Houston Halloween Film Festival

    9. Help the Festival organizers keep track of materials submitted by users.

An important design goal was to create an administrative interface that would provide a succinct yet detailed overview of the status of the Festival's entrants, including the various materials they are required to submit. To present the data in the most useful and aesthetically pleasing way while conserving space, we opted to display the user records in tabular form, using custom icons to represent the various items the each user has submitted. While positioning one's mouse over the icons, more detailed information about each item pops up. Clicking on a record allows the festival organizers to view the details of the user's profile or film and edit the content if necessary.

    10. Contain a multi-level group/user based security framework.

We implemented a security framework with multiple user/group based permissions so that only specified administrators within the Festival organizing committee may edit the content within assigned sections of the administrative console, while others have "read only" permissions to view the content.

    11. Allow the organizers of the Fest to view real time statistics.

The administrative console also details valuable statistics in regards to the registered users of the site. These key statistics allow Festival organizers to get an overview of the status of entrants' participation in the festival. Of course, we also implemented a powerful statistics engine to analyze overall site activity and have made available numerous analytics and charting tools for this purpose.

    12. Allow the organizers of the Fest to communicate with users.

Effective and efficient communication with entrants was of key importance to the management and operation of the Festival. To meet this need, we developed a sophisticated email system focused on the key communications needs. Realizing that Festival entrants would appreciate a confirmation that the items they sent, such as their finished film, were received, we added a feature to the administrative console so that when an administrator logs in a new item, the program automatically generates a personalized email confirming receipt of the item and gives the administrator the option of editing it and sending it to the user who submitted the item.

We also created an extremely powerful mail-merge system so that Festival organizers can contact specific groups of entrants using highly-personalized email messages. Numerous filtering options allow the administrator to specify who receives the email, based upon certain selecti on criteria such as who has not yet submitted his or her registration fee. The administrator is then presented with a form with which he can compose his email message. Next to the form is a list of clickable merge-field items that, when clicked, will be inserted into the text of the message. These fields will automatically be replaced with each entrant's personal information, such as his or her first name, so that each email sent is personalized to the individual. The program also allows the administrator to preview every email (with the merge data integrated) prior to sending, if desired.

    13. Organize information necessary for festival program.

To aid the Festival organizers in creating the Festival program and other materials, we also developed a display of record sets designed specifically for this purpose. Thus, the organizers can see a virtual view of what the program will contain, and watch it develop as more entrants register and update their information. Just prior to the actual Festival program going to print, the organizers can edit the information as necessary and easily export it for inclusion in the program.