Information Requirements for the London Olympic Games 2012 - Case Study Example

Information System Management - Information Requirements for the London Olympic Games 2012 Executive Summary This report aims at the better understanding of the information requirements for the London Olympic Games 2012. The event has great importance and will attract a lot of people from all over the world so city administration will need all kinds of data of these visitors in order to cater to their needs and provide utmost protection to these visitors. Terrorism is another issue that is facing London games right in the face. Secondary research is used in the report in order to collect data. The requirements are great and the government are trying to fulfil all the requirements but there is still room for improvement. Health safety is a concern and this must be sorted in order to avert a pandemic. Table of Contents 1- Terms of Reference 4 2- Introduction 5 3- Findings and Analysis a. Why Information is needed? 6 b. Analysis of the Requirements for Olympic Games 9 4- Conclusion 11 5- Recommendations 12 6- References 14 7- Appendix 15 Terms of Reference The report on the information requirement for the London Olympics 2012 was made on the request of course instructor. This information will aid understanding on the issues of public projects of information technology. Introduction Technology has changed the outlook of the world today. Businesses have been transformed by the influx of new and better machines. Similarly governmental organizations and agencies have improved their functioning by using technology to their advantage. Public security is one area in which governments have heavily used latest machinery and techniques. The increasing danger of terrorism is also one factor that has contributed to this wide scale investment in information technology infrastructure. For this reason public information has become ever so important and collection of this information with proper management is essential. Information management has become very important not only for security purposes but for other reasons as well. Health, education and other sectors of government also need public information and technology has aided them in collecting and maintaining this information in an effective and efficient manner. Huge databases can store public information and they are used by government to make people’s lives secure and safe. But there are certain events that attract a great number of people to a particular country or continent. These events require special attention from law enforcement agencies and other governmental organizations. These events are witnessed by millions in person and in addition to huge sums of revenue these events have serious risks too. Olympic Games are very famous all over the world and they attract audiences from every part of the world. The historic importance of Olympic Games is great and that is why it is considered an honour to host these games. In 2012 London will host these games and this will not be a very easy task. A vast of amount of information will be required. Management of this vast information will be a great problem because many tourists will be visiting London. The issue of terrorism is also a major reason for security concerns and information of all tourists will be required. All the requirements will be analysed and evaluated in the next part. All the information that is required will be discussed with its importance to relevant authorities. Findings and Analysis Olympic Games come after every four years and the historic value of the event is amazing. The whole world is looking towards London and country’s administration has a big responsibility on its shoulders. It is important to understand the different dimensions of requirements that are needed for the Olympic Games. Information is required for many purposes like security and health. For gathering and storing this information lot will be required and all this will be explained later in the report. Why Information is needed? First and foremost we have to explain why information is required. Information is very important for authorities because they have to provide basic facilities to the people. These facilities include health, security, transportation and other services. Government will have to look after these services and for this reason they should have detailed information regarding the tourists who visit London in 2012. There are many sources through which this information can be taken. Government can take help from other countries as well in gathering of information. Information technology has made gathering of data very easy and quick. Information can be taken from the passports of visitors and that can be stored. This information is the most basic information required by the Government. It includes the name of the person and the country from which he or she is travelling. Passports also have information about the places a person has visited in the past years. This information is of vital importance mainly for security reasons. Passport also has a picture of the tourists and this can also be of great help. All this data is very important and can be easily stored on databases. The basic information of a tourist is needed for many purposes. London is a developed city and many people come to England for different reasons. There might be a chance that a person may choose to stay illegally in order to earn a living. For this reason it is very important to know the allowed period of time he or she can spend in the country. Illegal immigration is a big problem London will be facing due to Olympics as many people will try to enter the country and then stay in order to find lucrative jobs. Government should also keep a record of the