Tech Reviews: SpeedAdmin
Richard Raymond
Sunday, September 1, 2019
We asked Richard Raymond, head of resources at Berkshire Maestros, to give us an insight into how his hub has implemented SpeedAdmin, a tool which promises to make music administration much easier.
As an employee of Berkshire Maestros for 23 years, I have seen and worked on three music service administration systems before our fourth and latest, SpeedAdmin. From a server-based MS-DOS system in the nineties and early noughties, a Windows version of the same software, and then migrating over to a cloud-based system from a new provider – each had its own advantages and disadvantages. One of the main issues we experienced once we moved to the cloud was speed (the system was not browser-based). It also had some limitations when processing data that didn't always give us confidence. To assist with the speed issue and ensure the highest specification, we upgraded our broadband provision and hardware. The system did work faster but it still wasn't adequate. While the reporting functions were good in theory, we couldn't rely on the data being accurate. There was a portal and mobile app that teachers could use but we decided to not rollout this function due to the other problems we were experiencing.
With that in mind we started looking for a new customer database in the spring 2018. Music service administration is a niche and limited market so finding a product that would meet our needs was difficult. We considered developing an in-house system as well as going into partnership with other music services. Then we discovered SpeedWare, a company based in Denmark that provides effective administration for over 400 music services across Scandinavia. At the time, it only had one customer in the UK but was looking to branch out. A team from SpeedWare came to visit us last June and we were very impressed with their approach, enthusiasm and expertise.
SpeedAdmin, the name of the software, is primarily browser-based, with a complementary mobile app for teachers to complete and view their attendance registers and timetables.
Implementation
Having looked at all our options we decided to go ahead with the massive project of migrating over to SpeedAdmin in the autumn. As a large music service with many records, we knew it was going to be challenging. For that reason, it was decided that I would dedicate most of my time as project leader and moved away from my normal day-to-day work. I would say it was stressful, but it really wasn't – yes, it was a lot of work, but SpeedWare made it very easy and puts you at ease whenever you came across a problem. It was and always is keen to find the best solution – a ‘make do’ approach just wasn't an option or at worst, it was implemented temporarily. If we had a process that wouldn't work in SpeedAdmin for whatever reason, we were challenged as to whether it was necessary or if could it be done a different, more efficient way. That's SpeedWare's ethos – to be fast and more efficient. If it takes longer than a few minutes, it's not good enough.
The time spent on migrating over to SpeedAdmin took several months but this shouldn't be the case going forward for any new clients as we were the ‘guinea pigs’. Any UK music service moving from the same system can be rest assured that SpeedWare now has migration down to a tee.
As part of the project, SpeedWare produced an implementation plan and assigned Thomas as our main contact and manager. Thanks to regular video calls with Thomas and other key people, the project was made much easier. Karsten, the company's co-founder and CTO would often join the meetings, especially in the early stages so we could jump over some of the hurdles we encountered. We had two training visits which helped our staff and gave valuable feedback.
The other big difference about SpeedAdmin is that every contact is a user, from admin staff and teachers to schools and parents. For that reason, we decided to roll it out and ‘go live’ in stages.
In February we trained our off ce colleagues and from Easter, our teachers. Parents are now starting to log on and from September they will have access in order to view and pay their account and see their children's music lesson timetable. They can also change personal and contact information live on the system, reducing the amount of administration needed to carry out these tasks.
Teachers are now getting to grips with populating and amending their timetables and are very impressed with the simplicity of the mobile app. Both timetables and registers will be fully live in September.
We still have some areas to develop but overall, having lived through previous system changes, this has been a breeze and that comes down to the attitude and willingness of SpeedWare – the team really are a pleasure to work with.