In 2007, APEC called upon Certain Software to create a management plan for keeping track of arrival & departures, accommodations, meeting attendance, demographics, and contact information for the event that brought thousands of attendees, along with world leaders from 21 countries. Read here to learn about the Delegate Information System that Certain’s team created to organize all aspects of this world-class event and ensure a smooth event planning performance.

Situation

The smooth running of the APEC summit, which brought 21 world leaders to Sydney, Australia in September 2007, was in no small part thanks to the powerful functionality of Certain Software's solutions. With learned experience with providing custom accommodation solutions for such major world events as the Olympics and the Rugby World Cup, the Certain team was able to implement a sophisticated transport management plan for the APEC summit, enabling the successful execution of some 4,000 individual transport requirements during Leaders Week alone.

Solution

The Certain Software team was contracted to the APEC 2007 Taskforce to provide a Delegate Information System (DIS), which began as a basic delegate database to provide key information (Arrival & Departures, Accommodation, Meeting Attendance, Demographic and Contact Information). This system expanded rapidly as the various Taskforce areas used the DIS and realized its further potential. Certain's team created a custom built Web Portal that gave the entire Taskforce access to delegate information via a series of smart searching and reporting screens.

“It was imperative that this web application be fast, flexible and accessible, and it had the major advantage of being extremely user friendly to the point where it required little or no training to use,” says Trevor Gardiner, COO of Certain Software (then Amlink Technologies). “The Transport Module we developed in partnership with the APEC Taskforce also included the capability to manage the motorcade requirements, the driver crews and the baggage logistics for each vehicle in the fleet.”

To compile the daily run sheets for dignitaries, the Liaison Officers used the web based Run Sheet Tool. “This tool had the added benefit of the Liaison Officers being able to watch – in real time – to see if their transport requests, being processed in the Transport Module in another Taskforce area, could be confirmed or not,” Mr Gardiner said.

The Certain Software team also customized its Accreditation Module used at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France for APEC 2007, as a strategic part of the Accreditation and Security Access Control System (ASACS) for APEC. This included the development of a sophisticated registration portal, captured data from delegates, media, workforce, security personnel and volunteers. That data was then validated via a secure Verification Zone and fed into the Certain Events Accreditation Module. After rigorous security checks, privileges were assigned from a Privilege Matrix, and, finally the accreditation passes were printed.

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Results

Certain Events' Accreditation and Transport Modules, and customized portals were battle tested at this major high profile event and proved to be powerful and flexible.

“The Certain team showed again that they have the experience and know-how to deliver, in tight deadlines, whilst still working on other major global events and servicing its clients 24/7,” Mr Gardiner remarks.

Dave Bowden from the Project Office, APEC 2007 Taskforce, said, “The outcome for the Taskforce could not have been achieved without DIS and the role that the Certain team played in delivering this tool.”