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On-Demand Event ManagementSolutionsThe next step for efficient delivery of Sport

About the Author

Dilbagh Gill is Head of Sport TechnologyPractice at Mahindra Satyam and spearheads the

FIFA relationship for the entire IT solutiondevelopment and deployment for the 2010 FIFAWorld CupTM. Besides this, Dilbagh is developingthe Sport Technology Practice with a world-class

team of consultants serving customers andevents of various scale across all geographies. He

is currently based out of Boston.

He can be contacted atDilbagh_Gill@mahindrasatyam.com

Inside the issue

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 01

Business Case ............................................................................................................................................. 01

Need for On-Demand EMS ......................................................................................................................... 03

Solution Platform ....................................................................................................................................... 07

Service Delivery .......................................................................................................................................... 09

Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 10

IntroductionThe solutions offered currently for management of events are generally bespokeapplications developed for specific customer engagements. It is time to look aheadto hosted “on-demand” solutions for event management. This enables customersto use such solutions as a service for quick ramp-up/ramp-down, limit fixed costsand access continuously improving solutions and services. In this paper, we discussthe business case for providing such a hosted solution for event management andMahindra Satyam’s vision for such a solution. We also offer a roadmap for servicedelivery to global event organizers with a penchant for excellence and futuristicplanning.

Business CaseMost of the applications used in the sports arena for managing various events areeither bespoke applications developed from the ground up for each event or somecore application modules tailored to the needs of each event. Lately, the followingkey trends have emerged, leading to considerable changes in the way theseapplications are developed and deployed.

• These bespoke applications have been developed on diverse technologies withnon-standard interface, and sports companies have to spend huge sums ondeveloping and supporting these applications for each event. Also these bespokeapplications are rarely developed as a first-class fully-configurable, denying theorganizers the opportunity to achieve maximum benefit from the legacy

• Customer requirements related to business rules, workflow services, reportingservices and data services within each of these applications have standardizedover a period of time and there is a convergence in the way these various eventsare managed. The underpinnings of this trend are increased efforts fromorganization committees such as IOC, pressure from media and broadcasters tocreate common interfaces so that media feeds can be standardized and also theobvious benefits that accrue from maximizing the legacy of big events

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• Developing bespoke applications is very time-consuming and cost-intensive. Insome cases when the existing applications are reused this happens more byway of new ad-hoc development rather than customization by mere configuration

• There is an emergence of new delivery models such as SaaS (Software-As-A-Service) for other markets, which allow clients to commission a new environmenthosted on the Internet, preconfigured with standard services on a need basis

The above factors have created the demand for a new way of developing anddeploying applications for sports companies that would allow standard eventmanagement services to be commissioned on time using minimal set of resources.Mahindra Satyam has positioned itself as provider of the requisite Event ManagementServices (EMS) and this solution offering is called On-Demand EMS.

Compared to the on-premise installation where the solution is either licensed ordeveloped bespoke and installed in the client’s environment, the On-Demand EMSaccess is sold using a subscription model, with customers paying an ongoing fee touse the application. On-Demand EMS also offers various customization capabilitiesto account for differences in the way each event is managed to ensure that eachclient has a unique experience while using the solution.

On the technical side, Mahindra Satyam as the On-Demand EMS provider hoststhe application and data centrally—deploying patches and upgrades to theapplication transparently, and delivering access to end-users over the Internetthrough a browser or smart-client application. It is important to note that assports events have a fixed start and end-date, sometimes it could be considered“risky” by the provider and client to apply certain patches during key event periods.In such cases, the provider would be responsible for maintaining multiple imagesof the same application to ensure that there is no disruption in the services duringkey periods. Also the provider offers multiple environments to allow clients to testan upgrade before it is made available on production system. This approachmitigates some of the risks associated with such maintenance activities for anysystem.

The main involvement of the customers would be in the functional cycle, to specifytheir configuration and customization requirements for their Event ManagementSystem. If the customers were to engage Mahindra Satyam in repeat business, eventhe functional time could be reduced and maturity would develop in hosted EMSSolution team with regard to the ramp-up and support of the customized hostedEMS solution.

