Practiscore match work flow

[bikerburgess]

I started using Practiscore for our clubs matches a about 6 months ago and have a system that works pretty well so far, but I thought it would be interesting to see how others are doing it, so I can steal your good ideas:-)

our current system.

Prematch

set up match and build stages in Practiscore on either my phone or tablet

Match day

Post paper squad sheets for competitors to self squad as they arrive

Sync master tablet to whatever I set match up on

Register and Squad shooters on master tablet (now an Ipad but have also done on android tablet) with paired blue tooth keyboard (makes entering new shooters way easier)

Sync Stage Nooks and at least one backup to master tablet.

Set stage nooks to correct stage and deliver to stages.

If we have a shooter show up late (after Nooks have gone to stages) I give them a quick lesion on adding themselves as a walk on at their first stage.

Nooks stay at each stage so if something happens we only loose a stage not a squad. for club matches we do not have paper backup and have had no request for it.

Squads return nooks to stats after their last stage.

Sync master tablet to each nook as it returns. I have gone through and synced the master to the stage nooks it can see during the match but our layout doesn't allow for good WiFi coverage, and I still like to hold the tablet I am syncing at the end of the match to know I have it all.

Verify I have all the scores accounted for from all shooters,

Reconcile any walk on shooters

Sync Several nooks to master tablet for competitors to see results on.

Use master tablet to view results and hand out awards.

Sync my Phone to Master tablet and post results to Practiscore.com as soon as I get to cell coverage on way home from range( our range is a dead spot for cell coverage)

About 3 days after match

Generate USPSA activity classifier report on Ipad or Iphone and submit to USPSA

How are you doing it?

[Jim Norman]

Interesting how you deal with Squads. That is something I might try. It eliminates the issue of No-Shows. We to do not use paper back-ups at local matches. I use an Ipad and Nooks, no more EzWin!! I do not post scores at the match, but I suppose I could, I have extra Nooks, but people tend to teardown their last stage and split, so only a few would benefit. I do complete the scores at the range so that I know I have everything done, I post to our own website when I get home and prizes are paid out at the next match.

[wgnoyes]

This.

[Jadeslade]

Bill, I just short circuited my brain.

[wgnoyes]

Half the steps of the poster, it seems like.

[bikerburgess]

How do you count that?

[bikerburgess]

Oh I forgot to mention that the squad sheets we use are the same ones we have been using for years (prior to Practiscore) and are pretty standard procedure with the club's in our area regardless of scoring system. The only change we made was to have them squad then register.

[Lee Cabana]

At Maine Practical Shooters, I use pretty much the same process as Biker, but try to have shooters register on line for an easy download into Practiscore - that helps reduce errors on my part. Our iPads travel with the squad - I've learned to keep a backup iPad in case of overheating in the summer. I email a practisore.com link to shooters shortly after the mach for results and have learned to wait a few days before uploading to USPSA - there's aways someone who was in the wrong division or PF. For our December match, I'll bypass ExWinScore for the first time.

[Vlad]

Pre-match

Pre registration on the club's website

Download spreadsheet and load on master Nook

On master nook create stages and import pre-registration

At Match

As shooters arrive and sign in check that they are in master nook.

If not add to master nook.

Squading gets done at this point based on shooter requests ON PAPER.

When everyone is signed up master nook is synced to one backup and stage nooks

Each nook is set to score one stage for ALL shooters, no squads in the nook.

If shooters show up, they get added to the nooks for each stage

Nooks stay with the stage, if one dies a horrible death, we lose a stage for everyone, not an entire squad.

Post match

Make sure all people that were manually added are synced up

Generate scores

The squading electronically thing is a red herring as far as I'm concerned and a waste of time. I have each shooter sign a release when they show up and I use that release to build piles of who they want to shoot with. I can easily count them, move them, and sort them. Jim Norman uses a white board for the same. It is friking trivial instead of mucking about with multiple software platforms at the range.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Vlad

[ZackJones]

For steel challenge I do the following:

Pre-match

Setup registration page on clubs.practiscore.com

Upon receipt of registration email I add shooter to master tablet (I do this because there's a bug in the steel challenge match settings on the web site so I can't download registration)

Friday before match setup stages at the club

Add stages on master tablet

Sync from Master to each stage tablet

Charge Master and stage NST's

At Match

Add walk up shooters and let them know about online registration / email blast we send out about the match.

