Two major international sports federations, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and the International Archery Federation (FITA), have launched new online ranking services through their respective web sites using Sportcal’s Active Data Management for Sport (ADMS) software.

Sportcal’s ADMS software enables sports federations to develop results and ranking systems either for internal use or for promotion through their web sites.

Sportcal has been developing media information systems for international federations since 1989 and ADMS has been built using knowledge acquired during that time.

Sportcal has been working with ISAF since 1990 and has developed a full suite of applications for the federation. The recent development of a searchable ranking system is an innovation that will greatly enhance sailing’s web site and will provide a tremendous service to the sport.
http://www.sailing.org/matchrace/ranking.asp

‘In the past ISAF, like many federations, has developed ranking systems which were produced in-house and sent out by fax or post. This limited people’s ability to understand how their rankings were calculated and whether they were correct or not,’ said Mike Laflin, chief executive of Sportcal Global Communications Limited

‘Now with ISAF’s online interactive ranking system, not only can competitors see what ranking they have achieved, they can also check to see how their points were calculated and how their rivals achieved their points,’ added Laflin

‘It now very easy for us to publish and maintain the rankings. The additional interactive facilities make it possible to search our extensive database of all results of all championships and graded events of the last 10 years,’ said Jerome Pels, Director of Sailing of the International
Sailing Federation

‘The rankings home page is the second most requested page on our site after the front page, which shows the interest that our rankings generate. The easy-to-use Web browser interface lets us input event results and calculate rankings from anywhere in the world,’ added Pels.

At the same time as ISAF was launching its interactive ranking system, FITA announced its own online ranking system, also developed using Sportcal’s ADMS software.
http://www.fita.ch/ranking.asp

FITA took the decision to develop its own media information system in 2001 and selected Sportcal’s ADMS software as its preferred platform.

Since then FITA has developed a media information system that enables it to gather data on archery events, competitors, results from each competition and rankings for a wide variety of disciplines.

‘Each IF needs a good results database but the problem is keeping it up to date and putting the results in. The ADMS software ensures that you put the data in once and the system takes care of the rest, removing a lot of human resources. Also by having the system online the data can be entered from all over the world through a secure system,’ said Tom Dielen, Executive Director of the International Archery Federation

FITA has also developed its own international calendar system using Sportcal’s software. This application provides the facility for each national body to maintain its own national calendar within a system supplied and supported by FITA and Sportcal. This enables FITA to co-ordinate and monitor archery events throughout the world and at any time know exactly where events are taking place globally.

Sportcal is also working with a number of other international federations helping them to develop their media information systems and advising them on their media strategies.

‘ADMS has proved very popular with federations who are either looking to re-develop their existing systems or wish to start developing their systems from scratch,’ said Laflin

‘These new ranking systems are great traffic generators and will encourage competitors and the media to constantly re-visit these sites whenever a new ranking is announced. This provides tremendous opportunities for sponsorship and e-commerce based around the rankings.’

Sportcal provides a complete auditing service of existing systems, identifying ways in which media information systems can be improved and offering advice on how to develop them.

For further information on ADMS and the services offered by Sportcal, visit the Sportcal web site www.sportcal.com/adms or contact Mike Laflin on +44 (0)20 8944 8786 or e-mail mike.laflin@sportcal.com

For further information on ISAF visit www.sailing.org or contact Jerome Pels on +44 (0)2380 635111 or e-mail jerome@isaf.co.uk

For further information on FITA visit www.archery.org or contact Tom Dielen on +41 (0)21 614 3050 or e-mail tdielen@archery.org