Collection on the Fly

For PFF's analysts, keeping a close eye on games is their job, but it didn't have to be a pain. They just needed a solution that worked at their speed.

01 / context & considerations

Pro Football Focus is a leading sports analytics company, specializing in in-depth player performance analysis for American football. They provide comprehensive, data-driven insights and player grades that empower teams, fans, and media with an unparalleled understanding of the game to make informed decisions and enhance the football experience. Following the success of our reporting app, they came back to us to craft a data collection application intended to replace the system of spreadsheets they kept on Microsoft Access database. It was high time for them to upgrade to a bespoke system that tailored the UI to their needs and was snappy enough that they could register all of the data to be gleaned from a play in real time — or at least real time enough to share interesting insights of the game live over social media.

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02 / process

With as arduous as the data collection process is, making the process of entering data as it becomes apparent to an analyst as seamless as possible is key. I worked directly with the chief analyst and several of his colleagues in putting the product through the paces and using their feedback to optimize the flow of form fields and help them keep their bearings during a game.

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03 / solution

We established a form field order and tab continuity consistent with their process, and also introduced a system of hotkeys to allow for play traversal in order to make any updates to the data during breaks in play. All of this translated into time saved not having to fight both the software and the DVR.

When everything was said and done, analysts were wrapping up the collection of a given game's data within an hour of a game's completion, not days.

Cutting through commercials

With as arduous as the data collection process is, making the process of entering data as it becomes apparent to an analyst as seamless as possible is key. We established a form field order and tab continuity consistent with their process, and also introduced a system of hotkeys to allow for play traversal in order to make any updates to the data during breaks in play. All of this translated into time saved not having to fight both the software and the DVR.