Digitally Optimizing the Information Flows Necessary to Manage Professional Athletes: A Case Study in Rugby Union

Abstract

Practical case studies elaborating end-to-end attempts to improve the quality of information flows associated with athlete management processes are scarce in the current sport literature. Therefore, guided by a Business Process Management (BPM) approach, the current study presents the outcomes from a case study to optimize the quality of strength and conditioning (S&C) information flow in the performance department of a professional rugby union club. Initially, the S&C information flow was redesigned using integral technology, activity elimination and activity automation redesign heuristics. Utilizing the Lean Startup framework, the redesigned information flow was digitally transformed by designing data collection, management and visualization systems. Statistical tests used to assess the usability of the data collection systems against industry benchmarks using the System Usability Scale (SUS) administered to 55 players highlighted that its usability (mean SUS score of 87.6 ± 10.76) was well above average industry benchmarks of similar systems (Grade A from SUS scale). In the data visualization system, 14 minor usability problems were identified from 9 cognitive walkthroughs conducted with the High-Performance Unit (HPU) staff. Pre-post optimization information quality was subjectively assessed by administering a standardized questionnaire to the HPU members. The results indicated positive improvements in all of the information quality dimensions (with major improvements to the accessibility) relating to the S&C information flow. Additionally, the methods utilized in the study would be especially beneficial for sporting environments requiring cost effective and easily adoptable information flow digitization initiatives which need to be implemented by its internal staff members.

Identifying the Current State and Improvement Opportunities in the Information Flows Necessary to Manage Professional Athletes: A Case Study in Rugby Union

“…A failure to bridge such gaps in the information flow and align them to the organizational goals will generate the risk of developing models on sub-optimal information flows, which may not support the governing strategies of an organization. Finally, through a separate article (Ranaweera et al, 2022 ), we have presented how the data to information transitioning of the HPU information flow was optimized by using the process redesign, implementation, and monitoring phases of the BPM lifecycle.…”

Evaluating the impact of a digitally implemented subjective standard on professional rugby union player management decision-making

“…Moreover, for the usability assessment, feedback from all HPU practitioners was obtained (unlike just five for the repeated ratings) since the SUS questionnaire was a quick (around 5 minutes per individual) and efficient method to collect system usability data. 4,20…”

“…3 In sport settings, information is typically contextualised from data by extracting it from storage, transforming it into meaningful forms and then reporting it to users through visualisation techniques. 4 However, the interpretation of evidence from information has both subjective and objective dimensions. That is because both the experiences of practitioners in interacting with player information (subjective) and the insights generated from information through analytical techniques (objective) are important for decision-making.…”

“…The specific details of the relevant case study environment were presented previously. 4,6 The first objective was to integrate a subjective standard to identify external training load peaks/troughs of rugby union players from GPS information into the decision-making processes within the considered environment through digitalisation techniques (i.e. a data visualisation dashboard implemented using business intelligence software).…”

Using consensus methods to standardise judgement-based guidelines required for player management decision-making processes: A case study in professional rugby union

“…The specific details of the relevant HPU have been presented previously 6 with outcomes from optimising an information flow necessary for player management. 21 Furthermore, ethical approval for the current study was obtained from the affiliated university.…”