Certain Software’s innovative team developed a software solution that evolved with the progress and planning of the Rugby World Cup in 2007. Read here to learn how the online portal that Certain Software implemented for staff, volunteers, and media revolutionized the registration process and saved planners months of anxiety and planning.
Read the Case Study
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Situation
After the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup is the largest sporting tournament in the world and an event of growing complexity. The logistics for staging the Rugby World Cup go far beyond the stadiums, with a massive accreditation program used to manage VIPs, teams, media, officials, volunteers and all of the support staff needed to run the events.
Solution
Since the Rugby World Cup in 2003, Certain Software has worked in partnership with the International Rugby Board (IRB) to develop software solutions that evolve to meet their changing requirements.
The Certain Software team and IRB started work in March 2006 and the solution was used at the Top 14 Competition played throughout France (August 2006 – June 2007), 6 Nations Tournament (February - March 2007), Test Match at Marseille (October 2006), and Rugby World Cup itself (September - October 2007).
For the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the Certain Software's team developed the world’s most sophisticated Accreditation module. The module worked online, ensuring only approved people were in any particular spot during 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, Scotland, and Wales.
Some 40,000 records were processed through these accreditation portals. The outcome of the accreditation process was to generate passes from Certain Events, giving clear visual permission to approved areas within the venues, and access to functions.
Similar treatment was provided for the volunteers, who were the backbone of running the tournament on match days. With a signifi cant increase in volunteers in 2007, a portal was developed for volunteers to submit their applications online. Volunteers could also log back in to update their details and see if their requested position had been approved. The volunteer online portal was used to manage all communications among over 7,000 personnel. This included individual position and venue allocation at each of the stadiums, shift scheduling, meal and transport ticketing, as well as training requirements for their roles. Overall, the logistics of managing the volunteer community was significantly streamlined by the portal.
Media ticketing also required a solution. The media access to venues provided significant challenges towards the end of the tournament because up until a few days before, it was not known which teams would be competing against eachother. Media from team countries were obviously given priority.
The solution to media ticketing was also undertaken via an online portal. The media were able to submit applications requesting the matches they wanted to attend. The media ticketing process included a sophisticated ranking and priority point-based matrix which included whether the media was from a team country or not. From the points automatically applied to each media application, Certain Events' newly developed Visual Allocation tool was able to allocate the seating, down to the individual seat number in each stadium. The system also gave wait-listed media access, as late as 30 minutes before a game started, if pre-allocated seats were not required.
Results
“While the system focused on media ticketing, volunteer management, venue accreditation and transportation logistics, with no paper application forms required, the sheer volume of people that accessed the system via the internet portals made this a milestone success for Amlink,” comments Trevor Gardiner, COO of Certain Software (then Amlink Technologies).
IRB plans to use Certain Software for the New Zealand Rugby World Cup in 2011.
