Tessitura Network — Tessitura Web API Development
The Metropolitan Opera, Sydney Opera House and over 200 of the world’s leading arts organizations rely on an enterprise ticketing and CRM application called Tessitura. Tessitura has revolutionized how these organizations do business by providing a powerful software solution that unifies all customer data into a single system, thereby allowing marketing, development and box office staff to have a complete picture of a their patrons’ interactions with their organization.
The Challenge
Tessitura was originally designed as a back-office application, which meant its technical architecture was not intended to support integration with websites. However, as arts organizations looked to reclaim control of their ticketing from corporations such as Ticketmaster and Tickets.com, the Tessitura Network recognized the opportunity to use Tessitura to support the ambitions of their licensees and decided to extend the power of Tessitura to the web.
The Objectives
The Tessitura Network contracted with POP as their technology partner in the conception, architecture and development of an application that could provide the framework for integrating Tessitura with any appropriate web application developed by a licensee of Tessitura. The business needs of the project required an application that worked across physical networks, that was cross-platform and could facilitate real-time transactions. Of course, all of this needed to occur in a secure and stable manner that supported hundreds of simultaneous ticket purchasers.
"Through their work on the Tessitura Web API and numerous Tessitura integration projects, POP has developed an unparalleled understanding of Tessitura, making them an extremely valuable resource for the Tessitura Network.” — Jack Rubin, President, Tessitura Network
The Solution
Our solution was the Tessitura API: a Microsoft .NET web service that exposes a wide range of features and functionality within Tessitura. This solution was appropriate for several reasons: Web service technology is uniquely suited for real-time communication between servers on different physical networks; Tessitura itself is built on the Microsoft Windows platform, so choosing Microsoft .NET meant that Tessitura administrators were not required to manage an unfamiliar technology; and Microsoft's .NET implementation of web services relies on cross-platform standards such as SOAP and XML, which gave Tessitura licensees the freedom to develop their e-commerce sites on any platform they chose.
The Results
In the five years since Tessitura Software first launched the Tessitura Web API, over 125 organizations around the world have successfully adopted the technology. The Tessitura Web API has facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales, memberships and contributions over this period, and it is now quite common to see arts organizations sell over 40% of their tickets via the Tessitura Web API. The Tessitura Network and POP continue their collaboration to this day, with POP making enhancements to the Web API at the direction of the Tessitura Network team. POP also develops applications for the Tessitura Network that leverage the power of the Tessitura Web API, such as kiosks, print-at-home ticketing and select your own seat.