EuroPython Conference Software Requirements

This page is derived from PyConPlanning/SoftwareRequirements but focuses on things that have proven more relevant to EuroPython. The requirements here do not directly address general conference Web site issues, such as http://www.europython.org/ which focuses on the publishing of general information about the conference.


Existing Software

There are a few solutions people are using for conference management, including the following:


Essentials

These are things which have been central to the organisation of EuroPython and which have already been managed using conference software:

Extras

These are things which could have been managed using conference software or which could have been made easier using such software:

Luxuries

These are things which people seem to find interesting but which haven't been the focus of the EuroPython organisers:


Account Management

It is not generally a good idea to allow unauthenticated users to register for a conference - this tends to attract speculative registrations from people who seem not to be serious about attending. However, a few use-cases need to be supported for people logging in to...

One limitation of the Indico instance hosted at CERN was the insistence that registrants must have their own account. Creative workarounds include using distinct e-mail aliases belonging to one person.

Registration

This combines some of the PyCon requirements for "users" with more general requirements:

Paper/Talk Submissions

See "Account Management" for some relevant criteria.

Scheduling

Sponsors

Feedback


Experiences with Indico

Indico has been used to manage EuroPython 2007. Here's how it fares in the above criteria:

Account Management

Register yourself

Yes

Register others

Not at CERN

Submit/edit/withdraw your own materials

Yes

Submit/edit/withdraw materials for others

Only as administrator

Review materials

Yes

Administer conference

Yes

Registration

Registrant information

Supported - can add arbitrary fields

Export/reports of registrant information

Yes (PDF, CSV)

Badges

Supported - interactive editor and PDF export

e-payment

Yes

Pay later

Yes

Non-paying registrants

Yes (1)

Different prices/rates

Yes

Can generate total revenue

No - would need to include non-registration revenues

Tutorials and extra events

Yes (2)

Capacity limits on events

Yes

Optional donations/extra items

Yes (2)

Edit registrations yourself

Yes

Edit other registrations

Only as administrator

Cancel registrations yourself

No

Cancel other registrations

Only as administrator

Paper/Talk Submissions

Reviewer role

Yes

Organiser role

Yes

Submission information

Supported

Reviewer assignment

Done manually

Reviewer voting/consensus forming

Yes

Export/reports showing submission status

Yes - filtering and export possible (XML, PDF)

Reviewer comments (public and hidden

Yes

User comments

Yes

E-mail notifications

Yes

Export as proceedings

Yes

  1. An "invitation code" feature would let people register without manual validation of non-paying registrants afterwards. Generally, some kind of validation mechanism would be required, anyway.
  2. Add chargeable items to the form for extra events and items.

EuroPython/SoftwareRequirements (last edited 2014-01-13 11:16:14 by MarcAndreLemburg)

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