Ensuring Consistency Across AMC Theatres

Improving operational consistency and document discovery across AMC Theatres.

AMC Theatres, the largest movie exhibition company in the United States, manages a vast library of procedural documents that support operations across hundreds of theater locations. As the organization transitioned from physical binders to digital documentation, AMC recognized that its existing systems were creating confusion and inefficiencies. Employees often struggled to identify the most current procedures, which made it difficult to maintain a consistent guest experience. To address these challenges, AMC began searching for a more intuitive knowledge management system that would make it easy to find the right information at the right time.

Task

AMC needed a solution capable of resolving several specific issues. The company’s SharePoint search function frequently returned outdated or irrelevant documents, which caused employees to reference older versions of procedures. With thousands of documents, many of which were standard operating procedures (SOPs), the organization required an enterprise search tool that would reliably surface the most current and authoritative information. AMC also wanted a state-of-the-art single point of entry that looked and felt like a modern search engine, one that employees across the business could adopt easily. Additionally, AMC needed a seamless workplace integration with its existing systems, including SharePoint and Oracle, as well as a single sign-on option to simplify access for its theater-based workforce.

"…the reason we went on this journey in the 1st place was so theaters can get their information fast. They don't have to search through a whole list of 10,000 results on SharePoint. They get the one or two documents that they need. So, they can quickly open it up and find the answer they need and go right back to helping our guests, which is first and foremost the most important thing of all and why we do what we do. We want people to come and watch movies in our theaters and have a good time. And we want the level of consistency across all theaters. No matter what AMC you go to, we know that the management team and crew are all going to be executing very similar guidelines and there's a certain standard that we're trying to reach." – Keith Arlotti

Solution

To meet these needs, AMC implemented Mindbreeze as its knowledge management solution. Mindbreeze provided a clean, and intuitive control plane that immediately made it easier for users to find the documents they needed. Mindbreeze integrated directly in SharePoint and Oracle. It supported single sign-on, allowing employees to access information with just one click. AMC also leveraged Mindbreeze to deploy their Best Bets feature, which prioritizes the most important documents and ensures that essential standard operation procedures (SOPs), such as procedures for AMC Stubs or movie piracy incidents, appear at the top. This capability helped the organization streamline its library of more than 700 SOPs by reducing redundancies and removing outdated materials. Persistent hyperlinks ensured that links to documents never broke, even when titles or file contents changed, which eliminated a long-standing issue in SharePoint. 

The addition of quick links with Mindbreeze provided alternate navigation options for employees who prefer browsing indexed documents, and an automatically generated summary page highlighted recent SOP changes to keep staff informed.

"If anyone had any questions as to why the procedures look different than when they last referenced it, they can always go to that, that singular summary document. So, a lot of things that we've kind of built into it over time have really made it easier for more and more people to understand this is where you have to go to." - Keith Arlotti

Implementation

Agreements were signed in early August 2018 and Mindbreeze was fully launched within a few months at the end of February 2019. Rolling out Mindbreeze required both technical setup and cultural adoption. At first, some employees continued using the old SharePoint workflow, so AMC focused on training and communication to help teams understand where to find the most accurate information. The introduction of single sign-on made routine use much easier, and over time, employees began relying on Mindbreeze as their primary source for documentation. Once the system was fully in place, AMC gradually introduced more advanced features such as Best Bets, which helped refine search accuracy. New managers learn the system as part of their onboarding process and quickly recognized the value of having a reliable, centralized repository for SOPs and procedural updates.

“Overtime [employees] got more and more used to using [Mindbreeze] and by introducing things like Best Bets (a really neat feature we ended up using), and working with those documents and asking questions, we learned a little bit more about what we had as capabilities. We also ended up creating some quick links on the front landing page of the Mindbreeze instance, so that if you just wanted to get to your table of contents, which is very organized…you could do so” - Keith Arlotti

Target Achievement

The implementation of Mindbreeze significantly improved operational consistency across AMC’s theater network. Employees can now access the most current versions of documents without the risk of encountering outdated or incorrect information. This reliability has strengthened the overall theater experience, as teams are consistently guided by accurate and up-to-date procedures. AMC has also seen increased trust in the system’s dependability. According to Keith Arlotti, Director of Field Communications, employees notice immediately when the system is offline for maintenance. This level of reliance demonstrates how integral Mindbreeze has become to daily operations. It also supports consistent training experiences, enabling managers to confidently teach new employees using a stable, authoritative set of documents.

“…the biggest mission of ours is giving the theaters what they need to create the most consistent experience, which is focused completely on the guest. Because we know that there's a lot of choices, we want to make sure that our theater teams have everything they need to operate professionally, to provide the same consistent experience to every guest, to have all the tools that they need so that there's never a question, or if there are questions, they can get answers to them quickly and they can move on with their day with helping the guests. Obviously, we're entering the holiday period now with some pretty big releases, and I feel like even though there may not be a direct line of how a standard operating procedure helps a crew member, or a manager, and then helps a guest, I still feel that overall, all that information creates that bedrock from which you can operate. You know that there's always a backstop. There's always that consistent information that if you ever have a question, you know exactly where to go, you know how to find it by using Mindbreeze, and you know that, at least as far as everyone else knows, that's the most current information you're going to find. If you have a question about anything - it could be about the AMC steps program, how we do pricing, or how we how we run certain aspects of the theater - our managers can get to it, which is most important. They know that we're going to keep it updated and we're going to make it as easy as possible for them to get to it.” - Keith Arlotti

Facts

  • AMC was founded in 1920 in Kansas City.
  • The company uses Mindbreeze across 4,800 users.
  • The solution is integrated with SharePoint and Oracle.
  • AMC is known for industry firsts such as the cup-holder armrest, the megaplex, and stadium seating.