At registration close sync from master to stage NST's

Shooter's meeting and then shooters break up into squads as they see fit.

We average 20 - 30 shooters and 35 - 45 guns per match.

During Match

Stage NST's stay on stage

Scoring is done by selecting the specific stage and then listing all shooters in alphabetical order

Pull scores from stage NST's to master

When we think we're done verify I have scores for all shooters and then put steel away

Post Match

Upload results to practiscore.com

Generate results/activity report for Steel Challenge

Upload and pay fee for match

Export match file to drop box as backup

Turn tablets off until next month

Prepare reports / results as required by club and submit

I've used this process since we went to electronic scoring and I'll use it again next year. The only exception will be for the 2015 State Steel Challenge Championship match we're hosting. For that match I will do paper backups.

[bikerburgess]

The squading electronically thing is a red herring as far as I'm concerned and a waste of time. I have each shooter sign a release when they show up and I use that release to build piles of who they want to shoot with. I can easily count them, move them, and sort them. Jim Norman uses a white board for the same. It is friking trivial instead of mucking about with multiple software platforms at the range.

I do the squading on the master tablet during registration it only takes 2 key strokes to do, so I don't understand what you are talking about with the "multiple software platforms" comment?

[wgnoyes]

bikerburgess, it was a dig at me for using ezws to register walkups and finalize squadding.

[bikerburgess]

bikerburgess, it was a dig at me for using ezws to register walkups and finalize squadding.

Honest question for you, what is it in ezws that makes it worthwhile for you to use for registration?

[Vlad]

bikerburgess, it was a dig at me for using ezws to register walkups and finalize squadding.

Correct

[Jim Norman]

To add to what Vlad wrote and comment on Biker...

We COULD after we finish squadding, go through the list and enter a squad number.

COULD. But each time a person leaves the two pages he is familiar with it opens up another place to screw things up royally.

IF we had dedicated staff, OR if we could lock each portion of the stage nooks so that you could only go as far as selecting your squad, but could not change the stage, then I'd say OK. but as it is, I've had to deal with people inadvertently changing the stage and starting to score shooters on the wrong stage. Having them find both the correct squad AND the correct stage (I know that the stage shouldn't be changed and that you have to go out one screen further to do so, but I can assure you that this will happen) I don't need the additional stress on Match Day. I would really like to shoot a match and not have to deal with any additional issues.

What we have works. I print up a check list, alphabetically sorted by last name to verify that the pre-reg shooters arrive and then I add the walk-ons to this list as a back-up for me later. The white board allows us to stay liquid until the final moments before we pass out the nooks, and if I have to add a late arrival, I don't have to deal with squading (Yes I could put all late and no-shows in Sq 99, but that means that the RO now has to look in even more places!

So all this said, I am THRILLED, HAPPY, JOYOUS that Practiscore is available and working! It has made my life with regards to Match Stats.

Thank you all that have contributed to making this program a reality.

[wgnoyes]

bikerburgess, it was a dig at me for using ezws to register walkups and finalize squadding.

Honest question for you, what is it in ezws that makes it worthwhile for you to use for registration?

Simple answer: the drag-and-drop squadding system. Nothing else has anything that even approaches it in elegance and ease of use. And I still need it after the match to upload official match results to uspsa.org.

[wgnoyes]

bikerburgess, it was a dig at me for using ezws to register walkups and finalize squadding.

Correct

Blocked

Edited December 3, 2014 by wgnoyes

[wgnoyes]

To add to what ---- wrote and comment on Biker...

...

So all this said, I am THRILLED, HAPPY, JOYOUS that Practiscore is available and working! It has made my life with regards to Match Stats.

Thank you all that have contributed to making this program a reality.

Yes, I agree, Ken and Russell have done a great job with this.

