Looking for a TN employee to provide some detail on roadmap items. How you prioritize and communicate. What is your process for takeaways from sessions and forums where valuable feedback is presented.
Thank you for your interest in the Software Development Roadmap process. Our development roadmap serves as a guidepost for both Network staff and members, and lays out the priorities for our development work. The roadmap includes new functionality and major changes to existing functionality. The current roadmap topics are listed on the website https://www.tessituranetwork.com/Support/Roadmap. We consider our development roadmap to be a living document which is periodically changed and added to as we complete work, identify additional needs, or realize a shift in priorities.
Usually, our development teams are working on aspects of two to three different roadmap items at any one time. Version 15, for example contained a majority of our effort in the End User Reporting Flexibility and Expansion, along with Report Server and Schedule Rewrite items. V15.1 has us working on Payment Processing and Mobile/Tablet Integration. We are also already working on the Memberships roadmap item for v16.0.
There are three primary drivers that inform the items on the development roadmap.
Each year during TLCC, at TEC in Europe and at ANZTRUC in Asia Pacific, we hold various sessions to review the current roadmap items and brainstorm new potential roadmap items. This past year we posted the results from the TLCC sessions in the TLCC archives under the roadmap section. Based on the feedback we receive during these sessions, along with feedback from our Member Advisory Committee (MAC), the Development team looks at what we are currently working on to see if there are enhancements to the existing work that should be evaluated for incorporation. We then see if there have been any changes in priority of topics from past roadmap sessions. When new topics are voted on by those in the sessions as high priority, we review our current roadmap and see how those topics fit into the overall picture of the Tessitura software.
Secondly, we develop a lot of roadmap feedback in staff discussions, both from hearing what is going on in the market in general and also informed by what our implementers and support staff hear directly from users. This is a vital area of input because it comes from a very wide and diverse group of Network members and also by studying what goes on outside the Network. In v15.0 we added support for Windows integrated login and this need came primarily from our hosting department where it became vital to have a more efficient way of managing over 15,000 Tessitura user accounts. Our integration team is currently working on integrating with two different point of sale systems as part of the Merchandise Roadmap item.
Finally, there are always legal and regulatory items that we must address. Recent examples of this include functionality for the European Union General Data Protection Regulations and also support for Contact Permissions. Our Payment Application Data Security Standards audit and other security considerations also introduce items into the roadmap which are vital to everyone’s continued use of the system.
In the coming year we hope to help make the Software Development roadmap more visible to users. We are also planning to publish an integrations roadmap so members have more visibility into what we are working on there. Our Web Products roadmap is constantly evolving as well. To stay up to date on the TN Express Web roadmap you can review the TN Express Web Roadmap, attend their Sprint Reviews or view their published recordings on the website. If you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact roadmap@tessituranetwork.com.
Karen