The On-Demand EMS accessis sold using a subscription

model, with customers payingan ongoing fee to use the

application.

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Need for On-Demand EMSReduces Fixed CostsMost of the custom EMS implementations are plagued with non-availability of skilledresources, long implementation time and huge upfront investment. All of theseadd up to huge fixed costs for development, installation and maintenance of EMSapplications. The On-Demand EMS solution frees the customer from all overheadsand converts most of these costs to a variable cost structure whereby the client canpay based on the usage of the service. Also On-Demand EMS can be commissionedon-time reducing the lead time for installation and other activities reducing thecost further.

Figure 1

Global ReachOn-Demand EMS is deployed over the cloud, which means the application is globallyaccessible without any need for managing multiple installations and the replicationbetween these installations. At the same time, it poses a unique set of challengesrelated to security of the installed application and its performance. However, thesechallenges can be sufficiently addressed by applying some common guidelines whileevaluating various vendors for the commissioning of the platform for Service LevelAgreement (SLA) and by ensuring ongoing compliance. Application hosted overthe cloud would need appropriate security mechanisms.

Also moving critical business data "outside the walls" introduces a risk of data lossor inadvertent exposure of sensitive information. In certain cases, the client mayprefer a hybrid model where some of the critical business services are hosted on adedicated environment while others might be accessed in an On-Demandenvironment. A review of all the services to assess what constitutes critical businessdata is necessary along with evaluating the service provider to ensure thatappropriate measures are in place to meet the client’s security standards. Due to

The On-Demand EMS solutionfrees the customer from all

overheads and converts mostof these costs to a variablecost structure whereby the

client can pay based on theusage of the service.

Self Hosting

- Maintaining in-house inventory of specialized skills- Longer implementation times- Larger upfront investment- Costly maintenance and support overheads

On-Demand EMS

- Reduces fixed costs- Pay based on usage- Variable cost structure- On time commissioning

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the ubiquitous nature of the Internet and the consumption growth, the price forbandwidth has come down in recent years. Most of the telecom companies andnetwork providers have well-defined SLAs for their services and these are availableat reasonable cost. Hence the performance of the application deployed over thecloud becomes a non-issue as performance requirements can be matched by simplyselecting appropriate network vendors.

Figure 2

Access to global workforceMahindra Satyam has well-trained staff for managing various processes related toevent management. Also increased usage of On-Demand EMS would further createa global workforce with specialized skills within the entire ecosystem of people,impart trainings, and manage applications. This could potentially result in BPOservice offerings from various providers for managing different events. The clientcan tap into this global workforce for skilled resources in these domains.

There would also be expertise in engaging the local populace and training them tobe involved in event management. This would create a social legacy and apartnership approach to propagating the hosted solution and the business processexpertise among the general public in the neighborhood of the local event venue.

Disadvantages of traditional approach- Complex firewall rules for

confirguring access to application across various departments

- Difficult to provision new applications across all departments because of heterogeneous hardware and software stacks

Benefits of On-Demand Solution- Global reach- One-step provisioning for all

departments

Firewall FirewallUniversal Access

ISV Application - On Demand EMS

Hosting Layer(Including Billing, Metering, Infrastructure Provisioning,

Common Application Services)

Traditional Approach Vs On-Demand Solution

Department # 1 Department # 2

SAPPeopleSoft

Oracle

SAPPeopleSoft

Oracle

Most of the telecomcompanies and network

providers have well-definedSLAs for their services

available at reasonable cost.

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Managing IT Focus within the enterpriseWith On-Demand EMS, the responsibility of deploying an application and keep itrunning. Day-to-day testing and installing patches, managing upgrades, monitoringperformance, ensuring high availability, etc are handled by Mahindra Satyam. Bytransferring the responsibility for these "overhead" activities to Mahindra Satyam,the client’s IT department can focus more on strategic activities that align with thebusiness goals of the enterprise. With On-Demand EMS, the IT department has anopportunity to contribute to the success of the enterprise more directly than everbefore.

