can extend to additional courts, sports or partner clubs without re-architecting the system.
Even when exact numbers are directional, we anchor results to the original project goals so stakeholders can clearly see what changed after launch.
Story behind the numbers
By moving from whiteboards and spreadsheets to a purpose-built web application, the club gained real control over its courts and memberships. Staff now work from a live schedule, players enjoy faster bookings and online payments, and management has clearer insight into utilisation and revenue patterns – all powered by a platform that can grow with the club.
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Client perspective
“The new system finally gives us a clear, up-to-date picture of our courts and members. Booking mistakes have dropped, and we no longer have to reconcile bookings and payments across multiple tools.”
Running a tennis club or sports facility and still relying on manual schedules?
Talk to QalbIT about a custom club management platform