Case Study: Organizational Readiness
Sydney Olympic Transportation Plan

Challenge
Ensure that the various divisions of the Complete transport Plan, for both the city and its regional hinterland, are equipped to deliver the biggest transport the country has ever known

Introduction
The 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (presented) were the largest logistical undertaking in history for the country of Australia. The transportation challenge alone, posed one which all recognized that if it failed, the success of the entire 12 year project would fail with it. Transport had become the Achilles heel of Olympic operations, and was a factor of the operation the Australian organizers would not take a chance on. Once agreed plans were in place for the complete transport operation, the Committee needed to ensure that all of their transportation divisions were prepared to deliver. Another major factor of this evaluation stage, was if the contingency and continuity plans for this mammoth project worked, and how well did the implementing personnel know them.

Stakeholders
ORTA (Olympic Road and Transport Authority),City of Sydney, Australian Government, State Officials, Global Government Representatives, Games Logistics, Sydney Airport, Sydney Trains and Buses, Games VIP’s, Games Spectators

Strategy/Process
The Rhiannon Group worked with ORTA to design and create primary separate departmental simulations to ensure organizational readiness in delivery of individual services. Upon completion we worked which each team to refine their plans and expectations from what they had learned, saving considerable resources across the operation. The next step was to create a comprehensive design of how the integration of all transport services would need to work during operations.. We then devised a complete ORTA simulation to provide opportunity to integrate services and educate the entire team on the completer transportation delivery strategy. A key challenge of this simulation was to ensure that we were rigorous in promoting and educating the “new” games delivery structure and the contingencies plan that has been created. To promote authenticity the simulation was held over a 24 hour, three 8 hour shifts.

Result/Conclusion
The entire ORTA government department was recognized that up to the exercise, the entire organization had been planning for years without any hands on experience. ORTA felt prepared at the end of the 24 hours, and felt ready and confident to deliver the biggest transport operation ever seen in an Olympic Games, which they duly did. The contingency plans created as a result of departmental evaluation, prior, post and during the ORTA simulation are still operating in Sydney today, recognized annually as one of the most efficient and successful daily commute transport networks worldwide.