0708 - Australian Sports Commission

One of the strategies of Tennis Australia
is to invest in the game and to continually
improve the infrastructure to support
tennis nationally at all levels.
Information Technology (IT) became an independent business unit in November 2007
to focus entirely on the technological requirements of Tennis Australia (TA). Previously,
IT was part of the Finance, IT and Administration business unit but, with the continually
increasing reliance on technology within tennis, it was decided that a separate and more
focused approach was required.
TA had previously engaged IBM to conduct an extensive Business Systems Review on IT
and it was concluded that restructuring and an expanded set of skills was required to
further develop the growing IT needs of the Company. As such it was decided to recruit
a Chief Information Off icer, who would sit on the Senior Management Team (SMT), and have
a transition plan created to move TA to a more applicable IT environment.
Maximising IT potential
To address some of the issues raised in the IBM review, the IT business unit underwent a
challenging reorganisation and restructure to build a team of IT specialists that are introducing
new procedures and designing the new IT architecture.
IT is now structured specifically to address infrastructure, desktop development and key projects.
These areas are coordinated to take a holistic view as to how they can be better managed.
IT also transitioned to view tennis not only as a sport, but tennis as a major community and a
key role of the unit is to make the technology transparent and the transition to new software
or hardware as simple and straightforward as possible. One of the key tenets is to ensure that
the technology is invisible and does not get in the way of the tennis but rather enhances it.
National network
One of the strategies of TA is to invest in the game and to continually improve the
infrastructure to support tennis nationally at all levels. For TA to function eff ectively as a
national institution, it is critical that IT delivers substantial services nationwide and strongly
supports the Member Associations (MAs). The 2007–2008 financial year saw the completion
of the TA national network. p98 This included a major upgrade to the internet connections
between TA and MAs, incorporating the expansion of the TA Voice over IP telephone system
and a significant network security upgrade. This national network now allows all the MAs to
be connected on the same system and, as a result, links TA and all other MAs with both phone
systems and data.
During this project, IT also took the opportunity to upgrade servers in Queensland and the
ACT and will upgrade servers for all of the MAs in the second half of 2008. While the server
upgrades take place, IT will fine tune desktop machines in all states and significantly improve
the ability to support the MAs remotely. However, to ensure that support is maintained at a
high level throughout Australia, a policy has been introduced that guarantees that each of
the state off ices is visited at least twice a year by IT.
Technology is a crucial requirement for all employees.
Service desk
As the size of TA grows, the need for a more
professional service desk grows and, with this,
the introduction of established guidelines in
using the IT services has been introduced.
While in place before, the IT Service Desk
has been revisited and restructured and
is undergoing a continuous improvement
process. The number of staff working on the
Service Desk has been increased as the general
staff requirements have continued to increase
with the more pervasive use of technology.
Regardless of the improvements that have
been made, there is still a high level of
demand and, as such, improvements to the
Service Desk area have been put in place, with
the management of the desktop environment
falling under this area. This has led to the
introduction of a Standard Operating
Environment (SOE) p94 which has made
the desktops far more stable. A new Service
Desk system was installed in the second
half of 2008 which has been significantly
improved to monitor and respond to issues.
The exciting experience of AO 2008 has
presented IT with a huge number of
opportunities and we look forward to
AO 2009 where we will once again raise
the quality of IT services and support.
Chris Yates
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
Information Technology report
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