Improved servicesOn-Demand EMS is built on Mahindra Satyam’s experience of managing eventsfor various clients and based on best practices for implementing SaaS model forother markets. The services available in the solution are designed to be effective,simple, flexible and efficient. A new customer would immediately benefit fromthis; plus any improvements that are made subsequently would be directly availablewithout any complex installations on the client’s side. The services will also bemonitored based on SLA agreements that would guarantee the level of performance,availability, and security that Mahindra Satyam would provide and also penaltiesfor each parameter. This would all result in an improved quality of service, highersatisfaction and greater predictability in the way business is run for the client.

Reduced ramp-up and ramp-down timeDuring times of activity between the events, delays in ramp up or ramp down forthe hardware/software infrastructure impact the revenue significantly. A higherramp-up time would result in significant loss of brand value or fan base for aparticular event while on the other hand a higher ramp-down time could result inunderutilization of hardware assets for long durations. An On-Demand EMS wouldalleviate these issues as ramp up and ramp down would be managed by MahindraSatyam. Moreover, Mahindra Satyam would be able to manage these transitionsbetter by benefitting from centralization. A ramp-up for one client could becompensated by a ramp down for some other client. The need for faster ramp-up/ramp-down time goes beyond simple hardware/software infrastructure and couldbe linked even to other specialized services such as BPO services, support services,etc. All of these services with lesser ramp-up/ramp-down time offer increasedbusiness opportunities and significant cost savings for the client.

Data consolidationAs the data is maintained at one place, the client would benefit from reusing someof this data across various events if the organizers of these events have establisheda contract to share data. For example, an organizer may want to copy the venueinformation from an event that occurred in the past to a new event planned forfuture. There are possibilities of cloning various other kinds of data as well (copyfan information, copy venue information, copy accreditee information, etc.) based

By transferring theresponsibility for these

"overhead" activities toMahindra Satyam, the client’sIT department can focus more

on strategic activities thatalign with the business goals

of the enterprise.

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on the requirements of the event. These options are only available, providedorganizers have an agreement in place to share data. Without this, by default thedata would remain individualized and isolated for each organizer.

Figure 3

Achieve economies of scaleOn-Demand EMS will help achieve economies of scale by offering virtualized servicesto more customers utilizing the same infrastructure. At the same time, somecustomers will prefer the option of having dedicated installations because of thenature of the application. The following considerations can be applied to decidewhich customers can be served through the single infrastructure throughvirtualization and which customers would still need dedicated infrastructure.

• How much is the storage space required for each customer? If storagerequirements are very high, then separate-infrastructure approach is probablybetter

• How many concurrent end-users would use the application from the samecustomer? If the number is pretty high, then separate-infrastructure approachis better

• Is there a requirement for offering value-added services such as backup, restore,and advanced infrastructure monitoring? If this is the case, then this mightagain necessitate the need for separate infrastructure

So in a nutshell, for majority of clients a consolidated infrastructure would helpachieve economies of scale and reduce costs but there might still be clients forwhom a separate infrastructure could be a better option. The new model will helpserve both the clients equally well, depending on their needs.

On-Demand EMS will helpachieve economies of scale byoffering virtualized services to

more customers utilizing thesame infrastructure.

