Our recent release of the Boston Ballet School’s registration module has us thinking toe shoes and tutus.
Visitors to the Boston Ballet School can learn about the School’s various programs, ranging from classes for children, pre-professional dancers, and adults, which are offered in four different Boston-area studios: Newton, Norwell , Boston’s South End, and Marblehead. The entire architecture of the site was redone to enhance the user’s experience, enabling them to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.
Chief among the new achievements of this rollout was the ability to automate Boston Ballet School class inquiries, registrations, and placement. Previously, Boston Ballet School staff utilized a manual paper process to register all students. Each student or parent was required to fill out and send in a form, which the staff would then need to key into their backend systems. This system was prone to user error and absorbed enormous resources in staff dollars, time and aggravation.
The new online registration system is completely automated with Boston Ballet School’s backend systems, which allows staff members considerably more time to organize the coming term. Parents and students have instant confirmation of the classes they have enrolled in, or put on a waiting list if the class is full.
The registration system is built on the foundation of IMA’s Enterprise Performing Arts Framework, which integrates content management, eCommerce, and box office software into a single system, leveraging each tool for its own particular strengths. By creating a family profile – in which parents can add multiple children – the system automatically recognizes each student’s training level and offers only the appropriate classes. Classes are further filtered by the location selected. Students who are new to the school are given specific class options based on the student’s age, which reduces their trepidation about selecting the wrong class. Both classes and profiles are dynamically compiled from the Tessitura box office system, which means that site visitors are seeing only the most up-to-date information. And finally, parents can opt to select one of three payment options – including an off-line option – to enroll students in classes.
