ILFAD
SAMM – Sampling analysis and management module
The Project consisted in developing a platform to enable the different bodies involved in the fight against doping (National Anti-Doping Organizations, World Anti-Doping Agency, National and International Federations) to manage their requests for doping analyses and to fully control this process.
Total project duration : 18 months
The total cost of the project was 450 man-days.
Details of the project :
Problematic
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) wants the biological passport implemented as soon as possible. In order to respond to one of the problems of this biological passport, the International Logistics for Anti-Doping (ILFAD) Department of the Athletes for Transparency Association (AFT) decided to develop SAMM, a computer module for the management of samples and analysis. Its principle is an optimal and transversal use of the existing logistic resources represented in particular by the International Federations / National Federations / National Anti-Doping Organizations and their respective networks of samplers at the level of anti-doping controls.
Mission statement
Development of a complete system including :
- A management interface for all stages of the analysis and doping control process
- Additional functionalities to this process: location of samplers and athletes, statistics, etc.
- Management of access rights to the platform
Organization
For the realization of the project, 5 persons have been allocated :
- 1 project manager and functional manager
- 4 development engineers
This contract was executed entirely with Tana Corp resources dedicated to the project.
Conduct of the project
Advice and support role provided throughout the project
- A real force of accompaniment: The organization of the project gives a primordial importance to the quality of the accompaniment, to make the customer benefit from the expertise and the know-how capitalized by Tana Corp on its projects of the same type.
- Consulting strength : Our solid experience on management applications in the field of distribution and fixed-price projects has enabled us to provide the customer with the best market practices in this field. Moreover, Tana Corp is a force of proposal in the highlighting of functional options likely to bring a strong functional added value.
- Expertise on Web application : The input and management interfaces have been realized in the form of a web application to facilitate the sharing of information between users. We used our expertise in this field to create ergonomic and easy-to-use screens to maximize user productivity and facilitate user access to information.
Proposed methodology for validating project milestones from a customer’s point of view
Proposed project reporting
A monthly steering committee enabled us to steer this long-term project in close collaboration with the client.
Tools chosen for the project management
Project Management : MS Project
Incident follow-up : BugX (based on Mantis, http://www.mantisbt.org/)
Version and configuration tracking: SubVersion(http://subversion.tigris.org/)
Solution features
Business processes covered by the solution
- Creation and follow-up of control requests
- Accreditation of staff and organizations
- Location of staff and athletes
- Generation of official documents and their distribution
- Access rights management
What were the most difficult features to implement?
As the platform is intended for organizations around the world, it had to be multi-lingual and allow for the easy addition of one language. To achieve this, we implemented a dynamic interface using translation files for all elements displayed on the screen (including the names of disciplines or organizations).
Technical platform elements
Software package, software or development languages used
After analysis of all the constraints, Tana Corp proposed the realization of a custom application, based entirely on a 100% Microsoft :
- Microsoft .Net Framework, langage C#
- ASP .Net & AJAX
- Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express
- Web IIS 6 Server
Reasons for the choice
- Microsoft .Net Framework with C#: development platform allowing an excellent cost/delivery time/quality implementation ratio.
- ASP.NET and AJAX: scripting languages allowing the development of WEB interfaces with a high level of ergonomics.
- SQLServer 2005 Express: free, high-performance database server, perfectly adapted to the target data volume.
- IIS 6 Web Server: Microsoft’s web server for hosting ASP applications
Share of pre-existing developments used on which the Supplier has capitalised to complete the project
- Libraries of AJAX interface elements already developed internally by Tana Corp.
Challenges and key success factors
- Ergonomics: daily use of the application in a production context,
- Multi-language: all elements of the application are translated into several languages
- Scalability: the application is perfectly capable of managing a very large number of athletes and analyses.
Business result
Today, the tool has received excellent feedback from users, who have appreciated it:
- the ease of use and the ergonomics of the user interfaces.
- easy access to information
