It was clear from the University’s specification that there were a number of components to
their requirement for Graduation Services. These were specifically around providing:
1) A secure booking system via web-portal, branded to the University, differentiated for
staff and students with administrative capabilities.
2) Provision of graduation gowns for staff and students and at event robing service
providing excellent customer service.
3) Great quality studio photography hosted at the graduation events.
4) Live-streaming services for the graduation days.
5) Availability of Graduation Memorabilia to provide students a keepsake of the
occasion.
With regard to the secure online web-portal and booking system, this was to be provided to
both students booking their graduation details such as gowns, photography, and
memorabilia as well as tickets to attend the event itself. This would be required to be
branded to the university and kept up to date. In addition to this, the system needed to be
capable of collecting payment as well as confirming the services booked. The system also
needed to include enhanced functionality that allowed for:
1) Requesting refunds tailored to the universities own policies (e.g. timescales).
2) Administration dashboard for university staff to be able to export reporting
information on bookings and tickets and see a seating plan for each event.
3) An easy-to-use interface for both administrators and students that was well
designed and intuitive.
University specific actions were carried out, in order to overcome some of their key issues.
This included some prior planning for things such as digital seating plans that demonstrated
different layouts for different venues and even include areas for reserved seating for VIPs in
specific areas and accessible seats.
This was paired with development of customised graduation tickets with bespoke information
that the customer wished including on the ticket.
We also ensured that functionality within the booking system was to limit capacity in order to
prevent ceremonies from being oversubscribed through high demand.
We introduced a personalised questionnaire onto the booking system at the request of the
university to gather additional mandatory information from graduates.
Some of the standard functionality was also to be included, including a pre-populated
database adding convenience for students and staff bookings and allocation of specific free
gown hire as designated by the university.
The plan was to audit the universities current stock of gowns to ascertain what numbers
were needed to be manufactured, but also to work with the university on a slight redesign.
Also required was for us to provide academic dress from a range of universities for academic
staff, VIPs, and honorary graduates.