Developed by:

Duane Degler
IPGems
Barn Cottage, Newtown
Milborne Port, Sherborne
Dorset DT9 5BJ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)7000 782 118
ddegler@ipgems.com

This contest entry describes the performance-centered design of the "Eventful" database application, which is designed to manage the administration and operations for an event-based sales business. It was developed in co-operation with The Tag Sale, a UK art sales event company hosting 4-day events in major London venues, providing up to 5,000 items of fine and contemporary art for sale direct to the public at discounted prices (have you ever seen 5,000 paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramic crafts and antiques in one room? It’s an awesome sight!). Since the initial development, aspects are being extended and made more generic to support other businesses that run retail sales events.

The Tag Sale, and any event business, has a work cycle that ebbs and flows based on how near it is to an event (see the challenge of managing business processes, below). So the business workload is dynamic, the prioritizing of tasks is based on the calendar of events, temporary staff are involved during peak periods, and the quality of administration is the single most important factor for success – if the goods aren’t available for sale, and the sales aren’t processed effectively, there is no business! The application was designed to bring the key areas of business operations into one place, allowing data input staff and company management to quickly find what they need in a dynamic work environment.

 The Performance Issues Addressed

The key performance issues are:

• Constant interruption and changing task focus – performers constantly receive requests for information and changes to existing information by suppliers, customers, the press and internal management.
• The daily routine is not routine – it is rare for performers to routinely follow a sequence of tasks. Work is "batched" based on the event cycle (such as supplier inventories or customer response not being done for months, and then thousands of entries being made during a single month).
• Data consistency is crucial – it is easy for performers to type in different phrases that mean the same thing, making the ability to categorize and search data more inaccurate.
• Finger on the pulse – management, who do not use computers regularly, need to see quickly whether the business is on target in a number of areas – sufficient inventory, sufficient pricing, attendance for invitation-only previews, advertising response, etc.
• Use of temporary staff – immediately before and during events there is often an increase in temporary staff. They take over tasks such as answering customer questions, registering requests for tickets to an event, and managing inventory paperwork/queries to check thousands of items as they arrive before an event.