The Olympics Comes to London in 2012 - Term Paper Example

LONDON OLYMPICS By Presented to Lecturer’s place Due Executive Summary The Olympics comes to London in 2012, as a result there is a large requirement for information systems to cope with the volume of visitors traveling to or from each of the locations around London. Been a major sports event worldwide especially in the commonwealth countries and the participating countries, the event’s activities has to be aired efficiently and reliably and the monitoring of the security systems a mandatory requirement. Information technology has been known to work miracles if integrated well in the daily activities and when done by experts in the field but has been known to cause mayhem if implementation is done quacks and inexperienced persons referring to themselves as experts. The objectives of the paper is to unveil the information systems been implemented by the Olympic team in preparation for the Olympics games in 2012. The paper is to explore the teams contacted for the implementation of the information systems and the challenges been faced during implementation and the foreseen future challenges to be encountered especially during the actual event. The outcome of the paper is to help understand the impact of technology on business activities, real world problems related to large IT projects and gain insights into the problems involved in private and public IT projects. The methodology to be utilized is explorative method laying detailed emphasis on objectivity in the use of information systems in making the Olympics event a success. Use of information technology whether on small projects or big projects has always resulted to better outcome and efficiency in delivery of the final product. This is no different to the Olympics games event and integration of information systems will ensure better security and press releases as well as airing of the events worldwide. TABLE OF CONTENTS Terms of Reference Information technology has been one of the movers of today’s economy and has been used by various countries to make things efficient and to respond to time constraints. It is in regard to this that the researchers were commissioned to look at the information system been implemented in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The main objective is to evaluate on the strengths and challenges faced in the implementation and setting up of the information processing systems during preparation and the actual event. According to the terms stipulated, the researchers are to make a conclusion on the applications of the information systems and make the necessary recommendations on the implementation of the information systems. Introduction London, England hosts the world’s most expensive stadium which have being the venue for summer Olympics in 1908 and 1948. Sports in London is not only a recreation but a way of life and its no surprise that the city has been favoured to host the Olympics 2012 games. The Olympic park has a seating capacity of 180, 000 people and consists of magnificent stadiums and facilities thus creating a healthy sporting environment. The Olympic park will have six different venues including the velodrome, aquatics centre and basketball arena. The park has a network of walkways and footbridges thus there will be easy movements of the spectators and other visitors. There are efforts to ensure that the event takes place in a safe and secure place. The Olympics team has consulted a number of security agencies to provide a congenial environment for sporting activities to both the players and the spectators. Also there has being great improvements in terms of the transport network for the spectators using public transport, cycling or walking to the Olympics venue. Broadcasting of the Olympics games will be of necessity to the whole world and thus the Olympics team has built a main press centre allowing the media companies to carry out their work efficiently. There are efforts to use recyclable material, reduce carbon emissions and efficient use of water. With these efforts, the Olympic team is convinced that London is bound to the Olympic event which will be a catalytic to its success. Preparation of London as the city to host the 2012 Olympics games have attracted several parties and are determined to make it a success (ukinkenya, 2010, par 2). Among the major players are the security agencies and the information systems implementation teams. Through coordinated efforts and information sharing mentality, the event is bound to become one of the most successful sports activity ever held worldwide. All the sections of the Olympic park has to be perfected ranging from the venues where the vent is to actually take place, spectators grounds to airports and the transport network. There has to be coordinated information flow which is better done by information systems. Findings and Analysis With the above mentioned efforts aimed at making the Olympics 2012 a success, the impacts and effects that information technology will have on the success of the event cannot be underestimated. There will be use of several information systems all aiming to achieve a different goal and objective like ensuring the security of the players and spectators is ensured and efficient broadcasting of the event’s sporting activities. Information technology and systems will play a major role in surveillance of security along the transport systems like road network, railways and walkways inside and outside the Olympic park, analysis of the event’s activities and relaying of information to the concerned parties worldwide. This necessitates for good and efficient information systems in efforts to minimize delivery below the set standards. The Information Systems to be implemented aim at maximizing connectivity, thematic message of ‘games for a connected world’, and monitoring of environmental wastes and remediation of the contaminated land environmental through use of monitoring systems. Situation A six strong Atos origin team was instituted in November 2008 and is now working closely with other technology teams and suppliers at the London organizing committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). Throughout 2009, the team has worked on designing and building of information systems required to stage the event. The Atos team is required