Invitation to tender for design and build of new website

Transcription

1 Invitation to tender for design and build of new

2 Rich Mix is looking for a website agency to work closely with our Head of Marketing and Marketing Officer to design and build a new website and CMS that will take us through the next three to five years of business. At the same time we are moving our box office system from Patronbase to Spektrix, therefore the website will need to integrate fully with Spektrix. Rich Mix is a registered charity and we need to forward plan our activity and costs. Therefore as part of your pitch, we would like you to take into account future support and associated costs necessary to maintain the site. The deadline for receipt of pitches is December 7 th and we are expecting to go live by March 31 st This document contains: 1) Information about us 2) Information about what we need the new website to do 3) Technical requirements related to integrating with the new Spektrix box office system 4) Three appendices: Spektrix Api v2 Documentation, Spektrix Web Integration Guide v24, and Rich Mix Audiences apendix 5) Timetable and budget for the work About the organisation Rich Mix is East London s independent arts venue, located between Shoreditch and Bethnal Green. We are a charity and social enterprise offering live music, film, dance, theatre, comedy, spoken word, exhibitions and a range of creative activities for people of all ages and all cultures. We re open every day of the year except Christmas Day and we present over 650 events annually. We re a registered charity and all profits go back to support our education, arts and community activities, which nurture new and local talent. Rich Mix s goal is to deliver a world- class artistic programme that reflects, and is accessible to the diverse communities living in East London. Alongside our arts and cinema programme, our venue hires are a vital part of our business model as these generate revenue. Clients range from creative companies to corporates to public sector, as well as people hiring for a private party. In addition, we currently have 15 tenants in the building. These are all creative organisations who want to be based in the heart of a busy, thriving and creative organisation. Research tells us that audiences like the fact that we re a charity, they like our values based around supporting artists to develop their work and making that work accessible to everyone no matter their financial situation, and they like our location. We present world- class arts events as well as scratch and new writing. We re proud to support new artists by giving them free event space and a platform to try out new work. We aim to reach out to an increasing and increasingly diverse audience.

3 In brief The current Rich Mix website is now outdated and doesn t offer a good experience for either external users (our audiences) or internal users (staff). Key things we wish are new website to do, are to reflect Rich Mix as a great venue in the heart of cool East London, where you can come and see a film, a fantastic live band, or a great comedy night or new theatre writing. We re a charity and that s something we re proud of it s also something that our visitors really like about us, so we want to make this a prominent message. Technically we need the back end of the website to be simple and intuitive as we re updating information on the site several times a day. For our audiences, they need to be able to interact with the site on their phones and tablets as well as their desktops. And our disabled audiences need to be able to have a good experience on the website, which currently isn t the case. Website Objectives We need our website to: Publicise our programme in a balanced way Allow audiences to find out more about performances they will see or things they have seen through digital content and a growing digital archive Provide a strong charity message Make it easy for people to donate to us Allow us to thank and recognise our supporters/ stakeholders/ tenants Reflect our vision, values, achievements and governance Strengthen our brand Sell tickets, simply and easily Communicate the different spaces available for hire Provide a simple, enjoyable experience for visitors Provide ease of contacting correct departments/people Advocate for what we do Be a portal to other online platforms (social media primarily) Drive sign ups Have simple clear formatting Required functionality Box office integration sell tickets Ability to take donations Sell memberships Sell Gift Vouchers Intuitive navigation We need to be able to quickly and simply add and update events Ability to create secret links eg for special offers available to limited people Ability to create short links eg richmix.org.uk/tenyears Integrated social media links: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Youtube Embedded Youtube (and other) video on event pages and maybe other pages

