Case Studies
Featured case studies
PizzaExpress Live - Booking Management System
As a result of our successful delivery of the Live Playlist system, we were asked by PizzaExpress to conduct an analysis of the booking management process used for their flagship live music venues. The existing system used a combination of email, spreadsheets and shared calendars which was proving cumbersome to manage.
Having completed and presented our analysis, we were commissioned to create a web-based workflow management system to control the entire artist booking process, from initial research through to post-event accounting.
The resulting system focussed on creating a booking 'wizard' to simplify and streamline the booking process. From this, a number of tasks could be automatically created and assigned to various members of the team to ensure that every aspect of the booking was addressed in a timely manner.
We also created a number of optimised dashboards, so that every member of the team could easily access the information pertinent to their goals and also see the status of any tasks assigned to them. For management, we provided top-down analytic views so they could easiliy see an overview of all current bookings along with up-to-date sales information, which was provided via an integration with their online Spektrix ticket sales system.
As the team were already used to using their Google Calendars to give them access to the booking calendar when out of the office, we also created a synchronisation system to push up-to-date booking information to the calendars.
Download the full PizzaExpress Live case study PDF
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The College of Naturopathic Medicine - Bespoke CRM
The College of Naturopathic Medicine is the leading training provider in Natural Therapies in the UK.
They commissioned us to develop a bespoke CRM system to allow their sales & marketing teams to easily manage day-to-day workflows of their sales, marketing, course consultation and student enrolments.
As more potential students around the world are enquiring about CNM’s training and diploma courses, it become apparent that there's a strong need for a CRM system to manage the full sales cycle. From capturing lead enquiries, through allocating specialist consultants to help prospects choose the best course options, to enrolling and converting prospects into CNM students.
As some of the core business requirements for this CRM were very specific to CNM and could not be catered for by any off-the-shelf CRM products, we designed and developed a tailor-made solution for the college.
Here are some of the bespoke features that were built into the CRM:
Visit the The College of Naturopathic Medicine website
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Allware Systems - Job Management System
Allware Systems commissioned us to develop a bespoke management system that allows them to securely manage the day-to-day workflow of their jobs, clients, contacts and client assets. The system is accessible both remotely and on premise meaning they can respond to their client’s needs 24/7.
One of the requirements for this project was to enable engineers to use the system remotely from any type of device. This meant that we needed to optimise the system so that it was equally useable from both mobile and desktop devices.
Another requirement was to provide a high level of security as some of the information the system is holding is private and/or confidential. We therefore put in place 2 Factor Authentication and Database Encryption to make sure all security requirements are met.
Allware systems deal with many job requests on a daily basis, so it was imperative that we build a workflow system that is intuitive, easy to use and flexible at the same time.
Download the full Allware case study PDF
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e-shot - Marketing Website
We were asked by Forfront Ltd to rebuild the marketing website for their e-shot™ product.
e-shot™ is a powerful marketing automation platform which is used by thousands of users and provides a simple solution to a sophisticated area of modern marketing.
The main challenge facing the e-shot marketing team was the complexity and time-consuming efforts required to make quick regular changes to reflect the dynamic new strategy. This was due to the expertise required for changes to be made which created a dependency on the technical team. The objective was to create a site that can be easily authored and changed by the marketing team with minimal requirement for code changes
We identified the best technology and solution to meet the client’s needs in this case was based on a ‘flat file’ no-database engine which offered extremely flexible content structure and great performance.
The most impressive result is the team’s enthusiasm in easily and quickly managing a dynamic ever-changing website. But also, based on stats and analytics, visitors find the site easy to navigate and engage with. Visitors numbers continue to increase, and engagement can be measured by a significant rise in lead generation.
Download the full e-shot case study PDF
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The BALANCE Saddle Company - E-commerce System
We were approached by The BALANCE Saddle Company to replace their existing website with a new site featuring a more contemporary look & feel, better e-commerce solution and improved navigation. The project was distinctive as it combined both an e-commerce platform, together with an educational knowledge base.
As BALANCE sell saddles and accessories all around the world, it was important to build a robust e-commerce solution that would streamline the order process and make it intuitive wherever the customer is based. BALANCE also maintain a global network of equine consultants and the system was designed to help support and facilitate their work.
We built a ‘single-point-of-truth’ system that keeps all the data in one place and unifies the order workflow. This ensures that decision makers and company staff can get to their sales and educational information efficiently and get a clear overview of the whole business via one secure portal.
As with all of our bespoke systems, it was developed to provide a good foundation for future automation to increase business and process efficiency.
Download the full BALANCE case study PDF
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PizzaExpress Live Playlist - booking Management System
CM System Designs were approached by the Live Playlist Manager at PizzaExpress to create a workflow system to aid in the management of their Live Playlist music programme. The Playlist Live programme runs weekly music events at over 30 restaurants each week, providing free entertainment for diners and valuable exposure to upcoming talent.
Over the years, the number of restaurants and artists participating in the programme had grown (and continues to grow) to the point where the existing method of managing the weekly schedule using emails and spreadsheets had grown very cumbersome, time consuming and prone to error.
We conducted an in-depth study of the existing workflow and from that produced a secure, web-based portal which allowed the entire process to be managed efficiently, allowing PizzaExpress to spend much more time focussing on developing the programme and sourcing great new talent to entertain their customers.
The system went live in September 2017 and almost immediately, Pizza Express commissioned a second phase of development to further automate artist communications and the gathering of and reporting on performance metrics.
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Franklin commercial - Commercial property search website
Franklin Commercial are Commercial Estate Agents in the South East successfully handling the letting and sale of both commercial property and businesses over a wide area.
When they approached us, they asked us to develop an attractive and mobile friendly website that will allow buyers to search through their property database in a simple and intuitive way.
They requested that we build a management system that will allow their administrators to update the listed properties in an easy and quick way from the office or remotely.
We also integrated e-shot, the marketing automation platform to allow visitors to set up the preferred property alerts.
Download the full Franklin case study PDF
Visit the Franklin Commercial website
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Other types of bespoke systems we've built
e-Learning Platform
In this project, the requirement was to provide a subscription-based platform which will train professionals within the financial markets and make sure that they stay fully compliant with the requirements of this ever-evolving sector. This was achieved by building an extensive system to contain a knowledge base of regulatory and qualification data along with tools that enable users to sit through assigned tests to demonstrate their competence to their management.
This comprehensive online system, allows users to study and get tested on their knowledge at their preferred time and equally allows managers to run a wide set of reports which reveals the status of all individuals, teams, and the company as a whole at any given time.
This project has been run as an Agile development which is an incremental software development methodology. It advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continuous improvement, and it encourages rapid and flexible response to change. We often use this approach for long term, big scoped projects which have many different components and are likely to evolve as development progresses.
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Corporate Social Responsibility Platform
This project required the development of a sophisticated, web-based system to allow a large British telecoms provider to manage one of their CSR programmes.
The system allowed employees who were involved in community projects to register via the website and submit an application for a series of monthly and annual awards. Once the application was submitted, the administration team could vet the application and create shortlists for judging.
Periodically a panel of judges from around the country could log in using a secure judging portal to read and rate the applications. The system also supported a communal panel review process where the leading applications were discussed and the winners chosen.
Throughout the process, the system provided various reporting functions and dashboards to allow the programme administrators to manage and report on each application round.
The website also hosted information on the winners along with video-streamed profiles of their community projects.
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Workflow Platform
This project involved creating a web-based application to allow a leading provider of business training programmes to manage the participation in their courses. Prior to the creation of this system, the entire process had been managed using a number of Excel spreadsheets, which had proved cumbersome and error prone as the company grew.
The system allowed them to create a course for a client and compile a list of participants. Email invites were then automatically sent to the participants asking them to register and complete a pre-course evaluation. Each evaluation was completed on-line via a secure portal, which was part of the system.
Once the course had been completed, the system sent further automated emails to the participants requesting they complete a post-course evaluation. Throughout the entire process the system provided a real-time dashboard and various reports to allow the administrators to track the progress of the participants.
Once all the evaluations had been completed, the system facilitated the automatic creation of various PDF reports which could be sent to participants and managers
This system represents an ideal example of how a complex, error-prone and laborious manual workflow was translated into a slick, efficient automated solution that vastly reduced the amount of time taken to manage the company's core business.
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CRM platform
There are many out-of-the-box Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems out there which do a good job of collating, managing and analysing customer interactions and data throughout the relationship. However, there are not many CRM systems that are completely bespoke to the specific needs of a company. We set out to build a custom-made CRM system for a software development company which integrates with all of their existing internal systems.
This system creates a dynamic flow of customer data from the first time they contact the company, through becoming a prospect and then a client. The system allows sales people to send quotes to clients which can then pay online. Sales team members can then send out invoices or subscription renewals through the system and follow the full lifecycle of each client’s product depending on their specific requirements.
This platform is designed to give each company department just the right tools required for their job, whether it's sales, marketing, IT or management. The platform enables better efficiency and responsiveness and allows staff members to focus on the work that matters most.
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