to oversee and coordinate the work before the extensive testing beginning this year, 2010. Though there has been a global recession, the IT team is continuing well and it is Hyron’s belief that the project will continue as planned and the global recession will have no impacts on the teams work. The incorporation of experts like Hyron, who have being highly exposed on IT terms and projects, will surely be a plus to the IT team. Through her guidance the team will ensure the system is integrated well and the testing has being effectively carried out to remove any bugs and improve on delivery. Prior to the year 2010, the IT teams were involved in planning strategies and architecture, designing he systems required, carrying out extensive analysis and building and incorporating the systems. From 2010 onwards, the team will carry out extensive testing to ensure that the information systems are working as proposed. The commentators’ information system (CIS) was introduced by the Beijing Olympics for use by commentators and journalists (Lee, 2006). The system will ensure that the interested parties get all the results and the information regarding the athletes without the need to travel to London city. The team has also rolled out a wireless network thus limiting the number of personal computers to be provided by London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. This will ensure that the people in need of accessing the network will be able to do so using their own laptops. The team has also embraced virtualization and aims at use of paper reduction. The information systems team have being installing the final infrastructure and the required equipment for the 4-week Olympic event. Intensive training on the staff and volunteers has being carried out and is ongoing and the technical glitches identified and solved. Problem All the interest and focus may be on the athletes participating in the track and field events, but the efficiency in performance of the information systems will play a major role in ensuring the success of the Olympic Games (London2012, 2010). Despite the many years of preparation and 200,000 testing hours, Jeremy Hore, chief integrator at Atos origin, admits that the systems are not yet to perfection and even though the necessary efforts have being put in place, there will be anxiety on the performance of the information systems. He admits that technology is a complex issue thus anything can happen and lots of other petty and small issues. However, he is assuring that the necessary testing has been put in place and will be quick to respond to any issues identified. According to Robert Scott, the main challenge facing the London 2012 Olympics event is security therefore the need for a multi dimensional and multi disciplinary security plan. Maintaining security of the participants of the Olympic 2012 games will be an enormous task for the metropolitan police service. This is especially so because of terrorism attacks which have in the recent past targeted international gatherings. This creates the need for actionable intelligence and well coordinated emergency response that’s real time to alert and curb such attacks. The implementation of a large information system requires the involvement of many experts group each possessing different technology and knowledge on the way forward of developing the system (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Parliament Great Britain Media and Sport Committee Culture House of Commons, 2005, p26). The best technology may use a different language to the one the core developers are using therefore making it difficult for them to use. From the magnitude of the event, the information systems to be developed have to be free of error and development of various systems using different technologies and development language. This makes it difficult for the taskforce involved in integrating the information systems. Of late there have been security challenges mainly arising from hackers online. The London 2012 Olympic Games event information system is no exception. The hackers may be able to hack into the system and give falsified results thus exposing the users of the information systems to incorrect information (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Welsh Affairs Committee, House of Commons 2009, p8). Also the information may be used for other purposes apart from the intended one thus compromising on the integrity of the Olympic committee and the information the committee gives to the public. Solution The problems identified above can only be solved through the participation of every party privy to the Olympic 2012 event. This has prompted the convergence of security interests of the civil agencies and the military in the recent years. In regard to the magnitude and sophistication in the recent terrorism activities, the need for a multi disciplinary and multi dimensional security plan can not be underestimated. The integration and implementation of the geospatial information management systems will greatly assist in monitoring of the activities and raise alert in case there are signs of security threat. The civilian and military security agencies have converged and are working towards a unified goal. The event has led the change of attitude of the concerned security agencies from the need to know to need to share mentality in relation to intelligence data and resources. The collaboration between the various security agencies has led to integrated security systems solutions development that combines the disparate processes and products used by intelligence, military and civilian agencies. The integration of these resources and products is made possible by the geospatially enable technologies integration into the information systems. In the recent past, geospatial technology has served as a common platform for collaboration between individuals and organizations regardless of the written or spoken language. Efficiency of geospatial technology is realized when it is integrated at the database level thus serving as a base for extended collaboration at the application software level. This was witnessed in the 2006 Olympic Games hosted in Torino, Italy where geospatially enabled venue systems helped the Torino Organisational committee for the Olympics to handle and prevent security incidents in the multiple venues of