EIS streamlines management of health program, including PCR testing for Tokyo Games, using Smartsheet

Headquartered in Manchester, United Kingdom, the English Institute of Sport is a governmental institution that provides sports science and sports medicine services to high-performance athletes within the UK, including British Olympic and Paralympic participants. 

EIS services have expanded exponentially in its 20 years, from traditional sports support such as medicine, physiotherapy and strength and conditioning, into other services such as biomechanics, performance innovation, performance lifestyle, and mental health. With over 350 employees working with more than 40 sports across the country, the organisation has contributed to over 1000 Olympic and Paralympic medals. 

PCR testing for the Olympics with Smartsheet’s help

When the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world, many sports events, if not cancelled, were organised in very difficult circumstances. Sporting organisations turned to digital tools to streamline workflows and boost efficiency. Already using Smartsheet for many of its internal programs, EIS’s Athlete Health Team decided to adopt the tool for newer use cases brought about by the pandemic. 

“In 2021, we were appointed to run all the PCR testing for athletes, staff, stakeholders and sponsors travelling to Tokyo for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Tests had to be performed by clinicians nationwide in a specific time frame designed for the events—14 days, 96 hours and 48 hours prior to departure,” remembers Faye Hodson, Athlete Health Coordinator at English Institute of Sport. With more than 500 athletes to be tested, together with an additional 600 support staff, the challenge was major. “Without Smartsheet, this would have been incredibly difficult for us.”

Aiming to always deliver at a world-class level, Hodson and her team created a project plan using Smartsheet, relying on embedded Gantt charts that enabled them to assign tasks with deadlines and automate reminders. All the information was collected and collated in one place. This enabled athletes, clinicians and authorities to keep updated, no matter their location.

“Without the proper tool, there would have been various emails and different sheets flying around,” recounts Hodson. “And for sure somebody would have ended up downloading it and then potentially not uploading it properly. But with Smartsheet being used to report on the PCR testing, everything went smoothly.” 
It wasn’t just about getting the data, it was also about accessibility and convenience. “One good thing about the forms was that we could send them out to athletes in a WhatsApp message,” Hodson adds. “They love it! Everybody has their phone, but not everybody has a laptop in front of them.” This ease of use helped the EIS accomplish its mission smoothly.

Athletes’ health management in a one-stop shop 

EIS’s use of Smartsheet began years before the Tokyo games. In 2018, the organisation set up the Athlete Health Team to reduce illness and injury amongst athletes. This group of experts are in charge of the physical and mental health, respiratory health, female health, and performance data of athletes. Tasks include year-round analyses to track the evolution of the athlete population, taking into consideration elements like the sports category or season. “We even have a bespoke medical records system called Performance Data Management System (PDMS),” says Hodson.

Due to the complexity of its work, the team management realised from the very start that they needed a cost-effective collaboration and project management software solution. “We needed a tool accessible to internal and external parties within a highly secure environment, as we deal with athletes and their training teams, not just internal EIS stakeholders,” says Hodson. “I investigated various options over a few weeks, and Smartsheet always came out on top. It’s easy to use, and can be accessed securely internally and externally. It can be used for project management as well and fits within our budget.”

The team quickly set to work integrating projects and data. Once the ecosystem was set up, people started using the new solution and more ways of accomplishing daily tasks were discovered. 

“With Smartsheet, we’re able to create dashboards for senior management who just want a quick visual, not a full form,” details Hodson. “You can also drill down permissions to a single cell, and that helps with GDPR. If you need an update, you just send an email and anyone can do it directly, not having to log into a different system. And the fact that it can be integrated into Microsoft Teams was really good for us in terms of collaboration.”

Long-term activity monitoring and engagement tracking

Outside of extraordinary circumstances like a pandemic, the Athlete Health Team spends a lot of time on activity monitoring and engagement tracking. Being able to access live data is a necessary aspect of the work. “The director can just see a live dashboard of our spending. We find that really useful,” details Hodson. 

But to Hodson, the greatest advantage is data accuracy. “Using Smartsheet has reduced the number of mistakes being made because the data is in one place at all times,” she says. 

“We’ve been using Smartsheet since 2018 and we are still finding new uses for it,” mentions Hodson. “We aim for more project and resource planning, continuing our activity monitoring, and budget tracking. We're also looking to use the forms for feedback purposes. For example, we can ask sports organisations and athletes how they think we're performing, and utilise that to analyse our work.” 

After a proven great experience with Smartsheet boosting efficiency across the Athlete Health Team’s projects, EIS also plans to implement the tool in other processes and departments within the organisation.

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