Ramp-up period for traditionallyhosted applications

One click ramp up forOn-Demand Applications

Time and cost intensive process- Plan Hardware- Get Quote- Finalize Bio- Procure Hardware- Install and Build OS- Install and Configure Application- Bring to Production

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Solution PlatformCore FeaturesMahindra Satyam has developed a strong foundation for hosted EMS solution. It ishighly configurable, customizable, scalable and reusable across a wide variety ofevents. The vision is to have a platform for event management that would developover time, incorporating best practices and a focused approach to serving and growingthe customer base. While currently a core set of features and functionalities areoffered, including accreditation, volunteer management, logistics and transportationmanagement, there would be new modules that provide support for ticketing,hospitality, conferences, etc. From the technical standpoint, a strong base has beenlaid. For instance, a major technical aspect of any event management solution, thedata management of users, organizations, roles and privileges are configured viaimport from standard formats such as XML. The online registration form isconfigurable for a given event. Similarly, the entire user navigation experienceduring online registration is configurable on a per-event basis. Multiple languagesand multiple browser types are supported. Copying of information across events ispossible to avoid redundant efforts to recreate similar events. Fast search of userinformation is feasible and the criteria for search can be set up dynamically. Also,templates for reports of event information can be set up dynamically and exportedto standard formats like MS Word, Excel, PDF, etc.

Figure 4

Copying of information acrossevents is possible to avoid

redundant efforts to recreatesimilar events. Space and Material Planning

- Product Catalogue Management

- Physical Model of Sites/Locations

Ground Transport- Vehicle Fleet Management

- Schedule Management

- Transportation Management

Volunteer Management- Volunteer Registration

- Interviewing, Training, Staffing, Shift Management

- Uniform Allocation

Core EMS- Master Data Management

- User Administration

- GUI Configuration

- Vent Configuration

Accreditation- Accreditee Registration

- Accreditation Center: Privileges, Quotas, Access

- Badge Management

Core EMS

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The Accreditation ModuleThe Accreditation Module (ACR) enables user registration, management ofaccreditation workflow, assignment of privileges and access to event venues anduploading of images. Management of the accreditation center and the requisiteback-office management are provided. Configuring the layout and processing ofbadges in bulk is also provided.

The Space and Material Planning ModuleThe logistics of managing the movement of items required to run events is enabledby the Space and Material Planning Module (SMP). In this module, a layeredapproach to the allocation of physical items to specific event venues and timelineis followed. Catalogue management of the product lines and requisite items isprovided. The logistics of mapping items to event venues is done via a flexiblemodel that separates the physical view of the rooms, sites and locationscorresponding to a specific event venue from the abstract logical model used torepresent the areas and functions associated with such a venue.

The Volunteer Management ModuleA critical part of the success of any event is managing the volunteer staff. TheVolunteer Staff Management (VSM) module enables volunteers for events to registeronline, be screened, interviewed and mapped to be given volunteer assignments.Capture of staff information, upload of position information, management of shifts,and allocation of uniforms are all covered.

The Ground Transport ModuleThe transportation of organizers, players, referees, volunteers and other participantsfrom and to the event venues is carried out in the Ground Transportation (GTS)module. This module ensures best use of all the available resources such as vehiclefleet, drivers and depots and thereby optimizes the transportation schedule byproviding shuttle services, luggage vans, pool cars and dedicated cars in a timelymanner and also on an as-needed basis.

The roadmap for the hosted solution will comprise ticketing, hospitality and otheraspects of event management going forward. With a hosted solution, the benefit forthe customer would be addition of new modules and features giving a seamlessexperience where they could sign-on to a new service offerings on an as-neededbasis.

The Volunteer StaffManagement (VSM) module

enables volunteers for eventsto register online, be

screened, interviewed andmapped to be given volunteer

assignments.

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Technical Architecture

Physical ArchitectureThe physical architecture consists of web server farm hosting presentation andbusiness services layer of the application. At the backend, the database schema iscreated using multi-tenant shared schema approach which allows us to serve alarge number of tenants/clients per database server.