[bikerburgess]

Thanks, We never squaded in ezws do I have never used it for that

[wgnoyes]

Its kind of nice actually. You have two seemingly duplicate columns showing your squads in collapsed form. Expand a squad on one side to see the shooters, click-and-hold and drag a shooter to a different squad on the other side. The visual representation and interface are very effective.

Edited December 3, 2014 by wgnoyes

[Jim Norman]

If you want to squad shooters, EzWin does work, that and creating the WebFile for posting scores to USPSA are about the only two reasons to keep Ez. Practiscore does squad and it is not that difficult, just scroll the shooters and edit to put in a squad. Not as fast or easy but doable. Perhaps with a 200+ shooter match I would do this. with 60-100 at our monthly match we just pick form the overall list.

Setting up an easier squadding function like Ez has in Practiscore might be something to add to the 'I want it' list, even if it was only available in the IPad version.

[wgnoyes]

Speed and ease mean everything to me at a local match where everyone is standing around waiting for you to finalize things, provision the stage devices and hand them out.

I would think it would be doable in iOS on an iPad, but I could be wrong. Registration for a major match is a months-long project. I'd never consider keeping it exclusively in practiscore. For something like that, I still would want the power and flexibility of a real computer.

Edited December 3, 2014 by wgnoyes

[Phong Nguyen]

I started using Practiscore for our clubs matches a about 6 months ago and have a system that works pretty well so far, but I thought it would be interesting to see how others are doing it, so I can steal your good ideas:-)

our current system.

Prematch

set up match and build stages in Practiscore on either my phone or tablet

Match day

Post paper squad sheets for competitors to self squad as they arrive

Sync master tablet to whatever I set match up on

Register and Squad shooters on master tablet (now an Ipad but have also done on android tablet) with paired blue tooth keyboard (makes entering new shooters way easier)

Sync Stage Nooks and at least one backup to master tablet.

Set stage nooks to correct stage and deliver to stages.

If we have a shooter show up late (after Nooks have gone to stages) I give them a quick lesion on adding themselves as a walk on at their first stage.

Nooks stay at each stage so if something happens we only loose a stage not a squad. for club matches we do not have paper backup and have had no request for it.

Squads return nooks to stats after their last stage.

Sync master tablet to each nook as it returns. I have gone through and synced the master to the stage nooks it can see during the match but our layout doesn't allow for good WiFi coverage, and I still like to hold the tablet I am syncing at the end of the match to know I have it all.

Verify I have all the scores accounted for from all shooters,

Reconcile any walk on shooters

Sync Several nooks to master tablet for competitors to see results on.

Use master tablet to view results and hand out awards.

Sync my Phone to Master tablet and post results to Practiscore.com as soon as I get to cell coverage on way home from range( our range is a dead spot for cell coverage)

About 3 days after match

Generate USPSA activity classifier report on Ipad or Iphone and submit to USPSA

How are you doing it?

Thank you for posting this as I'm gonna steal it!

As a newcomer to Practiscore, I had a few questions so maybe someone can chime in..

1. If Nooks stay on the stage, can you limit that Nook to only display that stage?

2. What prevents shooters from changing other shooter's scores from other squads that have already shot that stage?

3. I assume that you can print from the master tablet to a printer, hooked up to a desktop/laptop, via WiFi?

[wgnoyes]

Thank you for posting this as I'm gonna steal it!

As a newcomer to Practiscore, I had a few questions so maybe someone can chime in..

1. If Nooks stay on the stage, can you limit that Nook to only display that stage?

No.

2. What prevents shooters from changing other shooter's scores from other squads that have already shot that stage?

Nothing.

3. I assume that you can print from the master tablet to a printer, hooked up to a desktop/laptop, via WiFi?

You most definitely can from the iOS version via AirPrint, and don't even need the computer.

[Jim Norman]

Being able to 'lock' a Nook to a stage would be a really great addition.

Being able to require a password to edit a saved score would be a great addition.

Being able to trust 100% that all your fellow shooters would never under any circumstances screw around with the scores. I used to think that before...