Providing independent business systems advice to arts & entertainment companies
Unicorn Theatre for Children
www.unicorntheatre.com
The Unicorn is the oldest company in Britain dedicated to producing theatre for children. The company was originally based at the Arts Theatre in London's West End, however the need for major renovation resulted in Unicorn vacating the theatre. During 1998 a feasibility study into the Unicorn's future options was undertaken and concluded that a dedicated child friendly venue was required. As a result a site on the South Bank of the Thames, near Tower Bridge was identified.
With building work on the new theatre due to be complete in 2005 management needed to consider the operational and administrative systems and supporting IT infrastructure required for the new building.
Scale
1 location, 45+ employees.
Scope of requirements
Ticketing & marketing, fund raising, event management, staff scheduling, personnel & payroll, accounting, stock & point of sale, planned maintenance, artist database, web site and Intranet.
Assessment of existing facilities - management needed to determine whether any of their existing systems could be used in the new theatre. If not an inventory of hardware and application software options along with likely order of costs was required.
Improved application integration - desire to introduce integrated IT applications across the organisation including ticketing and fund raising, event management and staff scheduling, accounting and point of sale.
Internal systems administration and support requirements - an assessment of the internal IT support requirements was required and how best the need could be satisfied.
Training needs analysis - little formal IT training had been provided and there was an urgent need to assess staff training requirements.
Common systems and inter-department integration - desire for common systems across all
departments.
An IT strategy was produced defining the
operational and administrative business systems required in the new
Theatre. Following the strategy assistance was provided in identifying an
appropriate IT infrastructure supplier who could upgrade and support the
existing IT systems in their temporary accommodation and also be capable
of implementing a network in the new theatre. Advice was also provided in
determining the upgrade path between Appeal Master and Raiser's Edge.
“Microguide
produced a practical report clearly identifying the systems options and
the associated costs which allowed us to prepare a realistic budget for
the IT requirements of the new theatre. In addition they helped us find a
new and suitable systems supplier who have been instrumental in
implementing the IT infrastructure into the building.”
Microguide Corporate Computer Consultants, 82 Shortlands Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, KT2 6HE
Tel: 020 8549 7152
Fax: 020 8549 8112
Email:enquiry@microguide.co.uk
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