Design, prototype and evaluation of a scalable and distributed mobile system for sport event management

Abstract

Tournament management software is essential in sports for tasks ranging from registration and scheduling to live updates during events. Requirements engineering for such systems is challenging, given demands for scalability, high performance and user interaction. Sportdata Event Technology, a leading provider of tournament software, partnered in this study to develop a future-proof mobile solution compatible with their existing system, which already offers live data transmission, timetable management and multi-tenancy. This collaboration provided an opportunity to apply and evaluate a novel requirements engineering approach in a real-world context. Using a design-prototype-test methodology, the study emphasized predictive and data-driven decision-making to select technologies that can adapt to future challenges. The requirement engineering process placed emphasis on end users, their usage patterns and the resulting traffic, by using semi structured expert interviews and structured process analysis methods. An adapted Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) guided technology selection based on available website usage statistics. The prototype was tested with end users and refined iteratively. The developed system features a scalable, crash-only backend designed for real-time traffic and unpredictable spikes, paired with an Android application, both tested under real conditions. The system consistently supported 72.83 requests per second, surpassing the anticipated load by 235%, with a mean response time of 412ms. Endorsed by the World Karate Federation as the official app, it showed steady user growth and high engagement. The results underscore the value of robust, usage-focused and data-driven requirements engineering in high-demand environments. The architecture’s scalability and responsiveness demonstrate its suitability as a model for sports management systems and offer insights applicable to other sectors requiring real-time solutions. User adoption and system performance validate the effectiveness of this approach in achieving both high performance and user satisfaction in the sports technology field.