IT Services

IT Strategy

The GAA IT Strategy lays out:

• The Vision for Technology in the GAA
• The factors and influences that shape that Vision
• An evaluation of IT Systems currently used
• A description of what those systems will look like
• The specific steps, actions or initiatives required to deliver the strategy
• Overall timelines and delivery timeframe.

The Strategy is intended for delivery by the start of 2020 and will be refined, expanded, improved through its lifetime to reflect:

• New Strategic plan
• Legislation and Regulatory changes
• Other relevant factors as needed
• Technology innovations to be considered also
• The strategy provides a clear roadmap for technology usage in the GAA
• Gives clarity to Clubs / Counties
• Allows clear measurement of success

The IT Strategy is available from the Downloads section on this page.

IT Services Supported by GAA IT Department
There are a wide range of IT Services provided centrally for use in the GAA. Some systems are available which are not specifically supported by the IT department

• MS Dynamics County Finance solution
• DWF Claims
• Club Draw

The GAA IT team will be able to guide you in getting support for these services.

How to obtain access to IT Services
Access to Office 365 E3 licence is available to the Club Officers, namely:

• Chairperson
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• PRO

At County and Provincial board level, Office 365 licences E1 are available for the Executive Committee and key officials on request. It is feasible to delegate access to the Club Website solution to another email address (i.e. an officer other than the 4 core officers), should a club choose to do so, but requests must be sent from one of the official club email addresses.

Requests for access to Office 365 or Club Website solution should be sent to Croke Park using the mail.support@gaa.ie email address. Every club should already be using GAA Management System (GMS) for registration purposes, requests for new users should be sent to the GMS help desk. Where a club has access to IT Systems already, registration details should be transferred from outgoing officers to incoming officers as necessary.

Microsoft Office 365
Office 365 provides Clubs with access to great functionality:

• Email
• OneDive - File storage and sharing
• Word / Excel / PowerPoint
• OneNote
• Skype for business - Online conferencing (audio, video & screen sharing)

Its free for Clubs, Counties and Provincial Boards to use, It allows you to connect from anywhere. It can be accessed through your mobile devices.

It is GAA policy - Official GAA Communications are issued to the @gaa.ie email addresses which are available through Office 365.

How to get Office 365
Office 365 is available to every club for use by the primary officers (Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and PRO). County and Provincial committees can also obtain O365. If there are officers fulfilling one of those roles that don’t currently have an Office 365 account, they can request it by asking one of their colleagues who already has an Office 365 account to request it on their behalf. This is done by:

• E-mailing mail.support@gaa.ie from his/her own @gaa.ie email account
• Contacting their County IT Officer and asking him/her to request it on their behalf
• Mailing mail.support@gaa.ie directly and requesting access.

In this scenario, usernames and passwords will only be provided to an existing @gaa.ie email address from the relevant club or to the County IT Officer.

Information Security & Records
Whenever Computer Systems are being used Information Security practices should be followed, including:

• Change Passwords regularly (Quarterly)
• Alphanumeric characters and symbols, > 8 characters long
• Passwords should not be shared
• Avoid opening emails from unknown sources
• Beware of clicking links or opening attachments
• Laptops, hard drives, USBs should be encrypted and kept secure

Important that the Onedrive infrastructure is utilised:

• It is an access controlled, secure environment
• It is backed up and
• Available after a person changes role

Games Management Platform
GMS is the core GAA Application and all club members must be registered in the system. It allows clubs to administer and maintain details relating to their members, including Membership Number. It facilitates communications with groups of members, officials, administrators via SMS.

It allows access to Fixtures and Results relevant to individual clubs. It allows the allocation of Roles to individual members (i.e. Chair, Secretary, coaches etc). It's free to use and is the Association’s Core system.

User Guides and Frequently Asked Questions documents can be found on the helpdesk website here.

How to Get Access to the GMS
Every club is currently using the GMS to register its members and the Club Secretary, Registrar or other committee member will already have access to the system. Should the person responsible for registrations change, it is feasible for the out-going person responsible (called the Club Administrator) to allocate system privileges to another member. This is done by searching within the system for the member in question, selecting the system privileges tab and allocating the relevant role to the incoming officer. Alternatively the County IT Officer can facilitate some requests and the GMS Helpdesk can also assist.

GAA IT Advisory Services
The GAA IT Department are available to assist with IT Infrastructure requirements:

• Infrastructure at county grounds & offices
• Guidance on minimum requirements for
• Press Media Areas
• PA / CCTV
• Ticket Scanning
• Ticket Sales
• Network