National Dance Festival Partners With Merge Interactive

National Dance Festival Partners With Merge Interactive

Web Based Registration Tool Replaces Cumbersome Paper Process

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The American College Dance Festival Association has held annual dance exhibitions at major universities for more than twenty years. Until this year the logistical support for hosting these festivals has been accomplished entirely on paper. In 2005 Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (http://www.vcu.edu/artweb ) will take center stage by hosting the first ACDFA festival managed entirely through a custom database application developed by Merge Interactive (http://www.mergeinteractive.com/ ).

Converting the process into a browser-based business application involved more than converting paper forms into computer screens. Merge Interactive developers Mia Fisher and Charles Cohen invested as much time into understanding the people behind the process as building the actual application. This user-centered approach goes well beyond mere automation, by focusing on the actual business process and those performing the work. The end result is a system that is optimized to meet real needs of real users, rather than simply satisfying technical specifications.

Replacing file cabinets full of forms and documents has also had the added benefit of saving the university significant resources of time and money. Based on past experience, VCU administrators say the amount of time required has been reduced by half over the former paper process. Katrina S. Clemans, assistant professor/production specialist of VCU's Dance Department, heads up this year's festival and coordinated the online development with Merge.

"When faced with the challenge of hosting an information-intensive festival, VCU turned to Merge Interactive to create a custom online program to manage all aspects of the festival -- from registration to event planning -- working from both the host institution's perspective and that of a festival participant. Merge quickly understood the challenges presented by the planning process and proved to be intuitive, readily available, proactive and highly responsive to our changing needs," said Clemans.

Merge Computer Group Inc. is a full-service information technology consulting firm serving public sector and commercial clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Available service offerings include project management; business and systems analysis; database design and application development. Merge was established in 1983 and is a privately-held Virginia corporation.

Merge Interactive Group, a wholly owned division of Merge Computer Group, was established in 1999 to serve as Virginia's premiere interactive agency for creative design, user experience engineering, web services and application development.

As one of the nation's largest arts and design schools, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts is ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, with the Graduate Sculpture program ranked first, the Graduate Graphic Design program ranked fourth, and the Graduate Painting & Drawing program ranked tenth in the nation.


Source: Merge Computer Group Inc.

CONTACT: Bill Humm of Merge Interactive Group, +1-804-288-3045, fax:
+1-804-288-3963, or bhumm@mergeinteractive.com

Web site: http://www.mergecomputer.com/
http://www.mergeinteractive.com/
http://www.vcu.edu/artweb


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