Access all Areas – Making Extended Collaboration a Reality

As they say, you learn something new every day… I was planning my trip to the Olympics Games next week and while surfing on the website of the UK Border Agency .

I read this:

"If you are a Games family member you will not need a visa to enter the UK between 30 March 2012 and 8 November 2012 if you hold an Olympic Identity & Accreditation Card or Paralympic Identity & Accreditation Card and that card doesn't display the accreditation category codes 'OCOG', 'S' or 'X'".

As I work for Atos, the Worldwide Information Technology (IT) Partner of the Olympic Games since 2002, moreover in the Enterprise Content Management arena, I thought I knew everything about the Game Management System that, by the time the Games begin, will have issued about 95% of the 300,000 accreditations passes required.

I know that an accreditation pass is not an external symbol of privileged status – it is, and has always been, an organizational tool necessary to ensure the smooth and secure handling of the large number of people at the Games and their movement. In fact, it’s a working example of secure extended collaboration that is in use today in one of the most demanding and testing environments – The Olympic Games.

The purpose of accreditation is to identify people and their roles at the Games and so allow them the necessary access to perform their roles. But how can it also be secure enough to act as a regular visa at the UK border? Is it only for London 2012, was it also the case for Beijing 2008, and will it be for Rio in 2016? I decided to ask my colleague and friend, the CTO of the Games IT systems.

He answered me in less than 10 minutes, which might be seen as a good new for the anticipated 4 billion TV viewers and the 1 billion visits to London2012.com website. After all, if he was available for my questions, it means no critical situation to manage so far! And guess what, he answered yes to all the above questions; The Game Management System is flexible and secure enough to handle the various processes and workflows that allow the Local Organizing Committee of each Olympic and Paralympic Games to deliver accreditations to the 'Games Family Members' (athletes, coaches, officials and selected media) that have the legal value of visas in the hosting Country.

The Information System even allows for managing quotas. The accreditation system manages the registration of participant’s personal data, the assignation of privileges and the provision of clearly visible accreditation badges such as the one shown here for the Beijing Olympic Games.

The submission of participant’s form through the Internet is made possible by the Electronic Registration Form (ECR) component that allows external organizations to register their participants.

A perfect illustration of seamless end-to-end extended collaboration for regulatory processes that manages and brings together compliant processes from both internal and external sources. And this approach applies to not only the Olympic Games, bringing huge benefits and making life easier for the Olympic Family, but to similar crucial processes for enterprises worldwide.

Amazing, no?