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The Problem
A major software company hosts an annual conference that involves 900 proposed papers, 600 speakers and 200 exhibitors. Over 20,000 developers attend the conference each year.
The company's Web team was using static Web pages to provide developers with the conference schedule, session topics and exhibitor information. Due to frequent changes in the speaker and schedule information, it became extremely difficult to keep the Web site updated and to ensure that all information was consistent and correct. Changing one bit of information could require edits to three or four different HTML pages.
System Analysis
After a thorough review, WaterWare separated the conference into its component parts so that each could be managed using a set of integrated Web-based applications.
WaterWare also developed business rules for each component so that workflow and quality control could be implemented as part of the application.
The components of the proposed Internet system included:
- A call for papers
- Paper selection process
- Event scheduling
- Speaker information and session assignments
- Exhibitor and sponsor information
- Editorial and legal review of all content
- Personalized attendee schedules
The Solution
Working with the client's IT department over a six-month period, WaterWare designed and implemented a Web application solution using Vignette Story Server.
A review of the workflow associated with the conference papers provided insight into the new Web-based conference application. This process starts with a call for papers where developers can submit proposed abstracts. Analysis of this stage of the workflow revealed that some companies submitted multiple papers for review. To accommodate this, the application was designed to allow "teams". A team was composed of all the speakers from a particular company. A team leader could then manage the speakers' bios and assign individual team members to specific papers. This Web-based application made it much easier for the team to manage and update their conference submissions.
Following the call for papers, another Web application allowed subject experts to vote on each paper in a peer review process. Various online reports were then used to select those papers that would be presented at the conference.
The selected papers then passed through separate patent and trademark legal reviews plus editorial and HTML formatting reviews. Following a final sanity check on each paper, the information was approved for publication on the conference Web site. Since the new site was dynamically generated from information in the database, modifications to the conference were immediately reflected in all parts of the Web site.
Another Web application allowed scheduling of each paper. This included dates, times and room numbers. Care had to be taken so that a speaker would not be scheduled in two rooms at the same time.
Once the paper abstracts, speaker bios and schedules were posted on the Web site, conference attendees were allowed to use another Web application to create and modify personalized schedules from the hundreds of available presentations. They even had the ability to email their schedules to their managers and co-workers.
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