Solution
GeniusLabs
developed three
versions of the Intramurals.com solution over a period
of 9 months: a prototype (BETA) version, Version 1.0,
and Version 2.0.
Features of the completed site
included:
·
Online registration for student
athletes
·
Online team
management that allowed team managers create their
team roster, write game summaries, and upload team
pictures.
·
Improved e-mail
communication system to connect administrators with
referees and student athletes.
·
Three different
ways of automatically ranking teams, and automatic
creation of tournaments based upon the top ranked
teams.
·
A Free Agent
System for players without teams that want to
advertise their skills to existing
teams.
·
The ability for
administrators to post messages and news on any page
of the site.
·
Automated score
entering for large universities.
·
Automated
scheduling of entire seasons or tournaments, taking
into account complex and dynamic variables such
as…
o
In which
facilities does each league
play?
o
Which days per
week, and during what times each day, are these sports
facilities open?
o
When does the
season start and end?
o
Which days per
week, and during what times each day, are leagues and
individual teams available to
play?
o
Special days that
no games can be played?
o
How many games per
week should a team play?
o
How many times has
a team already played another team in the
past?
·
The ability for
administrators to manually edit, or manually create
schedules.
·
The creation of a
visually personalized Intramurals.com interface for
every university using the site,
including:
o
The school’s
unique logo on the top of their
site.
o
The ability of
administrators to change the colors of the site to
match their unique school
colors.
Technology
GeniusLabs used Microsoft's Web Solution Platform to provide a
scalable, reliable, secure, and highly available
n-tier distributed solution for Intramurals.com. Windows 2000 Advanced
Server and Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 as the
web platform allowed for easy integration with Visual
Basic transactional COM components built on top of COM+
Services. SQL Server 7.0 provided a robust Relational
Database Management System (RDBMS) that allowed
Intramurals.com to efficiently store and retrieve tens
of thousands of data records instantly.
GeniusLabs also
developed a Smart Scheduling Component (the IM Scheduler)called
asynchronously using Microsoft’s Message Queuing
platform. The IM Scheduler is able to
schedule leagues with literally hundreds of teams in
just a few seconds, taking into account dynamic
variables such as team availability, league
availability, facilities availability, and numerous
other factors. The Intramurals.com IM Scheduler,
considered the vital component in the Intramurals.com
solution, saves Intramurals administrators hundreds of
hours of work by calculating the most efficient and
optimized sports schedules in seconds.
Additional highlights include: Integration of Intramurals.com with Accuweather's Weather Service,
advanced personalization features for both students AND administrators, communication functions
for administrators to correspond with highly targeted audiences (i.e. specific students, teams, leagues, sports, or everybody),
and following Intramurals.com's purchase by StreetZebra, Inc., integration of the IM Scheduler with StreetZebra's Oracle database.
Results
The Intramurals.com prototype solution was
“beta-tested” at the University of California at Los
Angeles (UCLA), and improved significantly for Version
1.0, which launched at over 100 universities nationwide.
Version 2.0, developed in response to tremendous
feedback and support from Intramural administrators
around the country, was launched nearly six months later
to over 450 major universities including USC, Michigan
State, Arizona State, University of Arizona, LSU, and
the University of Pennsylvania.
What Happened to Intramurals.com?
Shortly after Intramurals.com secured over 450 colleges and universities for the 2000-2001 academic year, larger sports businesses began offering to purchase Intramurals.com. The company was sold in July of 2000 to StreetZebra, Inc., an established national sports magazine that owned and operated the Sport & Social Club of the United States (SSCUS). Unfortunately, for reasons beyond GeniusLabs' control,
StreetZebra, Inc. ceased operations in January of 2001. Intramurals.com, despite another successful season in the Fall of 2000, was also unable to continue operations.
Smart technology is within your
reach.™
