PerfectTablePlan newsletter 39

PerfectTablePlan v5 nearing completion

PerfectTablePlan v5.0 is now 'feature complete'. Here are some of the highlights:

• edit multiple guests in a single operation
• show guest names and seat numbers in the floor plan at the same time
• view your plan in a web browser
• identify potential problems in the new 'trouble shooting' report
• display your seating chart on a screen at the venue
• a new E-shaped table type
• automatic scaling and word wrapping of text in stationery
• include 'you are here' maps in stationery
• improved custom seat numbering
• save your plan as a template for new events
• bulk editing of proximity
• check-in guests with a barcode scanner
• report who sat next to who across multiple plans
• improved automatic seat assignment
• free clipart
• improved icons

It just requires a few more weeks of polishing, testing, debugging, documentation and proof reading before a production version is ready to go on sale. We hate buggy software and bad documentation, so we take this final stage seriously.

Sign up for PerfectTablePlan v5 beta

PerfectTablePlan v5 comprises 115,000 lines of C++ code, integrated with various third party libraries running across 6 operating systems (3 Windows and 3 Mac). It has to reliably handle a huge range of different types of table plan, from a small dinner party to a 4000 seat gala dinner, on thousands of differently configured PCs and Macs . And there are lots of new features in v5. So testing the new release is not a trivial undertaking. We take a 3 stage approach to catch as many bugs as possible before we release a production version:

1. internal testing (by us using various tools and techniques)
2. third party testing (by external software testing specialists)
3. beta testing (by customers)

Beta testing by customers always finds issues that we weren't able to find by other means. So we hope lots of you will take part in the beta testing. You will receive a temporary licence key so that you can use the full capabilities of PerfectTablePlan v5 for free, for a limited time. As well as helping to make the release as reliable as possible, it will also give you a chance to send us feedback on the new features in v5. We hope to be ready for beta testing in a few weeks time, depending on how the internal and third party testing goes.

If you would like to take part in the beta test and be one of the first people to try PerfectTablePlan v5, you can sign up now and we will email you details nearer the time. Signing up does not oblige you to buy an upgrade to v5 or do anything else. All we ask is that you send us feedback on any problems you encounter.

Please note that only customers with valid PerfectTablePlan licence keys (any edition, any version) are eligible to take part in the beta test.

The 3 customers that report the greatest number/severity of bugs/issues during beta testing will each receive a free upgrade to PerfectTablePlan v5 Professional Edition. Sign up for the beta for more details.

Upgrading to v5

You can't buy an upgrade to PerfectTablePlan v5 until we ship the production version. We can't currently tell you when this will be.  Hopefully within the next 1-2 months, but we aren't making any promises. We won't be cutting any corners to hit an artificial deadline. It is ready when it is ready. Watch this newsletter for further announcements.

Anyone who purchased a v4 licence in the 3 months before the production release of PerfectTablePlan v5 will be sent a free upgrade to v5.

Optimization problems not related to seating

We have added a new FAQ entry: Can PerfectTablePlan be used for optimization problems not related to seating, e.g. assigning golf fours?

When things go wrong

An entertaining read about how things never turn out quite how you expect at events: Time To Face The Music – When Things Go Wrong.