Virgin Media TV Gets ScheduALL Resource Management

ScheduALL has announced that Virgin Media Television, a provider of innovative programming and cutting-edge broadband content, has been upgraded to ScheduALL Enterprise Resource Management (ERM) software, which is being used at its Creative Village post-production facility to manage promo creation and compliance versioning for programming delivered to major digital television platforms including Virgin Media, Sky Digital and Freeview.
As Virgin Media TV delivers content for six of its broadcast channels, LIVING, LIVING2, Bravo, Bravo2, Virgin1 and Challenge, ScheduALL's powerful business tools enable the facility to measure and monitor the use and productivity of its various resources and relate this data to project and budget targets. With its upgrade to the latest version of ScheduALL, Virgin Media TV has merged scheduling of IT resources into the ERM system, further increasing operational efficiencies.
Dan Marbrook, Post-Production Manager at Virgin Media TV, said: "We run our promos department as a bookable, chargeable facility with resources broken down by cost. ScheduALL gives us the means to manage and track the use of those resources so that we maintain a high level of productivity and meet our contract requirements."
Virgin Media TV contracts with technology partner Red Bee Media to provide broadcast, post-production and transmission services. In addition to simplifying booking of production resources, including edit suites and associated equipment and staff, ScheduALL attaches real-time cost data that provides a snapshot of edit costs and how they compare to the companies' contracts, delivering an accurate comparison of actual vs. plan and ROI.
ScheduALL also manages the live recordings of content, typically live feeds from the US and live outside broadcasts from the UK, delivered via Red Bee.
Within ScheduALL software, Virgin Media TV uses a series of rate cards to measure how efficiently each department and producer creates each individual product. If, for instance, a producer is keeping costs down by completing more work on desktop editors than on high-end craft edit systems, the ScheduALL system reflects this efficiency.
Further, by associating bookings to projects, ScheduALL enables the grouping of work orders so that managers can see what any single project costs. On the project level, the software thus allows management to see how well producers perform over any given month and if, for example, they're meeting targets for creating promo packages.
ScheduALL's analysis tools plus real-time data also gives Virgin Media TV the information needed to make a business case for more or fewer resources, or to boost performance in specific areas of operations. As an added benefit, the ScheduALL interface is conveniently displayed on a video screen at the facility's entrance and provides a current run-down of the day's booking for post-production staff.
Dan Marbrook said: "ScheduALL is an intuitive, reliable system for booking resources and capturing the information we need to understand the compliance and promo editing costs for each of our broadcast channels. ScheduALL is a valuable business tool for us, providing reliable operation, backed by excellent support."
Further information is available at: www.scheduall.com.
(KMcA/BMcC)