Opera ERP at an opera foundation: one system for production and staff

The project set out to introduce a new information system at the Foundation, using Opera ERP as an integrated platform for its main organisational processes.

The aim was not to computerise a single function, but to create a common base able to connect information from different areas.

The goals included streamlining procedures, making information more readily available, creating a single database, centralising access to applications and reducing steps based on paper, separate files, e-mail and fax.

1. 01

   Integrating very different processes

   Programming, staff, attendance, access, contracts and operational activities had to become parts of a single information system.

2. 02

   Creating a common database

   A single database was needed from which management information could be drawn in a structured way.

3. 03

   Reducing manual steps

   Limiting the flow of paper documents and unstructured files, making the system the central point for entering and consulting information.

4. 04

   Specific staff rules

   The supplementary staff agreement had to be analysed and its rules configured within the new system.

5. 05

   Recovering existing data

   Before go-live, the available data had to be analysed, conversion mappings defined and the migration to the new platform prepared.

Labinf Sistemi introduced Opera ERP, the management platform for theatre organisations that brings the typical processes of an opera and symphony foundation together in one system.

More than a software installation, the project was an implementation programme, started in September 2011 and organised into two main sub-projects, Production Programming and Staff, linking operations and resource management from the outset.

The implementation programme

• Meetings with key users
• Analysis of organisational and contractual rules
• Data analysis and conversion mapping
• Configuration of the programs
• Definition of calculation rules
• Training by area and office
• Project coordination
• Acceptance testing
• Go-live in production

The initial plan provided for a total of 62 working days, with particular attention to training users in the different areas: the go-live was approached as an organisational project as well as a technological one.

The first introduction of Opera ERP already covered a wide set of procedures, both typical management functions and ones highly specific to the theatre context. Programming links the theatre’s activities to the resources needed to deliver them.

• Planning and programming
• Activities involving schools
• Fire service activities
• Maintenance planning
• Staff canteen management
• Contract management

Staff management was the other main pillar of the project. After analysing the supplementary agreement and configuring its rules, functions were introduced for attendance, access control, electronic timecards, business travel, contracts, third-party fees and the canteen.

A monthly data flow to the client’s external payroll software made the ERP the link between staff management and specialist systems.

• A common information system for several areas
• Centralised database
• Information shared among authorised users
• Coordinated management of programming and staff
• Digitalised attendance, contracts and business travel
• Integration with payroll software
• Fewer paper-based steps and separate files
• Centralised access to procedures
• New features on a common platform

Opera ERP is designed to evolve: later requests are developed while keeping a single, shared and progressively updated package.