Leaving Early NATS 05

[Grow Pattern]

Jerry,
           This is really good feedback. The way you presented it makes it 
easy to process. You are right that we are working on all items like this. 
In fact your feedback is now already incorporated into next years process 
and plan.

The use of the windows XP supported PACSS software did cause us both a 
learning curve and the need to change the processes. Initial data posting 
delays occur when the software needed to be updated or used differently.

The PACSS scoring system is very good and has some very nice features. It 
was not originally designed to handle large numbers of judges, Matrix 
systems and FAI semi-finals and Finals. (Dave and I intend to  publish the 
design of a matrix nationals in the next K-factor - BTW)

Gene Maurice wrote this software for all of us for FREE. He subsequently 
added a ton of upgrades to make it Nat's capable. He was up till 2:30 AM one 
night during the Nationals upgrading the Matrix-site-merge capability.

It was a trial by fire to be sure. But the volunteers all came through.

So thank you for the feedback, the way you did it and for helping us prepare 
in a better way for next year.

Regards,

Eric.

P.S. You might note that all 2005 scores are written up as "provisional". 
This allows us, during the week after that Nationals to check the results, 
the system accuracy and respond to any pilot requests.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jerry Budd" <jerry at buddengineering.com>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 11:21 PM
Subject: RE: Leaving Early NATS 05


> Hi Marty,
>
> I offer the following comments not as criticism but so that you can be 
> aware that there are still some problems with the scoring that need some 
> attention.
>
>>Scoring had taken a bad rap in past years and had many
>>holes in the system. This year many of those were
>>closed with regular hand written score sheets (not
>>scantron),
>
> I agree, the hand written score sheets were a BIG improvement, especially 
> from my perspective as a judge on the Advanced line Wednesday afternoon.
>
>>new format tear sheets,
>
> IMO, much better than what we've had before.
>
>>speedy return of
>>those sheets so you could make adjustments before your
>>next flight the same day
>
> Sorry, here's where we differ as I can't agree with that assessment 
> (here's an opportunity for improvement).
>
> In the prelims I was only able to get 3 of my 6 score sheets, 1 of 2 on 
> Monday, both of them on Tuesday, and none on Wednesday.  I flew in the 
> mornings and went to both Site 1 & 3 several times in the afternoons, and 
> also to the Farmhouse at the end of each day, to no avail.  When I asked 
> at the Farmhouse about them I was consistently told "we just took a big 
> batch out to the sites, did you check there?" but when I went back to the 
> sites there were no new score sheets there.  Finally I just "gave up" as 
> it seemed to be the same problem I've run into the past three Nats.
>
> [Note to D7 guys - can we start a petition to get Luke Peng to the 
> Nats?!!]
>
> During the first round of the Masters Finals 4 or 5 of us got scoresheets 
> that had obvious errors in how the scores were totaled. We were initially 
> told that the score sheets would be corrected, then later told that we 
> would not be getting ANY of our scores during the finals (which turned out 
> to be true).  AFAIK, none of the Masters finalists ever saw any of their 
> raw scores, and we didn't see any of the normalized round totals until 
> after the awards were presented. To be honest, it didn't seem like Masters 
> was given the same organizational attention as FAI on Site 1.  As an 
> example, there was no sound check equipment available at Site 3 during the 
> Masters Finals, so a quick pilots meeting was held wherein we all voted to 
> "not bother with it".
>
>>and the timely posting of
>>scoring data.
>
> In Masters, unfortunately not.
>
> Again, I offer the above observations not as criticism but so that those 
> who are working so hard to improve the situation know where the problems 
> lie.  Scoring the Nats is a thankless job and if we're going to pay anyone 
> for their time, it's those guys (& gals).
>
> Thx, Jerry
>
>
> -- 
> ___________
> Jerry Budd
> Budd Engineering
> (661) 722-5669 Voice/Fax
> (661) 435-0358 Cell Phone
> mailto:jerry at buddengineering.com
> http://www.buddengineering.com
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