Hi,
As we explore and refine the potential architecture approach for the Next Generation product, a key element is extensibility. The current Tessitura software provides a variety of ways for organizations to extend the software today, and we have heard loud and clear that a high degree of customization/extensibility in the future product is a key requirement. One way to help us understand future extensibility needs is to first understand how you customize today. This is a purposefully open-ended question:
Please provide us with examples of customizations or extensions you have made to Tessitura and the business case behind why you made the extension.
We aren’t looking for every customization, but one or two samples that are either most representative or most difficult to accomplish in current Tessitura.
A quartet of examples:
1. We created a custom Box Office Statement in InfoMaker to match specific output field requirements of our promoter. This allows us to settle with the promoter in an efficient and speedy fashion, without us having to run multiple reports and combine them after the fact.
2. We adapted lp_customer_rank to automatically assign a constituency code of ‘Student’ if the constituent has purchased tickets to our Education season and has a customer type of Child. This allows CSRs to quickly identify students when looking up an account, and makes list pulling easier.
3. We created a custom constituent screen using InfoMaker to hold detailed information about our Press contacts. This allows us to have information about all constituents in one place, and ensures we can track specific seating assignments and preferences based on the reviewer.
4. We created a set of pages on our website to record individual member names on a family membership, tied to a custom table and custom membership card output so we can print individual member names on membership cards and link them back to a single membership in Tessitura. This means that multiple members of a household can each have their own personalized membership card while retaining a single membership on the household itself.
Thanks!
Andrew
We have customized the ticket seller's headers. They now include icons that easily identify: specific donor ticketing benefits, seat with information, open notification CSI. We also include: multiple On Account MOP values, the need for an e-mail address, both N1 & N2 and complete address. This allows our reps to have all the info they need on the patron without having to memorize membership levels, access the patron record to verify the most common information, which all cuts down on transaction times.
We have a custom screen in the constituent record that we use to record demographic information on the schools that participate in our education programs, which is going to be used to pull information for grant applications.
Here are a few examples from our work at Yale:
1. We have a custom sales report that groups our sales by custom price type categories.
2. We have custom web code that sets ticket limits based on information set up into the standard source code screen.
3. We use gift certificates to create flex passes for customers. We have custom web coding that ensures that these gift certificates can only be used by the person who purchases them. We embed our website into a custom screen in Tessitura to streamline the pass redemption process for the ticket sellers.
4. We use the flex package functionality to handle special event registrations online. We have custom web coding that allows customers to check off the event sessions they would like to attend. We also have custom reports to produce event agendas, session attendance lists and name badges.
I'm sure I'll think of more, but that's a start.