Case study: IBM Lotus Notes development

When you're managing the schedules of some of the world's leading classical performers (Bernard Haitink, Dame Felicity Lott, Sir Simon Rattle and John Williams, to name but a few) you can't afford to get it wrong. So, when Askonas Holt, one of the world's leading artist and concert management companies, needed a single system to automate its schedule related business processes, they turned to Transition in 1999 and we have been working together ever since.

The original idea had been to upgrade Askonas Holt's network and email systems, but in early discussions with Transition it soon became evident that the business need was actually much greater.

It was envisaged that a single system could handle the majority of the company's back-office requirements, centred around the scheduling of artists. Transition proposed that a new system be custom built, using Lotus Domino/Notes. This would integrate email, scheduling, events and itinerary management - and integrate seamlessly with Askonas Holt's invoicing and financial accounting systems. A suitably musical name was devised for the system: TOSCA (Tracking of Singers, Conductors and Artists).

Askonas Holt's scheduling requirements are far more complicated than most, where 'single appointments' suffice. Managing the diary of a professional classical artist is an extremely complex business. Such professionals often travel for most of the year and literally live in hotels. They need the support of an organisation which can, at one level, manage their professional engagements with precision and, at another level, manage their all-important career development. Since Askonas Holt manages hundreds of artists, the company is coordinating many thousands of important events each year. There is a staggering amount of detail to be managed for each event - hotels, rehearsals, travel, venues, promoters, payments -and there is a big impact if even just one of these isn't well managed. What's more, each of these items can change at any time, requiring a significant amount of schedule restructuring.

The new system was designed, developed, tested and deployed within five months.

It has completely revolutionised the way that Askonas Holt manages its artists - helping the company to provide better service and gaining market share.

Peter Martin, director of finance and development at Askonas Holt: "Our clients must be in the right place, at the right time, so smooth and efficient organisation is essential, but what really matters to them is the quality of our networking, the contacts we have in the world's leading concert halls and opera houses and our ability to match people to the right work. Transition has built the application which underpins our entire business and has been essential in enabling us to serve our customers."

Having worked with Askonas Holt for more than ten years, Transition has continued to provide ongoing support and development, migrating and enhancing TOSCA over time to embrace the Web Services capabilities offered by Lotus Domino 8.5 so that an artist's personal schedule can be securely accessed from mobile devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry.