HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Sept. 30, 2009 — ScheduALL today announced that TFO, the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority, is using ScheduALL Enterprise Resource Management (ERM) software at its state-of-the-art HD facility to enable intuitive, efficient, and cost-effective scheduling of the people, rooms, and equipment involved in its production of programming for broadcast and other distribution platforms.
In 2007, TFO emerged from TVOntario as an independent organization, and the ScheduALL installation completed within just a month of the initial consultation, enabled TFO to make a rapid yet smooth transition to self-scheduling at its new Yonge and College facilities in Toronto. Today, the network has 150 employees and a yearly operational budget of $23 million, and broadcasts 21 hours of content each day.
"Having worked with ScheduALL previously at TVOntario, we understood its valuable capabilities and how its feature set and interface have been optimized for operations just like ours," said Claire Lemieux-Lamarche, manager of operations at TFO. "Though we searched the market for a solution that could provide similar functionality, performance, and ease of use, nothing else matched up with ScheduALL. Because the ScheduALL team listened closely to our needs and was extraordinarily proactive in meeting them, we were able to implement a scheduling system that met both our operational requirements and our budget, and did so in a remarkably short time frame."
TFO produces 200 hours of fresh content every year, ranging from live shows for kids, a daily live current affairs show, a teen show, and segments for four different age groups. Collaborating with external francophone production companies in both Ontario and other Canadian provinces, TFO each year co-produces and acquires an additional 400 hours of content including drama series, sitcoms, documentaries, cartoons, and children's series.
The flexible ScheduALL user interface and its adaptive framework allow TFO's scheduler, Judy Laberge, to manage and track resource availability, room and equipment bookings, and personnel from a single location and database, which has greatly improved operational efficiencies. The migration to its own scheduling was a significant step for TFO, but the organization quickly adjusted to the new ScheduALL software system. As time passes and critical data on resource use is collected within the system, TFO relies on ScheduALL to generate reports on how internal resources and freelance staff are being used, and to ensure that the network is achieving the desired balance of time and labor for each production — all of which provide a real-time view of utilization and profitability, that has proven to be very valuable to the organization.
"TFO is an innovative network in many ways, from its early adoption of tapeless HD production workflows to its rapid implementation of ScheduALL to ensure efficient operations and the best possible use of all available resources," said Joel Ledlow, CEO at ScheduALL. "As a public broadcaster, TFO is committed to providing quality educational programming as a public service. ScheduALL allows the network to leverage its resources most cost-effectively in providing this service and to maintain a smart, forward-looking approach to growth and continued delivery of high-quality content."
More information about ScheduALL and its robust solutions is available online at www.scheduall.com.
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About TFO
TFO is the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority. A Crown Agency of the government of Ontario, TFO has a mandate to serve the French-speaking community, as well as teaching professionals, with a broad range of educational services. The network produces and co-produces much of its content, including children's, teen, and current affairs programs. TFO's reach extends to new media platforms including more than 80 Internet Web sites and mobile services. More information is available at www.tfo.org.
About ScheduALL
ScheduALL is the leading provider of enterprise resource management (ERM) software for the broadcast and media industry. With 20 years of experience and more than 1,200 worldwide clients within broadcast, satellite, and production facilities, ScheduALL is clearly recognized as the partner of choice for operational management software solutions.
ScheduALL's software offers comprehensive workflow and resource management capabilities that enable clients to optimize personnel, resources, and bandwidth utilization in a way that directly translates into increased productivity and ROI. ScheduALL's modular approach and scalable products provide a collaborative platform for users in the broadcast, production, post-production, satellite/network transmission, and newsroom environments. ScheduALL clients include ABC Australia, BBC, CBC, FOX News Network, NBC Olympics, The Associated Press, IntelSat, Turner Studios, Arqiva, Mediaset, RTL, Virgin Media Television and SES WORLD SKIES. More information is available at www.scheduall.com.