Reconciliations now take seconds rather than 2-3 weeks, thanks to intuitive portal for Payback campaign.

The big system update meant that the reconciliations needed to allocate and distribute money from CLA can be achieved in seconds rather than 2-3 weeks

At a glance

Artists get paid easier

Easier for artists to get paid when their images are used for books, TV and websites

New system

New system simplifies and speeds up claims, reconciliations and payments

Ease of use

Ease of use leads to thousands more claims being submitted

No strain on resources

DACS team can handle extra workload without a strain on resources

Tight campaign launch deadline

One Beyond was the only developer able to meet the tight campaign launch deadline

"The system One Beyond has built for us is at least 200 percent better than what we had before. The previous system we had was so terrible and clunky that this is light years ahead."

Gary W, IT Manager, DACS

About DACS (Design & Artists Copyright Society)

DACS (Design & Artists Copyright Society) is the UK’s leading rights management organisation for visual artists. It collects and distributes royalties for 100,000 individuals worldwide – and has paid out over £100 million in royalties over the past 35 years.

The Challenge

DACS’ Payback campaign urges artists to claim royalties for use of their copyrighted images in books, TV programmes, in magazines and on websites. Previously, claims were submitted through an outdated web interface. DACS then had to make manual calculations and check everything against an old CRM system, used for distribution and invoicing. This process was highly resource-intensive as staff had to wade through thousands of claims.

Our Solution

One Beyond developed an intuitive application that speeds up reconciliations and simplifies payments. Claimants can enter details of their work via a portal. Publication title lookups are performed using APIs from different providers, speeding up searches. An admin portal makes it easy for DACS to download claims and submit them to licensing schemes. Successful claims are imported into the admin portal. Royalties received are allocated to claimants, who receive statements.

A closer look at features and benefits

One Beyond’s own in-house tools used to accelerate the development process

Portal and payments reconciliation/distribution system built using the latest web development technologies and hosted in Microsoft Azure

Portal wins praise in the arts media

"Everything is better. It’s impressively fast and efficient – its slickness is outstanding. It’s a lot simpler to navigate. It looks great on a mobile, too, so claimants can interact with it however they want to."