Do you know how the Paralympic Games staff connection was organized?

Prototype tablet for communication of Paralympic operational staff

Previously, everything was done by walkie - talkies - cheap, angry and not very efficient. Now IT has come to the sport, and, besides the portal, which gives the results of all the competitions up to a second, modern types of communication have appeared.

The Paralympic Games is probably one of the most interesting examples of how remote workplaces are made for employees of various organizations. We have developed a software and hardware complex consisting of software in the “KROK cloud”, a special shell for tablets and devices from a reputable manufacturer, customized for the task.
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Mobile employees took tablets and went to the competition sites. They could be met at the stadium, on the track, the Small Ice Arena and so on. Staff members are located in three Paralympic villages and worked remotely from each other. And there was also our support, able to remotely configure tablets and solve problems.

General meaning

The tasks were as follows: ensuring the organization of communications between Paralympic Committee employees responsible for media relations, analytics, coordination of the Games, etc. Thus, the dedicated groups of coaches of national teams of Russia, service managers (responsible for preparing sports equipment), analysts, coordinators and medical workers should use tablets with special software on board, being directly in the competition venues. Staff members used desktops or laptops and a browser client. Coordination included constant monitoring of the information flow from all places of the Games, setting goals, finding people on the map and organizing communication with them.

BY

• MS Lync - the organization of video communications between operational workers and staff staff.
• View weather information.
• A quick summary of the results of the Games, compiled on the fly: publishing and viewing information about the results of the Russian national team performance, publishing and viewing information about the results of competing performances, viewing information on the overall medal count.
• SMS distribution for different groups of users, viewing history, managing distribution groups.
• File sharing system (mostly - photos and videos from task reports).
• View information about the location of operational workers.
• Management (administration) and accounting of tablet computers during the event.

From the user's manual

Architecture

Shell and client

I will not tell you about the web portal for staff officers here. I will stop on tablets. They had a closed platform, so almost everything had to be done through an application that works with the platform through the standard Android API. We wrote it all from scratch specifically for the Games.

The project went atypically: there was very little time, and in the process of implementation, clarifications of TK came, often requiring new functionality. We usually work by first evaluating the entire project and prototyping the final result (so that it can be visually presented), and only then we go to it in steps. It also had to roll out the release every week, updating the functions of the system - data on the use of devices at the Games came on the fly. In addition, we usually have the task of mobilizing the customer’s employees in a wider plane: for example, it was necessary to supply 2,000 devices for one large retailer or 5,000 devices for a mining company. There, the integration is complete - with their CRM, ERP, security, Signage and a variety of data sources. And here, in fact, the system is closed only on itself, therefore, it is relatively easy to make changes. By our standards, the project is quite short.


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Weather forecast and medal standings

From surprises: I had to “pack” the tablets in special cases for work on the street, protect them with a special film, or even cold, rain and gloves. And the stylus was also needed, since it was difficult to work with gloves.

All this is provided by us to the Paralympic Committee for charitable purposes. The tablets themselves are not sharpened for just one event, so they can in principle be used for any needs of the committee staff. Accordingly, their further use will be determined by them: it is possible that they will put applications for other tasks, perhaps - they will be used as universal tablets.

about the project

In general, I can say that tasks of this class are quite rare. Usually we have a hardware platform from which you can work directly, and not through the Android layer (we, for example, put one of the * nix-solutions that meets the domestic safety criteria). The devices themselves are sometimes basically a collection of sensors and a communication unit — terminals are needed to collect information and use the client.

Most often, we are talking about GPS / GLONASS data for determining geo-location, cameras for recording work performed by an employee, and various kinds of special corporate applications. As an example - the same access to the database of stolen cars: a traffic police officer far from the city can drive a number and get information on it. The difficulties, respectively, lie no longer in the refinement of hardware and software, but in the integration, processing of data on the "cloud" side and their exchange. Also sometimes - in the field of certification of such devices.



And finally - we implemented a feature, with the help of which it was possible to easily and simply inform media representatives about all events, all at once. This significantly changed the work process of the headquarters: they created a group in the SMS mailings and broadcast important events there. From a sporting result to receiving a journalist SMS - just 30 seconds. Similarly, the data on special press briefings on the results of a particular competition went away. For comparison, in past Games I had to plant several people who just called everyone around. And when you need to call 200-300 journalists, it takes a lot of time.