AUTHOR=Ranaweera Jayamini , Weaving Dan , Zanin Marco , Roe Gregory 

TITLE=Identifying the Current State and Improvement Opportunities in the Information Flows Necessary to Manage Professional Athletes: A Case Study in Rugby Union

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

VOLUME=Volume 4 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2022.882516

DOI=10.3389/fspor.2022.882516

ISSN=2624-9367

ABSTRACT=In sporting environments, the knowledge necessary to manage athletes is built on information flows associated with player management processes. In current literature, there are limited case studies available to illustrate how such information flows are optimised. Hence, as the first step of an optimisation project, this study aimed to identify the player management information flow issues or gaps in the High-Performance Unit (HPU) at a professional (Gallagher Premiership) rugby union club in England. Guided by a Business Process Management framework, elicitation of the current process architecture illustrated the existence of eighteen process units and two core process value chains relating to player management. From the identified processes, the HPU management team prioritised seven processes for optimisation. In depth details on the current state (As-Is) of the selected processes were extracted from semi-structured, interview-based process discovery and were modelled using Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standards. Results were presented for current issues in the information flow of the daily training load management process, identified through thematic analysis conducted on the data obtained mainly from focus group discussions with the main stakeholders (physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches and HPU management team) of the process. Specifically, the current state player management information flow in the HPU had issues relating to knowledge creation and process flexibility. Additionally, the methods used in this study could be utilised to identify issues in the player management information flows of any professional team sport environment.