Systems Integration

Application Review

05-04

      US Open 2005 Pictures

Tee times at the U.S. Open won't wait for attendees to pass through an admissions gate.

This year, more than 50,000 golfers and families, visitors, support staff and U.S. Open volunteers will pour through the gates at the Bethpage State Park (Black Course) in Farmingdale, NY, June 13-16. They'll enter through any of seven entry gates with 24 check-in stations. Not one person will be on line more than a minute--even during the heavy morning time period when 10,000 people an hour will move through the busiest stations.

And each check-in station will guarantee only legitimate badge or ticket holders are admitted to the two-mile long course. Other stations scattered throughout the course ensure that once on site, each person has access only to the areas their bar-coded ticket allows. Close to 30 different ticket categories exist, including ones for the corporate hospitality tent, practice range, player locker rooms, trophy room, clubhouse, etc.

"No one can just talk their way into an area they are not allowed," says Nancy Bennett, manager, US Open admissions and accounts receivable.

What could easily become chaos at the entry gates and elsewhere is avoided with a unique admissions system combining bar code scanning, special tracer ink, wireless data communication from Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: SBL) and software from Compsee, Inc., a Mt. Gilead, NC-based systems integrator who designed the system for the second year in a row.

"This system gives us the real-time attendance accountability we need so that only those people who are supposed to be in are. It allows us to turn off access to tickets stolen or lost, prevents counterfeiting, and allows us to plan for the future," says Bennett.

Each year planning for the admissions system begins in the fall when Compsee representatives like project manager Sally Morgan conduct a site survey on the grounds of the 18-hole course. "We want to make sure people can pass through the gates quickly, yet not let our system interfere with either the game or the beauty of the course," says Morgan.

That's one reason a wireless local area network system is used-no wires for golf balls to hit, viewers to trip over, or to interfere with a picturesque scene shown on TV. Equally important though is the moveability of a wireless system. When the U.S. Open is finished, there are no wires to take down.

Admission gate
Everyone who enters the championship grounds must give their bar-coded ticket (held by spectators and corporate guests) or badges (held by players and families, support staff, and volunteer staffers) to a volunteer gate worker for scanning.

"We want people to temporarily give their ticket or badge to the volunteer admissions worker so if there is a problem with the ticket, if it is invalid, it is in the possession of the USGA worker and they have control of the situation. The ticket purchaser can then be directed to a security official to resolve the issue," says Morgan.

"We can turn access off if a ticket is reported stolen or lost or never received by the person who ordered it just by invalidating that bar code. That way, if the ticket shows up, the holder doesn't get admitted," says Bennett.

Each time a ticket/badge is scanned the software program verifies it is for the appropriate year, day, access/type, sequence number and reason. It also compares the badge number scanned to the numbers on the invalid badge database.

Controlling access to the various internal sites via the tickets is new this year. "Last year they just had scanning at the admission gates. This year we have some internal areas we are scanning. We are using it to restrict access, for example, to player hospitality, the locker room, practice range and media tent," says Bennett.

The gate admissions system also helps planning for future events. "This system gives us accountability for the different types of attendance and who is coming in and going out," says Bennett. "If over 50 percent of attendees are on site by 10 a.m., catering can use those statistics to determine staffing for future years. We can determine the times when more admission workers are needed, for example, or at what time food is required in the corporate hospitality tent compared to other refreshment stands."

The tools
The Compsee-created system features bar-coded tickets/badges and wireless communications for real-time attendance statistics. USGA owns the equipment, software and network created by Compsee, but Compsee plans and operates the system. It also provides supervisors to train the volunteers and observers to respond to invalid ticket alerts or assist ticket scanners on site.

After Compsee does the fall site survey of the course, it begins planning with USGA personnel the location of the check-in stations and scanning equipment.

This is where Compsee experience is heavily relied on by the USGA and why they were chosen for it two years ago.

"This admissions system was a new venture for us. Compsee brought a level of knowledge and sophistication to a program that we hadn't dealt with before," says Chris Law, former US Open ticket director.

"They allowed us to learn the system by imparting their knowledge to us. That training was very helpful. You can go anywhere for hardware, but it was the value-added, the knowledge they imparted that was so crucial," he says. "On top of that, they're a fun group to work with, and when you're putting in long hours, that's an important part also."

Compsee sets up the network on site about four days before the U.S. Open, but must wait until right before the championship to set up the scanning stations.

Unlike a warehouse system using wireless LAN communication tools, this outdoor one must be taken down nightly and set up again each morning. This is where a wireless LAN really pays off-no cables permanently or temporarily running around a golf course that must be uprooted and replaced daily. Making sure the right equipment gets to the right spot is easily accomplished by nightly storing each station's equipment in tote bins.

A few days before the open, Compsee trains 250 to 300 volunteers in how to hold and scan the tickets/badges, the importance of the volunteers taking the tickets and what to do if an invalid ticket is presented.

Each ticket and badge has a unique ID number encoded in a Code 39 bar code for accountability and traceability. Badges also contain holograms and the holder's picture. The tickets are made by Weldon, Williams & Lick of Fort Smith, AK, and also contain anti-counterfeit ink.

At most stations, tickets and badges are scanned under the Symbol Cyclone� M2000 fixed-station barcode scanner interfaced to a Linx VI terminal. Tickets also must go through the Tracer Ink Verifier. At the very remote outer gates, Symbol SPT 1740 Palm-Powered hand held computers are used.

Each Linx VI, from the Plano, TX-based Linx Data Terminals, contains a Symbol Spectrum 24 PC Card for wireless communication. When a valid badge passes the verification checks, the screen on the Linx terminal displays the badge number and the status of "Good Badge." After a short interval, the screen reverts to the Default Entry Screen. If a badge fails the checks, the Linx terminal screen displays the badge number and indicates "Invalid Badge."

Tickets failing the tracer ink verification test initiate a long beep and red light from the unit.

At the same time, the failed message appears, a message is sent to the Observer's SPT 1740 hand-held computer. The screen tells the location, ticket/badge number and reason for the failure. The observer then rescans the ticket/badge with the SPT 1740 for re-verification, turns in the badge to gate security personnel and re-sets the Linx terminal.

A special feature of this wireless system is use of the Symbol NetVision� phones. Compsee uses them to communicate instructions and inquiries by voice to the observers at the various gates. NetVision phones use a unique voice-over-Internet Protocol technology that operate over the same Spectrum 24 wireless LAN backbone, eliminating any need for additional phone lines or the costs of cellular phones.

The gate admittance system's backbone includes the Symbol Spectrum 24 2mbps wireless local area network (WLAN) and the Symbol AP 3021 Ethernet Access Points. An uninterruptible power source (UPS) guarantees the system will always run.

"We've used this Symbol wireless backbone system before and knew it provided highly reliable and accurate data transmission," says Morgan. "It's a proven technology that serves this purpose well."

The Linx terminals were selected for they're heavy-duty capability as well as their ability to work well with the Symbol wireless system. "We've used these before too, so we know they work. We then added the Symbol Cyclone M2000 scanner to it because they would allow either tabletop or hand-held scanning. In case we wanted to add the high-density two-dimensional bar codes like PDF417 to the badges in the future, we knew the M2000 could read that as well as our one-dimensional code."

Proven technology combined with operational experience brings this gate admission system in under par for the 2002 U.S. Open.

105th US Open
Compsee Staff and Observers

 
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