Version 1 develops Player Registration System for IRFU
13 June 2006
Version 1 recently completed a contract with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) to develop a new player registration system which will act as a springboard for future growth.
The Irish Rugby Football Union is responsible for the management, development and promotion of Rugby Union throughout Ireland. As the game itself has evolved into a modern professional sport, the IRFU has also transitioned to match. The volunteers that form the backbone of the game are now supported by a full time professional administration team who are guiding the IRFU through an ambitious strategic development plan to build on the success of the game in recent years and provide a platform for increased growth, success and participation. Improvements to administrative processes are an essential in achieving this.
"One of the many targets set out in the Strategic plan is to have 100,000 registered players by 2007 and out of this the IRFU identified a requirement for a centralised player registration and management system said Kevin Potts, (Domestic Game Manager, IRFU).
The new system called PlayerReg will be used by club, branch and IRFU users and allow for the input of new player details, the maintenance of existing player details, the official requesting of player transfers and the creation/maintenance of club details. It will store photographs of players and facilitate the automated production of membership cards and playing histories. It facilitates the capture of data and registration of players and will be primarily used by volunteers in the 200 clubs in the country, supported by IRFU staff in the provincial branches.
"Version 1 supplied us with a reliable, scalable solution which has the flexibility to grow with our ambitions," said Daniel Marin (IT Manager, IRFU). "PlayerReg provides us with the infrastructure to ensure our records are accurate and up-to-date. This is our key priority, but already we can see other features that can be built into future phases that will help the volunteers in the clubs by reducing repetitive administration."
The IRFU decided against a packaged software solution and contracted Version 1 to develop a customised registration and management system. "Packaged solutions are often seen as attractive because of a perceived cost-effectiveness when compared with traditional development methodologies, but can be difficult to tailor to specific business requirements," said John
Mullen (Technical Director, Version 1 ). "Our Development Framework approach gives customers the best of both worlds by combining the flexibility of custom development with the stability and cost-effectiveness of buying an off-the-shelf solution."
The Framework consists of a number of pre-defined, pre-built technology components that comprise key functionality common to modern business systems. At the end of each project, Version 1 updates the framework to ensure it reflects its most up-to-date experience and the current requirements of clients. "This allows us to avoid the need for re-developing common elements of applications (such as membership management, document management, login screens, home pages etc) that have been built countless times before," said Mullen.
The IRFU benefited from this approach in two significant ways. Firstly the amount of development effort required was reduced and, secondly, the remaining development effort was focused on meeting its specific requirements. This helped ensure that the IRFU's full requirements were met in a cost-effective way.
"The timeframe was critical as the project had a very tight deadline," added Kevin Potts, (Domestic Game Manager, IRFU). "Version 1 started work in February and the project went live within 12 weeks. The speed it came to market was due to the quality of Version 1 team and strategy. It was an added bonus that Version 1 is an Irish company and would be close to hand should any problems arise."
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