Custom Web Application Development for CFL
Officially founded in 1958, the Canadian Football League (CFL) is the highest level of competition in professional football in Canada. As of 2014, the league consists of nine teams in nine separate cities and is divided into the East Division and the West Division.
The Challenge
The CFL had overwhelming game data that made it challenging to evaluate referees’ performance. They needed a tool that would allow a convenient and secure way for evaluators to score a referee after assessing their on-field performances. Post-match, the CFL also wanted referees to be able to review their scores and receive feedback, including viewing recorded videos of their referee calls.
The Solution: Effective On-field and Replay Performance Evaluation
Throughout the project life cycle, Convergine worked closely with the CFL on requirements, strategy, design, development, testing, training, and support. We built the CFL a new in-house application titled “Referee Evaluation System” (RES), a multi-user online tool written in PHP.
With RES, CFL officials can score the work of referees based on the data they record during each game and upload it directly to the system immediately after. Referees can review their game scores and evaluations through their own accounts and request a review of any assessment given.
API
We also built a custom API for the RES to fully function. Using the API, the CFL can upload the data into the Amazon Web Services SQL server (AWS SQL), allowing the RES to connect to the AWS SQL to view any data.
Custom Reporting
Better Game Data Management
The CFL collects a large amount of data on teams, matches and players — called game data. While the game is in motion, referees observe each player's actions on the field, note any breaking rules, and call it.
The entire game is recorded and passed to evaluators who use the replay data to score the effectiveness of each referee during the game. They evaluate each action a referee has taken (or not taken) and add it to the report.
Our web application allows evaluators to manage this data better, score the referees and offer those referees the opportunity to review their evaluations.
Hosting infrastructure
Using Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud, we built a highly agile, resilient and responsive application to meet our client’s needs. With AWS, the CFL overcame significant roadblocks in bringing its data and application online.
Other prominent features include:
User permissions management: To access specific resources, permissions were given to the following users:
- Evaluators
- Referees
- Admins
