Univerus’ athlete management solution means a slam dunk for well-being and compliance
Digital transformation is having an impact across all industries. All organisations are looking for ways to streamline their business processes, and the sporting industry is no exception.
As sports clubs and franchises grow, managing the well-being and compliance of their members can become complex. There are a number of moving parts that need to align, especially for professional teams. Manual systems like spreadsheets are time consuming and prone to error, and multiple versions of a spreadsheet mean a higher risk of administrators working on the wrong one. Not only that, but they don’t provide visibility across a sports organisation’s teams, coaches and managers, nor do they offer the option of portals that enable self-management.
In 2019, Univerus decided to expand our lifestyle options by opening a new office in Nelson, home to professional basketball team the Nelson Giants. As part of our commitment to the Nelson region, and the desire to become involved with the community and local organisations, we became a Gold Sponsor of the Giants.
Like many sporting organisations, the Giants were using legacy systems to manage their athletes, coaches and administration. Looking for a way to modernise and move with the times, their management began discussions with the team at Univerus around how to digitise those processes. We introduced them to our Athlete Information System, a solution that tracks athlete well-being and health and safety compliance. It combines information that historically had been stored on spreadsheets into a centralised database. It means that team management can see at a glance what the status of any particular athlete is, such as:
- Can they travel?
- Have they had Covid-19 vaccinations?
- Their medical status
- Their certifications
The solution also makes it easy to identify any training gaps, or any compliance issues that need to be addressed.
The Athlete Management System is currently in use by over a million athletes in Ontario alone, providing streamlined and successful management of all relevant information. The solution offers unique features such as:
- An athlete portal – this enables individual athletes to log in and manage their own information. They can create an account, register for a team or club, and submit all the necessary forms
- A coach portal – coaches can access shared rosters, game sheets, travel plans, announcements and policy updates
- Admin tools – manage and share athlete information from one easy-to-use interface. The system gives administrators the ability to filter athlete databases and check profiles for required information
When the Nelson Giants decided to deploy the Athlete Information System, they became Univerus’ first professional Australasian roll-out, going live in April 2022. Although the solution is still relatively new to the Giants, they’re already benefitting from its innovative features. And because it’s mobile friendly, they can access the platform anytime, from anywhere, on any internet-connected device.
“Previously, our document management system was a vast number of spreadsheets, word documents and questionnaires,” says General Manager and Head Coach, Michael Fitchett. “We now have one home for our team data and information, and we can easily pull reports to supply us with the information we need for things like travel and medical histories. The team at Univerus were extremely patient and helpful in the set-up of the programme for us, and their support since the launch has been first class. We’re looking forward to unlocking many other aspects of the programme that we are yet to utilise.”
The complexities of athlete management don’t need to be a tedious, time-consuming task. With this solution, athletes and coaches not only have control over their information, but it enables greater visibility, a reduction in errors, and frees administrators up to focus on core, high-value tasks.
Keen to see the solution in action? It’s not a tall order – you can request a FREE live demo and we’ll show you what it can do.