4 Embedded Soundcloud and other audio sign ups Be user friendly for anybody with a disability Mobile and tablet optimised Payment and donation function enquiry form for Hires Calendar better functioning than our current one Good search function SEO keywords decided and included in website build Google Analytics Event tagging Better linking, eg so it s easier to view previous/upcoming gigs by an artist Be able to go back during the booking process (Spektrix) A member s area for special offers, news, priority booking Ability to build in new technologies Event upselling 'Best Available' seating on mobile Linking to Artifax system Image resizing Functionality we would like to have A log in area for anyone, so the website would store their preferences Calendar integrated into ticket booking, so event goes into your calendar Emarketing system that can be populated more easily from the website, eg weekly mailout in Maichimp/dotmailer pulls all the events in a certain date range automatically. A separate search function on the Hires pages to help build bookings. Simpler. Online application form for recruitment Ability to use different languages (html?) Exit intent, eg create a prompt message when someone s leaving a particular page. (Spektrix?) Link Artifax with the website, so when a Hires form is completed online, it pulls the info into Artifax Live streaming Sell merchandise Tenants area Community area 360 degrees content for Hires show arounds Film page takeovers eg a distributer pays us to cover the film pages with film branding Live twitter feed Private area for artistic partners Quick booking function for people who know what /when they want to book

5 Facebook Login Tweet/Facebook from checkout What might we want the website to do in the future Webchat function, eg The Guardian webchats Facility to embed live streaming Archive of video / audio / images Future proof the coding language Be open to new social media platforms Technical Considerations Ticket selling Our current ticketing system is Patronbase however we re moving to Spektrix and would simultaneously be launching our new website AND Spektrix box office system. Please refer to the documents included with this brief: Spektrix Api v2 Documentation Spektrix Web Integration Guide v24 In addition, the appointed developer would be required to: Build an import programme that periodically populates the CMS database with information from Spektrix using the Spektrix APIv2 Minimise double entry by having all relevant event and instance information pulled in automatically from Spektrix where possible Add a simple signup form for that populates the Spektrix database Utilise the Spektrix iframes from chooseseats onwards to handle the final stages of the booking. Style all of the Spektrix iframes with CSS to seamlessly match the rest of the site Install an SSL certificate on the site to cover myaccount and checkout parent pages Add navigation links to the header for 'Basket, Checkout' and 'My Account' Information imported from Spektrix using the API should include (but not be limited to): Event Names Event Date/Times Event Attributes (genre etc) Instance Attributes (e.g. where a performance has something notable about it like a preview or is accessible) Pricing information for each instance Availability information for each instance Event copy and the event image is pulled from Spektrix - although this could be managed in the CMS

6 The logic of all of these features is handled in the Spektrix iframes. However, it's absolutely essential that the appointed web designer style all of these iframes with CSS. The styling of the iframes should be conscientious, work across all devices and make sure links/buttons are prominent where necessary. Emarketing We will use Spektrix s integrated emarketing system (Dotmailer). But we currently use Mailchimp and we would continue to do so, in tandem with Spektrix/Dotmailer for a period of time (tbc) from the launch of the new site. We will require redesigned templates to match the new website. Content Management System We will need to update events pages daily. We would like the ability to update all other pages Currently images are received by people outside the organisation and are resized manually by Rich Mix staff. This is time consuming and so a function for images to be automatically resized would be useful. Sites we like Manchester Home Artsdepot Tricycle SS Great Britain events Chichester Theatre Mac Birmingham Nuffield Theatre Lyric Theatre Belfast Cambridge Junction We like a blocky look and a simple clean style

7 Timetable Nov 17, companies invited to tender Dec 7, deadline for pitches received Dec 11, shortlisted companies come in for a meeting Dec 22, successful company appointed Jan 4, website build begins Feb 29, website build finishes Mar 1, user testing begins Mar 31, user testing ends: Go Live Budget Rich Mix is a registered charity, therefore we need keenly priced but realistic quotations. The budget for this piece of work is 20,000. Response Process Those wishing to respond to this Invitation to Tender are required to include the following information: Background information on your experience and qualifications to deliver. Examples of two comparable projects on which you have successfully met the requirements of your client. Details of two relevant referees who may be contacted at the point at which you may be invited to present. Details of continued support and related costs once the site is live Please send completed responses to Lucy Jamieson, lucy.jamieson@richmix.rg.uk by 5:00 pm on 7 th December 2015.