Service DeliveryThis section explains the efficient service delivery platform for On-Demand EMSsolution within a new ecosystem of Independent Service Vendors (ISV) and hostingservice providers. In the traditional sense, the role of a hosting provider is limitedto providing hardware related services only. In this new ecosystem, hosting serviceproviders would also be responsible for providing common software infrastructureservices such as configuration, run-time exception handling and reporting, loggingand auditing, tracing, caching, data access, etc. As every application needs theseservices, this approach alleviates the need for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)such as Mahindra Satyam. ISVs would only be responsible for developing userinterface and business logic functions of the application. On-Demand EMS wouldbe one such application which will be deployed on this platform. If required,customization of On-Demand EMS could be done for each client and the solutioncould be deployed separately for each client. There is also a possibility of sharingthe same application instance across multiple clients depending on the scale. Figure6 depicts this scenario where the first instance is shared by client 1,2,3 while thesecond instance is created exclusively for client 4. BPO service providers as usualwould be responsible for the operational activities of running the business processesand would thrive due to the standardization of business processes.

Figure 5

As every application needsthese services, this approach

alleviates the need forIndependent SoftwareVendors (ISVs) such as

Mahindra Satyam to writethese services all over again.

BusinessObjectives Mapped Application Architecture

- Ability to work remotely- Web based technology Internet users

Web Services Controller

Security / SessionObjects

Application SpecificObjects like

EMS Core, Accrediation, SMP,GTS, VSM, Search

ReportingObjects

Data Access Layer SMTP Services

Database Server

Mail Server

Business Object (API)

- Web serviced enabled- Technology neutral- Better scalability- More interoperability

- Role based access- Report Generation- Reusable components- Search functionality- Data level access- Multi-lingual support- Image capture

- Web serviced enabled- Technology neutral- Better scalability- More interoperability

- Mature databaseSQL Server 2005

- Auto communications- Interoperability with

existing systems

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Mahindra Satyam has an integrated offering for an On-Demand EMS in such anecosystem playing both the role of Independent Service Vendor as well as hostingservice provider. Mahindra Satyam already provides hosting services to its clientson a variety of platforms using various delivery models. Mahindra Satyam’s coreOn-Demand EMS offering along with strong hosting capabilities uniquely positionus to deliver On-Demand EMS solutions within this new ecosystem of softwareand hosting service providers.

Figure 6

SummaryIt largely remains expensive to maintain bespoke applications for managing eachevent within the sports arena. The time is ripe for consolidation and standardizationof Event Management Services and offering them as a hosted service instead. Alsothe current breed of technologies and other services allow us migrate easily to thisnew model and realize the benefits of centralization.

The new delivery model translates to huge cost savings for each client along withother benefits such as timely commissioning, reduced ramp-up/ramp-down, globalreach as well as continuously improving solutions and services. With this model,clients can now focus on their core business processes rather than having to spendtime looking at ways to manage the technology landscape.

Mahindra Satyam is uniquely positioned to exploit this alternative delivery modelbecause of its past experience in managing and developing event managementapplications, a core On-Demand EMS offering, a deep understanding of this newbusiness model and strong hosting capabilities. We believe this is a win-win scenariofor the clients and the service providers. Moreover, Mahindra Satyam would remaincommitted to its vision of creating more value for its customers using this new model.

www.mahindrasatyam.com

For further information please write to rfi@mahindrasatyam.com

Mahindra Satyam’s core On-Demand EMS offering along

with strong hostingcapabilities uniquely position

us to deliver On-Demand EMSsolutions within this new

ecosystem of software andhosting service providers.

ISV’s

HostingServicesProviders

Application services sharing (Accreditation, Transportation, Logistics, Volunteer Staff Management)

Business Services Sharing

Application ArcheType Services Sharing

Platform Software Sharing;OS, SQL Server, DHCP, DNS, AD

Hardware Sharing

Real Estate SharingPower, etc

On DemandEMS, Client # 1,2,3

UI+Biz Logic

Billing Marketing Involving

LoggingExceptionhandling

DataBinding

DataBinding

FaultTolerance Database

Intr.Tools

CoreMonitoring

Storage NetworkServices

Execution Security

Servers Disks

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Plan

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Inci

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Esca

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AM

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Network

Data Center

Op

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Hardware

OS & Core Infrastructure

Application Architecture

Business Services

} On DemandEMS, Client # 4

UI+Biz Logic

Other On DemandApplication

UI+Biz Logic

BPO Providers