Driving Down Costs, Building Up Access

Tonya directs the Traffic Safety Education (TSE) program, a statewide initiative that provides driver education training and professional development for instructors. Each year, her team coordinates dozens of courses and several large conferences that bring together educators, administrators, and safety professionals.

For years, TSE relied on a commercial course and event management platform to handle registrations and payments. It wasn't fancy, but it worked—until a sudden change in the vendor's pricing structure threatened to blow through TSE's annual budget.

Faced with costs they simply couldn't absorb, Tonya needed another way to keep her program running smoothly without sacrificing access, accountability, or professionalism.

The new subscription model made it clear that the existing system was no longer sustainable. Tonya's team needed a solution that could:

• Handle online registrations for dozens of instructor training courses and multiple statewide conferences each year
• Support attendance tracking, payment collection, and reporting
• Integrate with TSE's existing driver education instructor database for ongoing certification
• Keep the process simple for both the public and the staff

The team's administrative load was already heavy. Switching systems could easily have added to that burden—unless the new solution truly worked for the way TSE operated.

UpStart Productions partnered closely with Tonya to design and build a custom web-based management system tailored to the program's real-world needs.

The new system enabled users to self-register for courses and conferences directly through the public TSE website, with automatic confirmations, payment tracking, and attendance management all in one place. The secure administration portal gave staff a clear view of who was registered, who had paid, and who still needed certification renewals.

Key Features:

• Self-service registration with automatic confirmations
• Secure admin portal for registration and payment tracking
• iOS and Android mobile app with schedules, speaker bios, and venue maps
• Public comment area for attendee feedback and session reviews

The entire solution was built to integrate seamlessly with TSE's instructor certification system, ensuring that each registration connected to a participant's two-year recertification cycle.

The new platform dramatically reduced TSE's annual software costs while improving both the participant and staff experience.

• Cost savings: Dramatically reduced annual software expenses
• Improved workflows: Registration and payment processes became simpler and more reliable
• Extended adoption: Four additional department projects adopted the system for their own events
• Better tracking: More accurate attendance and more reliable reporting

What began as a solution for a single program soon caught the attention of others: four additional projects within the department adopted the system to manage their own conferences and events, extending the return on investment far beyond its original scope.

By replacing an overpriced, one-size-fits-all product with a sustainable custom system, TSE preserved critical educational opportunities for driver education instructors across the state.

Tonya's team can now focus on their mission—promoting safe, effective driver education—rather than fighting with expensive or ill-fitting tools. The TSE story is a clear reminder that the right technology partner can turn a budget challenge into long-term stability and growth.