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Classical music specialist seeks digital transformation

Boosey & Hawkes, a Concord company, is the world’s largest specialist classical music publishing company with offices in the cultural hubs of New York, London, and Berlin, as well as a network of agents around the world with a key goal of investing in a fully digital future.

An important factor for Boosey & Hawkes was the link between being truly digital and optimised for productivity across their teams.

The challenge: integrating complex data across applications

For Boosey & Hawkes, the digital challenge lay in integrating multifaceted project streams from across applications within the company. In a world where data is king, ensuring that every piece of information is accurate and accessible is paramount. The company recognised the need to adopt an integrated approach, ensuring that their legacy of excellence in classical music could continue to thrive in the modern digital era.

Boosey & Hawkes brought in Sherpa Solutions, a consultancy that helps teams reach new heights through Atlassian Software solutions, to define the problem and manage the implementation of the solution alongside a technical consultancy.

The lack of integration between apps resulted in the following challenges:

• Multiple sources of truth
• Duplicate data entry points
• Time-consuming report generation from multiple systems
• Expanding support footprint
• Inflexible target systems resistant to integration

" Organising and planning a live, commissioned classical performance is among the most complex project work I’ve ever encountered, involving multiple simultaneous workstreams across five departments. On average, enabling just one commissioned classical work requires managing 32 distinct issues. "
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Jeff Pittman
Founder, Sherpa Solutions

The rocky road to a commissioned and composed live performance

Employees found themselves bogged down in manual data collation from various systems, a task that was time-consuming and error-prone. The manual process also detracted from the creative pursuits of advancing musical projects that is Boosey & Hawkes' mission.

The key operational challenge was transforming unstructured data from an asset management system called StorMedia into structured data within Jira Service Management (JSM), which was managed by Jira Admins and posted back to StorMedia for composers' use.

The solution: integrating JSM and a legacy database to bring data consistency and greater efficiency to teams

Sherpa Solutions had reached the limitations of its low-code integration tool. They faced restrictions to both scale and functionality: their current low-code tool was unable to handle the volume of data that needed processing, and it was unable to standardise the data, as characters appeared differently across the apps used by the teams.

They approached Blue Ridge Consultants, an Atlassian Gold Solution Partner, to work on a solution. Blue Ridge’s philosophy is rooted in investing time and resources into solutions that benefit clients in the long run. Their approach ensures solutions not only solve the immediate use case but also evolve alongside Boosey & Hawkes’ future requirements.

Blue Ridge demonstrated to both Sherpa and Boosey & Hawkes that ScriptRunner Connect, an integration platform rather than a low-code integration app, could overcome these limitations.

" We proposed ScriptRunner Connect, as it offered greater flexibility, enhanced functionality, and a more cost-effective approach compared with no-code alternatives. Our expertise gave Jeff confidence that we could not only meet his requirements but also provide a platform better suited to his team’s unique demands. "

Kyle Moseley
CEO. Blue Ridge Consultants

The road to centralised project management

With JSM, tasks such as commissioning new classical works were structured into clear, manageable issue types. For instance:

• Commissioner tasks: each commissioner has dedicated issue types with sub-tasks, like invoice processing and manuscript development.
• Editorial workflows: editorial tasks are split into (up to 12) subtasks to track revisions, approvals, and collaboration with freelancers.
• Legal and sales approvals: legal teams manage business affairs and approvals, while sales handle title preparations, all of which are linked to the overarching project.

This structure offers a single point of view for the entire lifecycle of a project, ensuring all team members have visibility into progress, dependencies, and approvals.

" (With ScriptRunner Connect) we’re only limited by what we can develop and not at the mercy of an external product’s development team. "

Kyle Moseley
CEO, Blue Ridge Consultants

The process of posting to StorMedia

The solution, combining the power of JSM, StorMedia and ScriptRunner Connect, provides:

1. Automated data synchronisation: JSM can push key project details directly into the asset database, ensuring up-to-date records on composers, librettists, arrangers, editors, and publishers.
2. Bi-directional updates: The system returns the unique “Work Number” of newly created assets, allowing seamless traceability between JSM and the database.

The challenges faced in managing sprawling, multi-year projects for new classical works have been addressed by leveraging a tailored Atlassian solution. By transitioning from SmartSheet to JSM, the organisation streamlined complex workflows across five service-focused teams—legal, marketing, editorial, promotions, and copyright. These teams can now collaborate seamlessly within a unified system while addressing the unique requirements of each project.

Results: productivity in perfect harmony

By addressing specific challenges and offering a highly scalable and adaptable integration, Blue Ridge and Sherpa Solutions together helped Boosey & Hawkes achieve their goals, providing greater confidence and efficiency.

While ScriptRunner Connect dramatically improved productivity and collaboration, it also addressed the crucial need for a future-proofed solution within the business. Creating data consistency between the legacy Asset Management Database, StorMedia, with the Atlassian solution, JSM, did exactly this.

As with any effective solution, the real success lay in systems working "in concert". This integrated approach delivered significant productivity gains across Boosey & Hawkes' sprawling workload, offering tangible improvements that resonated across their teams and processes.

The results were as follows:

A single source of truth

By leveraging the Jira API, ScriptRunner Connect and the API-enabled StorMedia system, the solution achieved what so many organisations strive for: a single source of truth. This seamless connectivity enabled real-time access to vital data, empowering teams to gain immediate insights into:

• Productivity: tracking task completion rates and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Bottlenecks: pinpointing delays within workflows for faster resolution.
• Age and complexity: monitoring project timelines and their associated intricacies to better manage resources.
• Operational health: offering a clear picture of “how things are going” across the organisation.

All these insights were now readily available at everyone’s fingertips, fostering transparency and collaboration while enabling informed decision-making.

Confidence in integration

The success of this project is rooted in an architecture designed with productivity at the forefront. By ensuring key systems communicate efficiently and intuitively, the solution empowers teams to focus on their work rather than grappling with disconnected tools. The emphasis on “true productivity” drove not only adoption but engagement, aligning tools with the end goal of streamlined operations.

Continuous learning and improvement

Every development effort offers new insights, and this project was no exception. Blue Ridge’s team continually refined their understanding of ScriptRunner Connect, incorporating new features that were released during the development phase. This iterative learning process ensured the solution remained cutting-edge and adaptable to future needs.

The big picture in tomorrow’s world

Ultimately, the integration didn’t just solve existing challenges—it set the stage for sustainable growth and operational excellence. By aligning technology with business objectives, the solution created a foundation for ongoing success, proving that when systems connect seamlessly, productivity and innovation thrive.

Reinforced values and reputation management

The integration not only improved internal processes but also reinforced Boosey & Hawkes' reputation as a forward-thinking leader in the classical music industry. By embracing modern solutions, the company demonstrated its commitment to innovation and its ability to adapt to changing technological landscapes, ensuring that it remains at the forefront of classical music promotion and production in the digital age.

The right data synchronised between apps

" The journey from project inception to final print asset just got smoother! We’ve unlocked a powerful connection between our Digital Asset Management system, StorMedia, and Jira Service Management, reducing manual data entry and improved project visibility across teams.

This integration was developed in collaboration with Jeff Pittman at Sherpa and Kyle Moseley at Blue Ridge, using the Atlassian app ScriptRunner Connect. It has streamlined our workflows and saved us valuable time and resources, and we’re looking to further expand on this cohesive relationship in the coming months to unlock even greater efficiencies. "

Bevis Hungate
VP, Boosey & Hawkes

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