The Entourage System: A Feasibility Study

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The Entourage System: A Feasibility Study

AB Software Solution Co., Ltd.

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Stakeholders

  1. Association of Theatrical Agents (A.T.A.)
  1. Agents
  1. Actors
  1. Casting Directors
  1. System Administrator

Events

Feasibility Presentation on 23 November 2004

  1. Talbert Parker (A.T.A.)
  1. Talulah Parker (Agent)
  1. Jacey Sutton (Casting Director)

User Requirements Interviews on 16 November 2004

  1. Talulah Parker (Agent)
  1. Jacey Sutton (Casting Director)

Contents

1. Introduction

  1.1. Purpose

  1.2. Justification for the Proposed System

  1.3. Requirements Definition

        (Summary of RDD; include full document in appendix)

  1.4. Use Cases

      1.4.1. Use case diagram (first-level abstraction)

      1.4.2. Actors (descriptions)

      1.4.3. Use Case (descriptions)

2. Considerations

3. Comparison of options

4. Conclusions (including recommendations)

5. References


Terms of Reference

This report will discuss the feasibility of implementing a distributed internet-based database with the primary purpose of assisting casting directors select actors for supporting roles. The system will be accessible by agents, casting directors and one or more system administrators and the Association of Theatrical Agents (A.T.A.) will sponsor its development. This report firstly presents details of the requirements, followed by development options for the system including a comparison between the benefits and drawbacks of each function and at the end, a number of options and recommendations are made as to how the system should be built.

Background


According to the initial research of the Association of Theatrical Agents (A.T.A.) and the subsequent user requirements interviews carried out by the AB Software solutions Co. with an Agent and Casting Director, there is demand for a system to assist casting directors search for supporting actors. It can be seen that whilst the systems main purpose is to support the Casting Directors, it will also have a direct impact on the actors and agents.


Summary of Findings

A.T.A. Findings

Initial Objectives

  • To build a system that assists casting directors in browsing for supporting actors with specific search criteria
  • To allow saving of information and searches of interest into personal accounts of users
  • To make the system available on the Internet as the central database will allow users to access it from anywhere
  • To allow only the registered users to access the system to prevent misuse of the information
  • To allow agents to easily maintain the details of actors which they represent only
  • To allow a system administrator to maintain and monitor each change of the actor’s details to ensure that it is done accurately
  • To provide e-mail functionality for casting directors to contact a particular actor’s agent in a standard format to request an audition appointment as well as general correspondence
  • To build a system that does not require users to have any training to be able to use it
  • To build a system that has a low maintenance cost
  • To build a system that requires only a small registration fee from users to pay off the on-going administration cost
  • To provide random search functionality and by doing so widen the range of supporting actors appearing in search criteria
  • To provide detailed actor profiles with images, text and, in the future, short video clips

Summary of functionality requirements

  • User Interfaces
  • Database
  • Hardware
  • Audio visual clips
  • Search (Basic and advanced) facility with specified results format
  • Multiple selection criteria possible
  • Standard Actor Profiles
  • a head-and-shoulders photograph
  • a full-length photograph
  • a curriculum vitae in details
  • previous work experience
  • roles played
  • companies worked for
  • a fixed number of photographs in previous roles
  • a short video clip (in a more advance version)
  • Secure access and restricted data views for all users
  • Personal file Manager
  • Email (with attachments)
  • Selected Actors
  • Audition details
  • Scripts
  • Calendar facility
  • Audition Scheduler facility

Requirements Specification

This section details the full system requirements as gained from the user interviews and the feasibility analysis. Each requirement is described in terms of its function as well as advantages and disadvantages.

User Interfaces

The user interfaces will be displayed to all types of users and will be used for data entry, viewing search results and viewing profiles. However, the actual display will be different depending on a users computer and browser configuration. In order to get the most out of the interfaces, there are certain guidelines we will follow in the design.

  • Pages should allow excellent picture quality to be displayed whilst paying attention to maintain fast response rates in uploading and downloading.

  • Graphical representation, particularly animation, will be considered not to be excessively displayed at each level which would take time, and yield down the response time of the website.

  • Functionality should be easy to access and it should be easy to manipulate data for those with permission to do so.

  • Result outputs will appear with up to 15 pictures per page allowing for high resolution images, which can be clicked to reveal additional full size pictures and a detailed profile of the actor.

  • Interfaces will be stylish but simply presented to ensure the appearance is pleasing to the casting directors and agents

Database

The database of actor details will store all information entered by the agents. Queries will be run on it and it will need to support video content as well as text and images.

  • An efficient and reliable database is required to store the contents of the website. This must be able to handle pictures, text details and other types of data the castting director and agents require. It should be possible for the users to upload information themselves.

  • Content being saved for further reference should be checked for updates in order to ensure consistency of representation. This checking will need to be done by the system in some instances and by the Administrator in others.

  • The agents should be equipped with the necessary details of the actors to be uploaded to the website. The data of actors in terms of pictures and CV, should conveniently be supplied electronically, rather than trying to add all this manually.

  • There should be some guidelines about the types of searches an agent performs compared with those a casting director performs in order that the two can focus their efforts on ensuring the most common fields are updated frequently.

Hardware

  • The hardware of the system should be compatible to support the website’s interface, and provided with a reliable and consistent processor speed. The system should have sufficient memory and disk storage to operate the websites features successfully.

Audio Visual clips

This option is only available in certain versions of the system, however, the system will be built with this development in mind and will have the right functionality to be able to include this later.

  • The system should have applications, which can support the standard online audio playback format.  Currently auditions are stored on show reels, but this information will need to be transferred to a format that can be loaded onto the computer.
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Searching Facility

The requirements for the search facility in the Entourage system according to the information gathered during interviews with the key stakeholders of the system are provided in this section. Prototypes of the search facility and the profile are included here. There are two distinct search facilities which perform different but complementary functions, namely the simple search and the advanced search.

Simple search Facility

This will allow users to search the system by entering keywords only. The system will return a number of profiles matching the specified keyword, which can be narrowed down ...

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