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OPAS Version 9

The Dates Area

Overview/Major Changes
Dates area
Artistic Planning - creating activities
The Dates area vs. the Dates-Marketing area

Overview - Major Changes

The Dates areas of OPAS (the Dates area and its related Level 2, 3, and Planning areas) have had screens rearranged to make it easier to see the information you need.

In addition, ticketing or attendance information has by default been moved from its dedicated Dates Marketing area to the Dates area. In other words, ticketing/attendance information does not have to be relegated to its own program area any more.

Dates Area

The Main screen retains the basic logistical information about any activiity. Fields have been rearranged to provide quicker access to drop-down fields.

Scrolling down to the bottom of the Main screen reveals data fields that are rarely used when building a schedule but that are required for data integration and other technical purposes.

The Program Screen screen repeats the Project, Event, Conductor and Orchestra information at the top of the screen, but note that it does not repeat the Date/Time information line (as OPAS 8 currently does). That information is still available in the title bar.

The "Tilte" and "No." fields have been renamed to the more appropriate "Program Title" and "Program No."

Following the Program screen are the Additional Data and To-Do List screens which are unchanged from the current OPAS version 8, although "To-Do List" is likely to be renamed to "Checklist" for the first release.

Next are two screens that were formerly avaialble in the Dates-Marketing area only. The Tickets screen shows an overview of ticket sales and income. The Marketing Info. screen is the Additional Data screen from the Dates-Marketing area. For more information about the Dates and Dates-Marketing areas, click here.

Creating Activities in the Artistic Planning area

The most efficient way to build a season and manipulate activities is to use the Artistic Planning area of OPAS. In addition to the powerful "Create Project" functionality, you can add and edit activities individually.

The screens on which you do this have been greatly expanded in OPAS 9 - previous versions of OPAS combined critical program information on a single screen. OPAS 9 offers three screens, including the To-Do List and Additional Data screen.

The main screen on which an event is created or edited has been exapded so that complete information for a service can be entered on one screen.

The top portion of the screen displays the critical Date/Time/Project/Event Type inforamtion followed by the program:

Scrolling down to the middle portion of the screen reveals the Other Participants grid:

Scrolling down to the bottom reveals the Series, Additional Activities, Note, Dress and other data-integration fields.

Dates vs. Dates-Marketing

As mentioned in the Overview, the two defining screens of the current Dates-Marketing area -- Ticketing and the dedicated Additionsl Data screen -- have been moved into the Dates area in OPAS version 9. This naturally begs the question: Why have the Dates-Marketing area at all?

Well, in OPAS 9, you don't have to. User permissions haven't been changed so if a user could not see the Ticketing area when it was in the Dates-Marketing area, he/she still cannot see it when it is moved into the Dates area. Integration of marketing data (tickets and the dedicated Additional Data screen) into the Dates area makes it easier for the whole staff to work from the same program area and set of screens.

That said, the Dates-Marketing area hasn't been removed in OPAS 9 and you can continue to use it as you do now -- remove the Ticketing and Marketing Info screens from the Dates area and keep that information sequestered in the Dates-Marketing area. However, the only advantage of doing this is in cases where: