Designing a sport, recreation and physical activity information system

Abstract

The Instituto de Deportes y Recreación (INDER) the municipality of Bello, Antioquia, provides sports, recreation and physical activity programs and services in the neighborhoods and districts of the municipality. In January 2024, the new management, which will be in place until 2027, decided to carry out a diagnosis to identify the Institute's strengths and weaknesses. One of the weaknesses was that the Institute, like other sports organizations, did not have a structured information system (other than Google Drive) to provide data for decision making and planning. To address this need, management decided to create a virtual assistant to handle the registration and enrollment process for programs and services, as well as act as a payment gateway. The virtual assistant, called Tulio, is a technological tool that will make it possible to modernize processes and procedures, obtain real data on the number of people enrolled in each discipline and the number of service users by neighborhood and district, among other aspects. It also allows for more structured planning based on the data collected, identifying preferences by district and demographic, tracking in real time, analyzing attrition, and sharing information in real time as needed. The downside is that some users may be unfamiliar with new technologies and may have difficulty registering and paying. A tutorial has been created to address this issue. Currently in its first phase of development, the virtual assistant is expected to enable the Institute to generate technological developments, innovate processes, collect data and information for administrative decision-making. In the future, the program is expected to manage the reservation of sports venues, the categorization of clubs, and the organization of sports events, among other functions.