Broadcast Management System Replacement

The project was broken down into several phases to ensure there was minimal disruption to ongoing operations:

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• Discovery and Analysis: This phase focused on gathering requirements from all departments, including programming, scheduling, ad-sales and technical operations. A detailed analysis of the existing ecosystem was conducted to understand data flows, processes, and integration points.

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• Data Migration: Migrating vast amounts of historical data from the client’s legacy BMS while ensuring accuracy and minimal disruption was a significant task which Porterson managed successfully, including the following: 

  • 11 Channel migrations into a single global BMS, resulting in more streamlined processes and integrations across the business ecosystem, cost reductions and stronger inter-team collaborations.

  • All critical data, including content libraries and associated metadata accurately and securely migrated to the BMS through a combination of manual and a model-based importer tool.

  • Migration and conformity of the media asset library.

  • Migration of regional supply chain requirements to single global model.

  • Migration of in-source playout to an internal facility.

  • Rigorous user acceptance testing confirmed data integrity and completeness, ensuring that no information was lost or compromised during the migration.

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• Systems Integration:

  • Successful integration to the new BMS with the existing traffic/ad-sales platform was crucial for ensuring continuity and seamless data flow between systems, while legacy systems were kept operational in parallel during the transition.

  • Adapting the new BMS with local compliance to automatically check if planned broadcasts meet quota requirements in real-time during scheduling, and the creation of mandated quota reporting to local regulatory bodies.
     

• Report Analysis and Development:

  • Porterson Business Analysts worked closely with key business users to analyse and document existing processes and identify key metrics and reports required across the departments. 

  • Porterson Business Analysts were able to produce clear and concise business requirements which allowed the Porterson Engineers to develop user friendly, customised, and on-demand reporting across department needs.

  • Interactive dashboards were created by Porterson Engineers which allowed users to access and control data on demand prior to exporting the report to reduce manual intervention thereafter. 

  • Porterson helped facilitate the automated generation and distribution of reports at scheduled intervals (daily, weekly, or monthly), ensuring key stakeholders always had up-to-date data without manual efforts.

  • Porterson Business Analysts created detailed, informative training materials allowed our client to understand how to run the new reports as well as the logic behind them which increased confidence and reduced the need of post-report support. 

  • All new reports were deployed to a test environment which meant that the client’s existing live operations remained unaffected and uninterrupted.

 

• Third-Party System Integration:

  • Porterson helped stand up a number of internal and external data integrations which ensured the new BMS was able to maintain data feeds such as commercial break/spot files, quotas, listings data etc as required.

 

• Operational Efficiency:

  • Porterson’s successful delivery in the migration to the new BMS introduced more streamlined operations, offering advanced features, innovation and automation that reduced manual tasks and improved overall productivity.

  • Users were able to access a more intuitive user interface and robust functionality, facilitating faster decision making and more effective content management.
     

• Change Adoption and Training:

  • Change management strategies such as roadmaps, workshops, training and communication plans were successfully implemented by Porterson which resulted in widespread adoption and minimal resistance to the new BMS.
     

• Test Planning and User Acceptance Testing (UAT):

  • To help facilitate a successful UAT, Porterson produced a detailed test strategy plan which involved:

    • Defining testing objectives and identifying critical areas that needed validation (e.g., scheduling, rights, Adsales, reporting).

    • Outlining testing types (e.g., functional testing, data migration testing, integration testing).

    • Establishing test cases and scenarios based on business processes to ensure the system met all operational requirements.

    • Setting up a testing environment that mirrors the production environment as closely as possible.

  • Multiple rounds of UAT were led by Porterson to ensure the new BMS met the needs of the end users as well as the following: 

    • End to end Workflow Testing: Testing full workflows from acquisition to scheduling and as-runs confirmed that the system was able to handle all day to day business processes.

    • Edge cases: Testing of edge case scenarios ensured that the system could handle exceptions without errors.

    • Identification of defects and gaps: Porterson factored in time for users to report issues or functionality gaps before the final cutover stage which allowed ample time for remediation and additional analysis.
       

• Cutover and Post Migration Support:

  • Porterson executed a smooth cutover process with minimal disruption to day-to-day activities by preparing a checklist which included cutover plans, data migration schedules, and post-go-live support procedures.

  • Porterson maintained a post migration support process to address issues and ensure the client was fully able to utilise the new BMS capabilities and operational workflows with ease.