Welcome Onboard: Going Live with Ticketsolve

Once a customer decides on Ticketsolve the first step is to discuss their needs and when they would like to Go Live with the system.  After discussing these initial points, the project is handed over to our onboarding team (our term for when a customer moves to Ticketsolve).  The onboarding team is responsible for ensuring all milestones are hit in the run up to the Go Live date.  Using an online project management tool, both customers and the onboarding team can coordinate the process and ensure nothing is left to chance prior to the Go Live date.

The on-boarding process consist of 3 different milestones, the pre-go live, go live and training, and finally the post-go live.  Customer support at Ticketsolve is responsible for migrating customer data, web site integration, and training box office, operations, marketing and finance teams. So what exactly happens when on-boarding a new customer?

We need to establish a few things before we can get started:

1.  What is your Go Live date?

2.  What system are you using now and how are you set up?

3.  E-commerce set up and contact person?

4.  Data transfer and contact person?

5.  Website contact person?

First we need to establish the customer’s Go Live date (the date Ticketsolve will be up and running), so we can plan each step appropriately.  Often our customers’ Go Live date is focused on an event or specific show.  Next, we need to understand how the customer is currently set up, what system if any, is currently used and how the data is currently managed.  This gives us an idea of how much work is involved and if we can foresee any difficulties in the early stages. At this point we sign all parties up to our project management tool; ensuring visibility and accountability for all actions and next steps.

Next up is ensuring the customer is set up with an e-commerce merchant ID from their bank.  This is usually the most time-consuming part.  Some of our customers do not have an e-commerce merchant ID, which is not problem, but in order to do online sales, you must have this in place.  It is not a difficult step, but it involves the typical banking red tape, and it’s something only the customer can do – not us.  We can give guidance and help of course, but only the banking authorised contact can get a merchant ID.  If there are any hold ups – it is usually at this point – waiting for the bank to issue the merchant ID.

While we wait for the merchant ID to be issued we do an initial data migration. What this means is that we take a segment of the data, analyse it and then import it into a fully operational Ticketsolve system. We then guide the customer through the checking process to ensure all the information in the system has been migrated correctly. It’s important to get this step right, so when it comes to the actual Go Live there are no problems with data migration, and we can focus purely on training.

Whilst the data is being checked we start the website integration.  During this process we give customers examples of the many different ways you can categorise events online, so they can decide on the flow of the online buying process.  Once they have decided on how they want to integrate, we proceed with replicating the look and feel of their home page on the Ticketsolve site.  This integration ensures that the buying experience is seamless and easy for end-customers.

Once all the three key areas of the pre-go live are in place, Ticketsolve will come onsite to train staff on the new system.  The 3-day training covers 4 main points and is geared to specific job areas.

1.     Box Office Training – Aimed at Box Office workflows and day to day usage of the system.

2.     Event Programming – Focused on the backbone of the system:  how to set up Ticketsolve to suit your specific needs.

3.     Financial Reporting – Concentrates on financial needs and various financial reports generated in Ticketsolve.

4.     Marketing – Addresses marketing and sales needs through marketing and sales reports/analysis and integration with other software such as mailchimp etc.

During the training we will identify a member of staff who takes to the system quickly, and train them up to become what we call a “trainer.”  This means, venues have someone on staff to turn to, in addition to Ticketsolve support services.

Before we leave the venue we like to have a summary session, where we answer any additional questions, and make sure that all members of staff are completely confident when working with the system.

Once training is complete we then move into “post-go live,” which we call “support mode”.  The support staff will also contact the customer every few days just to check that all is running smoothly and answer any further questions.