Party planners

Life

1 April 2005

Organising a birthday party first sparked the idea for the Party Platform, explains Sarah Carroll, managing director of Irish software company Eventznet. ‘Although it was only 40 or so people being invited, the time involved in finding all the phone numbers, ringing up the guests, telling them the same information and waiting for them to get back with whether they could come or not was looking quite significant,’ she says. ‘I thought there must be a Web-based answer — there was, but it took me a while to find it. What I did find didn’t appeal to me much; the look and feel and advertisements were very US-based, and not so relevant for me. I didn’t use it.’

Sarah also wanted to be able to find information on possible venues, decorations and gift ideas. ‘I wanted to be able to find out where to get a banner to really hammer home the big four oh and also to get some ideas about what to buy for him.’

However, there wasn’t a central resource available at the time, unless you include the reliable print form of the Golden Pages. Finding out all the relevant information such as availability, cost and how to book also proved a problem — each company would have to be contacted by phone.

‘As for the banner — don’t get me started on the frustration finding just the right stuff through a Google search, but only finding out as I try to checkout that they don’t deliver outside of the US.’

Partyplatform

Research uncovered a lack of this type of service for both personal and business events. Eventznet was subsequently established, with the Partyplatform (www.partyplatform.ie) as the first steps to providing a full set of utilities for all events.

The Partyplatform was set up in November 2002, just in time for the rush of Christmas parties. The service allows users to set up a party site free of charge and co-ordinate all their activities from there. There is also a database of events suppliers, so users can organise venues, decorations, etc.

The invitations can be sent through e-mail, and guests then respond to the personalised invites.

Another selling point of the site for users is the fact that the sites can be registered and set up free of charge. The Partyplatform is supported by its advertising and affiliations.

For its makers, the Partyplatform shows potential clients exactly what Eventznet can do with their Microsite Maker software, for those who want their very own customised site. 

Careful planning

Much thought went into the site’s planning. Although the Partyplatform was only established last November, work actually began in earnest in June 2002. A prototype was developed by August.

‘The prototype gave us valuable feedback on usability and functionality,’ explains Sarah. ‘We used that feedback to design and develop the Partyplatform site during September and October. It was the single most rapid development cycle I’ve ever been involved in!’

Sarah is complimentary towards her developers. ‘The developers attribute a lot of that to Microsoft .NET technology; I think it’s because they’re genius.’

The domain name was also carefully considered. The .ie domain was chosen for several reasons, Sarah points out. ‘Firstly to declare that we are Irish and proud of it. Secondly, we believe it’s critical that we retain a local emphasis with each Partyplatform site we set up in each new geographic market we enter. When you come to the site to organise your next college re-union, you want to know about venues in your area, not in San Francisco.’

Challenges

The most challenging part of the project was scheduling and managing the testing. The testers were located across the world, the site was changing servers and configurations were being changed up to the last minute. New features added on a daily basis also made it tricky to stick to the test plans.

Eventznet is happy with the level of interest in the Partyplatform. Figures show that almost 100 invite sites were set up during November and December, and almost 1000 invitations were sent through the system.

‘We kept our first release pretty low-key to ensure that we could keep as close as possible to our first customers. I’ve been surprised by how much interest there is in using the technology, branded slightly differently, for business applications. One of our customers organises events for a sports and social club with over 400 members — she’s pushing the development cycle quite hard, as she really needs the Partyplatform functionality.’

Positive feedback

Feedback on the site has been positive and constructive, Sarah says. ‘We have had numerous suggestions for features or for new ideas, and a lot of leads to follow from the Christmas release.’

Other features that the company would have liked to put in place for the site’s first release, but were dropped due to time constraints, will be implemented in the coming months.

‘In general, people have liked the look and feel and have been impressed by the functionality. There is a significant cross-over between people visiting the Partyplatform to respond to an invitation and those visiting to find goods and services for parties,’ says Sarah.

Of course, the Internet is an ever-changing medium and the Partyplatform is no exception. According to Sarah, the site is being fine-tuned to add the features that customers have asked for.

‘We are automating the process of ordering and setting up customised sites — we currently work directly with the customised site owner. Another big task for us is further integrating the shopping element and producing a regular newsletter with features on events and partying,’ Sarah explains.

‘Down the line, we see the Partyplatform as a perfect vehicle for the convergence between fixed and mobile computing. We are working on the integration of text and multi-media messaging with our Web-based application.’

10/04/2003

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