the event (Haklay, 2010, p38). There has been a body responsible for the integration of the various systems developed by the various expert groups. The organ of the IT team ensures that all the components have been integrated into the main information system and the system work without any anomalies and errors (Cegielski & Rainer, 2009, p342). The aim of the taskforce is to ensure every component of the information system has being integrated in the right way despite the technology or programming language used. Hacking has been made possible by the use of one development technology or programming language. The use of different experts with different technological skills who make use of different programming languages and development technologies and the integration of the end result of the information sub systems into one major information system has made it hard for the hackers and crackers to be successful in their activities. Before getting through any hacking activity, one will be required to carry out extensive research of how the system is implemented. This will take unnecessarily long and thus breaking the heart of most of the hackers. The use of geospatial technology has also greatly reduced the hackers’ successful attacks. The use of technology in ensuring the security of the participants is ensured is of paramount importance to the success of Olympics Games 2012. Filtering, analyzing and integration of a 3D satellite imagery transmission from unmanned drones over Heathrow airport into an existing information management system could be of great importance to the security agents. If this is integrated well into the system, the analysis can be automated to high levels thus giving real time results (London2012, 2010, par 2-5). Conclusion The information systems integration and implementation by the IT team in preparation for the London 2010 Olympics games have been to a satisfactory level successful. The security hitches either foreseen or unforeseen have been taken care of through implementation of strong security systems ranging from satellite images to geospatial information systems. This will go a long way in ensuring that the security of the athletes, coaches, Olympics management team, spectators and the journalists. The collaboration between the various security agencies have ensured the implementation of a strong information systems with strong security features making the information collected and analysed very secure. This ensures that no unauthorized persons gain access to the information or use the information in unlawful acts that may jeopardize the whole team involved in the implementation and planning of the Olympics games 2012. The approach used in implementation of security and information systems ensures that an error free system or information system with few errors is developed. The approach of developing an information system using different persons and integrating the sub modules developed by the persons into the final information system product have ensured that the system is secured from external intrusion. It is a common practice for most of the development companies to engage different persons to develop the various sub modules and later integrate the sub modules into one system for security reasons and development of a viable information system. Systems developed in such ways are always very efficient in performance and satisfying in use. Recommendations Just like any other large scale information system product, the development of the information system to be used in the London 2012 Olympic Games has faced lots of challenges in both planning and implementation. Such challenges can only be resolved through direct involvement of the partisan groups and cooperation amongst them. An issue for instance implementation of an information system to monitor security of the Olympics Park requires a lot of efforts from the military and civilian security agents. Also the implementation of an information system to broadcast the Olympic Games event requires the combined efforts of the various media groups like BBC and the IT team. With such collaboration, challenges are identified at an earlier stage and corrected therefore making the event to be a success. Whenever different groups are involved in developing a common information system infrastructure, there is need for information sharing whether it will be to the advantage of the other group or one’s group. This will ensure that all the partisan groups are well aware of what the other group is developing and the technology used. Consequently, all the groups will be working towards a common goal and will ensure compatibility of the various sub systems. It is makes no sense to develop sub systems that are incompatible with each other and claim you are developing a common information system infrastructure. Use of geospatial technology and its integration in the information system will be of great benefit to the whole Olympic preparation team, journalists, spectators and the security agents (Moore, Poiker & Thurston, 2003, 45). However, for better security monitoring there should be remote stations monitoring the activities of the people taking part in the Olympic Games ranging from the players to the spectators and journalists. The information system should be able to alert the various stakeholders anonymously without creating suspicion on the security threat. References Cegielski C. G, Rainer R. K. 2009, Introduction to Information Systems: Enabling and Transforming Business, John Wiley and Sons, London. Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Parliament Great Britain Media and Sport Committee Culture House of Commons 2005, London 2012 Olympics, The Stationery Office, London. Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Welsh Affairs Committee, House of Commons 2009, Potential Benefits of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics for Wales, The Stationery Office, London. Haklay M. 2010, Interacting with Geospatial Technologies, John Wiley and Sons, London. Moore J. P., Poiker T. K., Thurston J. 2003, Integrated geospatial technologies: a guide to GPS, GIS, and data logging, John Wiley and Sons, London. Lee M. 2006, The race for the 2012 Olympics: the inside story of how London won the bid (illustrated), Virgin Books, London. 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