"The concepts are sound and their applications robust. For ONOC it has revolutionized the way we do Sport"
Brian Minikin, Oceania Sport Development Officer.

Background:

In 1981, acting on an initiative of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was encouraging the formation of regional zones in the Olympic Movement, a meeting of sports leaders from Oceania was held in Baden Baden Germany, on the occasion of the Olympic Congress being conducted there. The meeting discussed procedures for establishing the "National Olympic Committees of Oceania", promoting the development of Olympism in the area and the coordination and distribution of Olympic Solidarity funds.

ONOC Objectives:

Brian Minikin identifies the following strategies for development on
a regional basis under the third ONOC Development Plan:

* Administration - To better administer sports development programs
throughout Oceania and create more opportunities for athletes,
coaches and officials to practice and gain practical experience at all
levels of sport
* Athlete development - To ensure maximum participation by the region's
athletes at the Athens' 2004 Olympic Games by developing an
appropriate competitive infrastructure within the Region.
* Human Resources - To develop a high level of expertise throughout the
South Pacific Region in Sports Coaching, Officiating and Administration.
* Competition - To develop a smooth continuum of sports competition
within the Pacific Region from the recreational level to the Olympic level
* The Olympic Movement - To develop sport in accordance with the
principles of Olympism and in doing so, develop the Olympic movement
as the major focus for sports development in Oceania.
* Communication - To establish an efficient and effective communication
network for sport throughout the ONOC region and internationally.

Before SportingPulse...

Brian Minikin says "We used to process everything manually, consequently many files and records have been lost. For example there is no complete record of results for the South Pacific Games." Brian goes on to say "Most of our members have suffered from poor hand over processes and hence one executive committee has had little opportunity to work from the results of previous groups."

Additional to this, Brian highlights the difficulties in communicating across such a sparse region "Lack of communication between and within countries has also been a major obstacle for development".

Why SportingPulse?

ONOC had already commenced development on their own systems before speaking with SportingPulse. Brian says "SportingPulse demonstrated to us that they were already further down the road with this development and hence the opportunity to work together to develop a suitable solution was made available to us." Brian continues by saying "Systems with much less functionality and flexibility have been developed for Games that cost astronomical amounts of money This system doesn't and what's more it remains between competitions to provide the communication network between our members."

Developing the region:

With the low connectivity rates experienced in most areas of the South Pacific, it was imperative that there be an offline component to the system so that users without a fast and reliable internet connection could still use the system. Brian says "With this system the difficulties of entering and accrediting athletes are a thing of the past. It is a system that can work in remote and technologically hostile environments." Brian goes on to add "The rollout of this system is developing IT expertise throughout the region"

Establishment of member database

As more and more countries take on the system, the end result for ONOC is a regional database of all athletes, which is updated as information is processed by the grassroots users. From this database, members are automatically placed into events such as the South Pacific Games and various other events, saving valuable administration time in cutting data entry for event organisers.

Increased Efficiency:

The biggest challenge when trying to obtain a regional database, is ensuring that the users at the grassroots level are getting value out of the system. If this was not achieved the system would not be a success. this is what makes the SportingPulse solution unique. Brian states "Communication and results are put into the hands of the people who are running the competitions and without creating work they are able to satisfy the media, their competitors/members and the general public as a single task."

Positive response from peers & members:

Considering the level of change that the system has brought to the region, the feedback from the users has shown the adaptability and enthusiasm of the people of the South Pacific. Brian says "They were shy at first and skeptical but for those who have `taken the plunge' and learned the system, they are increasingly enthusiastic about it."

Brian goes on to comment on feedback received by peers from other Olympic regions, "The oceaniasport system is being touted as `Best Practice'
in information management and sport/competition administration."

Organisation Profile:

Brief
ONOC are one of the 5 Olympic rings, or regions, governing the National Olympic Committees representing the22 member nations.

Location
22 Countries of the Pacific Ocean

Size
The Pacific Ocean takes up 1/3 of the total world surface area but is the most sparsely populated area.
Countries: 22 (not including Australiaand New Zealand.)
National federations: 400
Sports: 40
Members (est): 1,000,000

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