System for monitoring and advanced analysis of handball matches

This paper is the result of a research project carried out by three teams of bachelor and master programme students. The research analyzes the possibility and usability of connecting different technologies. The project resulted in a system prototype based on a web application with a relational database, mobile application using a CouchDB database and data warehouse for business intelligence purposes. The three parts of the system communicate through a web service based on a node.js environment and MongoDB database. The developed system provides real-time reporting that helps decision making during handball matches and, by using online analytical processing and data mining, detailed post-match data analysis. The advanced handball statistics system offers a complete perspective of match dynamics and cumulative player and team efficiency by game segments in the time domain. This way it provides coaches with highly usable data, allowing the analysis and adaptation of training methods, coupled with efficient game dynamics monitoring and the detection of players´ behavioral patterns during matches. Finally, the paper presents the challenges concerning distributed software development in the team with various levels of member´s knowledge, teamwork and organization.