Carl:
Heck, isnt that type of hardware found out behind Goodwill in this area?
:^)
On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Carl Merritt wrote:
> Only one computer? That's not NEARLY a sexy enough solution, I thought you
> were in MIS? ;-)
>
> A single DB server in the motorhome running on AC power (with a large enough
> UPS to keep it up while the generator is refueled), driving a small LAN,
> 802.11b wireless network, and then a bunch of iPaq wireless handhelds for
> registration, tech, grid, starter, T&S, etc...
>
> -Carl
> (I'm also an MIS Manager by day, and just finished my 2002 budget proposal
> today. Can you tell? :)
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mark J. Andy [mailto:marka@telerama.com]
> > Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 5:54 PM
> > To: Bay_Area_Autocross_List
> > Subject: Re: Preregistration and computerized timing/scoring
> >
> >
> > Howdy,
> >
> > On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Jerry Mouton wrote:
> > > How many entrants run at a typical event in your local
> > > region, Mark?
> >
> > 4.
> >
> > :-)
> >
> > Ok, seriously... Around 100. But we run registration and the event a
> > little differently. Registration opens at 8am and closes at 10am, so
> > we're pumping 100 people through in 2 hours. With the longer
> > time that
> > you folks have registration open, I think you'd have a similar # of
> > registerents per hour. Again, the computer entry portion
> > doesn't seem to
> > be the longest thing you do during registration, so it doesn't add any
> > real time to the registration process for the event (of
> > course, it does
> > add 30 seconds to each individual's time, but since it
> > happens in parallel
> > to the rest, it doesn't affect throughput).
> >
> > > Again, who would do all this in SFR? Is registration data
> > entry a signup
> > > work assignment? Or is there someone who is there at every event
> > > early in the morning, dedicated to make this work?
> >
> > In our case, I think there's a chief of the computer type guy
> > who does it.
> > However, its not like data entry can't be taught. No reason
> > it couldn't
> > be a work assignment.
> >
> > > Who would you see handling the merge of databases? Is your
> > > experience of database merge that it typically just runs,
> > no problem?
> >
> > Sure! You mean that database merging is ever an issue? :-)
> > (I work as an
> > MIS-type during the day...)
> >
> > I really think you could do it on one system. If you
> > couldn't, two would
> > easily be enough. With only two databases, the merge is
> > relatively easy.
> > You'd obviously need to have a couple things to make it work well. #1
> > would be a t&s program that could either handle doing a merge
> > (unlikely)
> > or that talks to a database that can facilitate doing a merge (pretty
> > likely). #2 would be someone to setup a merge program that
> > would toss out
> > duplicates for manual intervention and/or someone to run the merge.
> >
> > Given where you guys run, I find it pretty hard to believe that you
> > wouldn't have geeks jump all over each other for the easy
> > work assignment
> > :-)
> >
> > > the several. Of course, SFR might have an easier time, but
> > again, we'd
> > > be under extreme time pressure, and the event would depend on
> > > completion of the merge in the 10 minutes between start of the
> > > drivers' meeting and beginning of run group 1 -- without failure.
> >
> > There's no reason you can't close registration for the
> > morning run groups
> > a half hour before the driver's meeting, but what you're saying makes
> > perfect sense. Certainly at the beginning of something like
> > this, you'd
> > need to run a paper system like you do now as a backup at an absolute
> > minimum.
> >
> > > And, online database update continuously during the day as
> > new people
> > > showed up and registered.
> >
> > This would be more "interesting" :-)
> >
> > My recommendation would be to use one computer, close registration for
> > morning run groups, hand that database over, then capture
> > afternoon run
> > groups to a different database. I.e. each database sees
> > "registration"
> > and then "timing" in that order. If you wanna complicate my life and
> > allow either group to register in the morning, keep seperate database
> > starting at the beginning.
> >
> > > Sounds a lot tougher to me than it does to you!
> >
> > My post was only to indicate that plenty of people do it, not that you
> > should. SFR should decide what makes sense to them and then
> > run with it.
> > As you folks are fond of saying, you're the biggest region in
> > the country
> > and sometimes need to work a little differently than everyone else.
> >
> > It does seem like computerizing earlier would make getting
> > data back to
> > the web a fair amount easier, calculating pax classes on the fly, etc.
> >
> > Not trying to stir up trouble. Just pointing out what I've seen other
> > folks do.
> >
> > Mark
>
---
Geoff Mohler
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