Cirque du Soleil

The Challenge

Entertainment company Cirque du Soleil has a talented team of artists and entertainers from around the world performing amazing feats on a nightly basis. But it’s not so apparent — to make the show run flawlessly — highly skilled technical staff work backstage doing everything from operating spotlights, designing costumes, and constructing sets.

Management was tasked with tracking hours spent on support activities for the show. The current method of tracking time included multiple managers using individual spreadsheets and paper printouts with no central method of gathering and storing the data. At the core, time tracking was needed for budgeting and payroll. But Cirque executives also wanted to classify how the technical team expended effort. Additionally, the head office required the information to be uploaded each morning following a performance. The technical staff was looking for a way to track and record daily time entries quickly and accurately.

The Solution & Results

As part of the design process, our team worked with Cirque’s management and finance people and had determined that specific tracking needs made a custom solution their best option. With the plan laid out, our team developed a SQL server compatible solution with a custom user interface designed to their exact specifications. The UI reduces repeatable tasks and saves time by making data entry quick and accurate. Because the data is now stored in a central location, the information could easily be uploaded to the main office on-demand.