Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid
Going for Gold: SQL Server™ 2000 Provides Necessary Backbone for Toronto
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Company Overview
TO-2008 is a non-profit organization working to bring the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and Cultural Festival to Toronto, Canada. TO-2008 involves athletes, businesses and individuals eager to see Toronto host the Summer Olympic Games. Toronto is competing for the 2008 Games against Osaka, Beijing, Paris and Istanbul, with the winning city to be announced in July 2001.
Since its inception in April 2000, TO-2008’s Web site (www.to-2008.com) has received over 10 million hits from around the globe. The site uses hypertext markup language (HTML) and Flash graphic technology to provide a visually appealing site that offers leading-edge technology. An advanced e-mail system allows for instant communications to bid supporters. TO-2008 worked closely with researchers from the University of Toronto’s Adaptive Technology Research Centre to develop a site that is accessible to almost anyone, including people with disabilities such as visual impairments.
Business Challenge
In June 2000, when the IOC declared 10 world cities as contenders for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, TO-2008 turned its attention to developing a winning Web site that would tout Toronto, Canada, as the best place to hold the Games.
It would be another two months before the shortlist of five cities would be revealed and international marketing campaigns would be launched, but TO-2008 was completely confident Toronto would be among the chosen few.
“We had to have our Web site up on the day the shortlist would be published because the eyes of the world would be upon us,” recalls Ana Kirkham, vice-president, finance and operations, at TO-2008. “We wanted to put our best foot forward, yet we only had a short timeframe to create a showcase of our city and its considerable strengths.”
But a Web site is only as good as the back end it is built on. TO-2008’s first step, therefore, was to combine a content management system with a powerful database solution. The system would manage all content in three languages (English, French and Spanish) and also enable users to upload content to the Web from wherever they were busy promoting Toronto – at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, at IOC presentations, or at other activities related to Toronto’s bid.
“Traditionally, a user would send Web content to a Web designer by e-mail and it would take several days for the content to be converted to HTML and uploaded to the Web,” says Walter Gomes, TO-2008’s Web team leader. “But we couldn’t afford to have a whole team of people converting text into Web language. Our goal was to work without any borders or time zones by allowing Web designers to update the site simultaneously and remotely and giving non-technical people the ability to update the Web site by themselves.”
Because the site would be inundated with scores of hits and information requests once the finalists were announced, Gomes and his team wanted a solution that would be robust in every way – from a database that could pull information from numerous sources quickly and efficiently to a system that could easily communicate between servers without any downtime.
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Solution
TO-2008 found the right technology solutions providers in Microforum Inc. and Microsoft Canada Co. Microforum Content delivers a Web site environment that’s flexible, scalable and inherently secure. Microforum Content incorporates the Microsoft SQL Server database, creating a Web site with unparalleled performance, reliability and scalability.
Microforum Inc. (www.microforum.com), based in Toronto, is a leading software products and Internet solutions company. Microforum’s products and solutions empower organizations to streamline operations and strengthen relationships with customers in today's increasingly networked world. The company has offices in Halifax and New York.
Microforum is a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider Partner and a Microsoft Independent Software Vendor (ISV). Microforum is also one of 50 companies around the world who are part of Microsoft’s Commerce Partner Advisory Board in Redmond, Washington.
“SQL Server is extremely easy for our developers to work with,” says John Weatherbie, chief architect at Microforum Inc. “The interfaces and graphical environment are very easy to use. There’s a level of completeness in the product that addresses the full range of developer needs. Our programmers can create new solutions very quickly, whether it’s remotely or locally, and they can debug quite easily as well.”
Deployment Time
TO-2008 had already established its online presence by April 2000. However, at this time it was necessary for the bid committee to focus its attention on the initial “Bid Book” that was delivered to the IOC in June 2000.
Once that important project was out of the way, a Web development team was assembled to relaunch the site as TO-2008’s primary communications vehicle. Gomes and his team sought out the most suitable partners and worked with them to develop a revamped Web site that made its debut on August 29, 2000.
“It’s unbelievable how many things we got online and how quickly we were able to upload them,” says Kirkham. “A lot of the information didn’t exist as of June so we had to get people together to decide what should be posted and then work diligently to develop content. SQL Server seemed to be the best fit so we could easily interweave different components from different resources. We had only a few people and couldn’t afford to miss a deadline. That’s where SQL Server really came into play.”
Business Benefits
Microforum Content, combined with SQL Server, enables TO-2008 to maintain all its own content in three languages as well as to maintain all its own navigation through a Web-based interface.
SQL Server’s efficient accessibility via COM objects and Active Server Pages (ASP) makes it easy to render static HTML files from SQL Server data or allow dynamic generation of HTML pages. Because content can be posted easily – without learning HTML beforehand – online visitors are always guaranteed up-to-the-minute news and information on all things related to Toronto’s Olympic bid.
“The daily publishing cycle is key and that’s where SQL Server’s database capabilities really shine,” says TO-2008’s Kirkham. “We’re encouraging people to return to the site many times so it has to be very obvious to the viewing public that we’re refreshing the site regularly. We don’t want it to be a static site; it has to be absolutely a moving, living, breathing creature.”
TO-2008 was particularly impressed with SQL Server’s full-text search capability for building site maps and related items and indexes. With the full-text search capability, it is no longer necessary to have expensive add-ons to handle full-text database searches. SQL Server supports linguistic search, allowing TO-2008 to create special indexes of pertinent words and phrases in selected columns of selected tables.
TO-2008 will soon be developing the search engine capability to let visitors ask questions online, with the search engine searching the SQL Server database for answers. If no related information is available on the Web site, the question will be forwarded to the bid staff for an immediate response.
SQL Server’s scalability was also a big selling point.
“Because SQL Server runs well on either Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 operating system or Windows 2000, there’s a definite upgrade path as we move forward,” says Gomes. “It’s an open system with many options. We’ll be able to move laterally as our scope and focus changes down the road, and we’ll have the flexibility to bring in new partners and work together in an online collaborative environment.”
Resulting Value
The redesigned site has already received more than 10 million hits, with a 1,000 fold increase in hits in the first two months alone.
“We’ve had very little downtime, which is almost impossible in the development stage,” says Gomes. “Microsoft and Microforum have helped us position Toronto as the best city to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. With the right technology in place, TO-2008 is going for gold.”
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Centre at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information via the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/canada/casestudies/
http://www.to-2008.com
http://www.microforum.com
