A small company that builds systems people depend on once a year.
That sentence is the whole job description. Most of what we build gets used hard for a few weeks and then goes quiet until the next season.
What we do
Illuminating Software builds software for organizations that run programs — competitions, contests, and the processes that surround them. Our flagship product, zFairs, handles the operational spine of judged student competitions: registration, entries, judging, advancement, and awards. 500+ events a year run on it.
We also make Orkboo, everything in a workbook for document workflows and e-signatures, and ISEF Forms, a free tool for science fair students and teachers.
How we work
A science fair happens once. A state contest happens once. If something fails in that window, there is no next sprint to fix it in — the event either happened or it didn't. That constraint shapes everything about how we build.
We ship well before the season rather than during it. We prefer configuring the system to your rules over asking you to change them, because your rules usually came from a board, a national office, or thirty years of precedent. And we answer the phone in the weeks that matter, because a support ticket is not much use to someone standing in a gymnasium at seven in the morning.
We would rather be the boring, dependable part of your event than the interesting part.
Who we are
We are a small product company in West Valley City, Utah. The people who answer when something is wrong at nine at night are the same people who built the software. We would rather tell you that plainly than sound bigger than we are.
Where we are
West Valley City, Utah. Our customers run programs across the country, and we visit as many events a year as the season allows.
3556 S 5600 W Unit 1-138
West Valley City, Utah 84120
Working with us
Most engagements start with a conversation about how your program actually runs — not a demo. We would rather understand the rules you are working to before showing you anything, because the demo is only useful once it looks like your event.