people entering in the country for health reasons. There are many contagious diseases like Swine flu and Bird flu. These diseases can spread if proper screening of individuals who are entering the country is not done. This is the reason why health information is important to collect. In Olympic Games many people will enter London and they will come from all over the world. If a contagious disease is spread then the amount of damage to the people and to the games will be intense. Health information is very important for this reason too. Olympic Games have a historic value and if they are disrupted due to any reason then it will give a bad name to London no matter what the problem is. Information regarding health can be easily taken by screening visitors at airport. Visitors should be checked for any trace of a dangerous disease and if the disease is contagious then they should be deported immediately. Doctors should be called in order to make sure that the patient has a potential dangerous disease. Health information is very important as it can affect the games and London as well. Health information is also required for tourist safety as well. A visitor might have a dangerous ailment that might not be contagious but can hurt the visitor during his visit. This health information may be passed to the local hospitals just to let them know that this person has a specific disease. This will help authorities prepare better for the health safety of the visitors. Huge amount of visitors coming to the Games will also get sick and providing them appropriate medical benefit is also the job of governmental organizations. Information is also needed for transportation purposes. With a huge influx of people authorities will have to start special trains and subway trains to facilitate the tourists. Special buses and flights might also be started for the games specially. For this reason it is very important to collect the information of visitors. This will help authorities to know in what areas buses or trains are required and what regions have maximum people. Then those regions will especially be considered and transportations services will be provided to visitors. Emergency services for the Olympics Games have been designed specifically to cater to any unforeseen emergency. A lot of research is done in order to better plan the response to any emergency situation (Laws, J. 2010). Information required regarding the whereabouts of the people in order to respond quickly in case of emergency. Information is also needed for security purposes. The issue of terrorism is a great danger to Olympic Games (Osborne, M. 2010) and for this reason proper screening of people is required at all times. Information required for security reasons is different and detailed. Pictures, country of residence, Interpol alerts if any and religion information is required for security purposes. This information can help the authorities in protecting the people from a terrorist attack. People who have previously visited any terrorist country like Afghanistan and Pakistan should be given special attention and there information should be forwarded to the relevant authorities. Knowledge about these potential suspects can be a lot of help for the police and other law enforcement agencies as they can monitor their movements through cameras. Information is also required when spectators are entering the stadium. Any possible suspect can then be screened specially. This is another reason why information is required at many places throughout the games. Terrorist will be planning to disrupt the Olympics Games in every possible way and in order to stop them proper management of information is required. This information will help authorities stop these criminals from achieving their goals. If all relevant information of people is available then authorities can easily cross check and can narrow down the location of that potential terrorist. This is an important benefit of information that is collected for security purposes. The importance of information gathering cannot be ignored as it is this information that will help the authorities in protecting the visitors and the Olympic Games from terrorist attacks and other problems. Analysis of the Requirements for the Olympic Games London will host the Olympic Games and it will be the centre of attention in 2012. It is very important that all preparations are done in order to manage these games properly. There are many requirements that are needed to be met in order to gather all the relevant information of the visitors and in turn protect the games and the people. This section will present analysis of these requirements. Information can be gathered using many sources and the governmental organization are trying to use many sources. All of them will be analysed below. First major source of information can be the immigration counters on the airport. All people when enter the country display their passports and this is the place where all their basic information should be recorded. Their names, place of residence and other vital information should be stored on computer and various other systems. Picture information and video information can also be taken from cameras and can be stored in databases. This is also the time when potential suspects should be marked and their information should be sent to relevant authorities. If they belong to a terrorist country or if they are looking suspicious then they should be given a particular status. All people should be given status and information should be recorded according to it on the systems. London Police and other law enforcement agencies have developed a very good network and all information is shared by through a special system called the Spatial Information Infrastructure (ERDAS, 2010). This system will be very beneficial in the management of all the information of the visitors. Even close circuit cameras are connected to this system so suspect location can be identified immediately and proper security measures can be taken quickly. Transportation security is also very important and information can also be gathered through the cameras covering the transportation system. It is very likely that terrorist might attack trains and buses. Ticket counters can be used as a source of collection of information. Government has spent around £1.7 billion pounds on infrastructure for the Olympic Games (Mass Services, 2009). This money has also been spent of information technology. Ticketing information matched with the security camera feed of the train stations can help greatly in identification of any suspicious activity. So transportation services can also be used to gather vital information. Hotels can also be used to gather information. Visitors will stay in hotels and therefore lot of information can be collected through hotels as well. Visitors usually pay through credit card and financial information of visitors can then be sent to the relevant authorities. This is used by law enforcement agencies in London and this information proves very helpful in the investigation of a suspect or a criminals. A person can also be tracked through his or her credit card so this also becomes an important source of information for police and security agencies. They also have security cameras in hotels so that can be used to cross check potential suspects. Through the system potential suspects can be tracked wherever they go whether it is trains and buses or hotels or malls, their movements can be observed. This gives security agencies a big advantage and they find it easy to track their suspects. Information is stored in databases and the software and the hardware configuration of this data is very important. For this reason London administration has decided not to use foreign software and have relied on the local made software in order to reduce the chances of system failure and crashing (Donoghue, A. 2009). This is a very important step taken by the government because storage of information is extremely important for maintaining peace and security during the games. If any information is lost then it can prove very dangerous for the people of London. Conclusion Olympic Games are an attraction for millions of people all over the world. There historical significance makes these games very important for United Kingdom. Proper security steps are to be taken in order to ensure that these games run smoothly. For this reason information gathering is required and information of visitors is required to be recorded. Government has taken special steps for this and has developed a new system of network in order to share information from all the local law enforcement agencies. Health and security risks are very potent in Olympics and special steps should be taken to avoid any great problem. There are many sources from which law enforcement agencies can gather information. They can collect information from airports, transportation systems and from hotels. Picture records, names and financial information can be collected from these sources and this can greatly help in tracking suspicious target and securing the people of London. Recommendations There are many additional steps that city administration can take in order to increase the protection of the visitors and the people of London. Special surveillance of public places should be done through satellites. This can be done very easily be devoting a control room and a satellite for this purpose. This will help avoid any major terrorist attack. Opening ceremony may be such an event that requires special attention. Visitors should be only allowed to keep a limited baggage when travelling. This can ensure safety of the people because terrorist can move explosives and bombs in their luggage. Visitors should be asked to keep their luggage at their hotel. This can really help in avoiding a terrorist attack. Hotels should also be checked and especially small hotels. Terrorist will find it very difficult to keep a low profile in an expensive hotel so they will choose to stay at small motels. These motels should be equipped with security cameras and proper surveillance of these motels should be done. More steps should be taken for health safety and people should be checked on stadium entrance for any contagious disease. This can be done fairly easily by passing people through some sensors or by taking blood sample. This is very important as health safety is as important an issue as terrorism. References Donoghue, Andrew. (2009). London Olympics say no to Outsource. E Week Europe. [Online] Available at: < http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/news-it-infrastructure/london-olympics-says-no-to-open-source-819> [Accessed 11 November 2010] ERDAS. (2010). Securing the 2012 London Olympic Games. [Online] Available at: < http://www.erdas.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=daXovrTjSMI%3D&tabid=100&mid=440> [Accessed 11 November 2010] Laws, Jerry. (2010). London Looks Ahead. Occupational Health and Safety Magazine. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 11 November 2010] Mass Services. (2009). London Olympics 2012 Update. [Online] Available at: < http://www.mass-plc.com/Services/news/London-Olympics-2012-Update.asp> [Accessed 11 November 2010] Osborne, Mike. (2010). Security Concerns for London Olympics. Sydney Morning Herald. [Online] Available at: < http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/security-concerns-for-london-olympics-20100806-11l5w.html> [Accessed 11 November 2010] Appendix Read More