Ask

After the launch of Sportinfrastructuur.nl, usage didn’t grow as expected. The platform wasn’t sufficiently in line with the needs and expectations of the people who relied on it every day. New feature ideas were piling up, coming from many directions, and the team needed clarity on what truly mattered for users, and what would move adoption forward.

NOC*NSF asked fresk.digital to help them improve sportinfrastructuur.nl so it could better support the national sports ecosystem. Their goals were clear:
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• Increase adoption among municipalities, sport unions and institutes.
• Improve the technical stability of the platform.
• Improve usability and increase user friendliness throughout the platform
• Prioritise the large backlog of wishes, ideas and feature requests from different stakeholders.
• Turn insights into a clear plan for strengthening the platform in the short and long term.

Adoption of the platform by the target group of administrators, inspectors, policymakers, and other stakeholders was essential. To realise the full vision of a complete and reliable overview of Dutch sporting facilities, the platform needed to become a tool users wanted and trusted to work with.

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Answer

To reach the goals of NOC*NSF we needed to understand first. Based on these learnings we would be able to define the steps forward. With a working platform in place, the expert review helped gain insights in what was necessary to help them further. We decided to follow our measure, learn, build method, also known as Optimise & Grow to define the next steps forward.

Measuring (qualitative and quantitative) enables us to gather information that allows us to understand the pain points in the existing platform and connect them to actual user needs and business needs. And translating them to concrete improvements and features we could realise for them.

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Way of working

For this partnership we followed the process of our Optimise & Grow. The aforementioned measure, learn, build.
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We knew the users were enthusiastic about the idea behind the platform. We needed to understand why the platform wasn’t meeting expectations. This needed more research from a human and technical perspective:
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• A solid start: Expert Review: we began with an expert review of Sportinfrastructuur.nl, identifying usability issues, gaps in the user flow and technical constraints that were blocking adoption. This created the first concrete fundament for improvement. (link to article).
• User validation sessions, every step of the way: Throughout the project, we held regular validation sessions with users to understand their goals, behaviours and needs.
  Each round of findings was shared directly with them, ensuring full transparency and keeping them engaged in the platform’s evolution.
• Co-creation with stakeholders: different groups, municipalities, sports unions, sports institutes, NOC*NSF teams have been  brought together in co-creation sessions to align needs, map challenges and turn collective insights into shared priorities.
• Data-driven release planning: using analytics, we mapped traffic patterns and aligned major updates to moments with lower platform activity. During busy periods, we stayed flexible for urgent requests, a rhythm that ensured improvements without disrupting critical workflows.
• Dedicated time for technical debt: to ensure long-term reliability, each sprint included booked time for tackling technical debt. This allowed us to increase performance, stability and trust, all crucial ingredients for adoption.

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We understood quickly that the users struggled with unclear flows, missing functionality and technical limitations and that the technical foundations lacked stability.  So, instead of adding more features, we concluded that the best way forward was to first strengthen the foundation: fix the essentials, make everyday actions easier, and rebuild trust in the platform.

From there, we worked in small, evidence-based steps. Each iteration was guided by a simple cycle: measure what’s happening, learn what it means, and build solutions that respond to it. This allowed us to shape a prioritised backlog that balanced user needs with business goals, and that focused first on the areas where improvement would be most meaningful.

By combining UX, design and technical optimisation in each sprint, we helped create a platform that gradually became more intuitive, faster and more enjoyable to use, creating the momentum needed for adoption to grow naturally.

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Result

With our human centred mindset and our Optimise & Grow approach, we have been able to work on the existing platform, understand how it was used through qualitative and quantitative insights, and guide NOC*NSF in building a reliable, scalable foundation for future growth.

The impact was clear, and immediate:
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• A more intuitive, usable platform, with friction points removed.
• Higher adoption, as users experienced a product that supported rather than hindered their work.
• Stronger communication and engagement with both users and stakeholders.
• A stable and reliable technical foundation, reducing issues and increasing confidence.
• A clear and manageable prioritised backlog, guiding future growth.

The adoption of the platform is on the rise and NOC*NSF is finally realising its mission to become the trusted, national hub for sport infrastructure data. All because we were able to set a solid foundation for Sportinfrastructuur.nl that works for NOC*NSF and their users.

We are now able to work, and are working with NOC*NSF, to expand the platform beyond their MVP status and create new features and improvements that support them in their purpose to shape a healthier, more active future for the Netherlands. 

Now with the adoption of the platform on the rise, it is now finally realising its mission: Becoming a trusted, national hub for sport infrastructure data.