There are at least two steps here.

1. Converting the TLA data from an in-house format to HTML.
2. Transferring the HTML-ized TLA to the web system.

That also doesn't take into account however the web page is organized to
handle indexing of TLA's by state, which is probably independent of
the act of physically transferring TLA's either one at a time or in bulk
to the web server, which I assume is at the Parsippany co-location host site.
--
Mike Nolan


If true, who would invent such a system?

It shouldn't be much more difficult than "copy" a TLA from the CL TLA list
and "paste" it to the web?

Is this another example of the office's control mania?

Rp

"Mike Nolan" wrote in message
...
"George John" writes:

You have done an excellent job of describing our current situation.
Given
the fact the our leadership has failed to commit the necessary funding to
the critical and urgent upgrades that are needed,

I'm not sure I entirely agree with your second sentence. While the
isn't an explicit capital budget, you are aware that some funds are being
allocated to systems hardware and software development (perhaps both
tardily and too sparingly) and that some things are getting done.

Mike,

I know that things are getting done, and for this I am greatly appreciative.
It's a refreshing change to how things were before you and Gary became
involved.

What I'm looking for from management is a clear commitment to the ENTIRE
plan with the necessary money in the budget to get the work done. SFAIK,
the budget that will be presented in LA will not have this commitment. Am I
mistaken?

George

"George John" writes:

The TLA application is in Microsoft Access. It could be enhanced to write
the HTML pages. I have written Access application that do just this. I
offered to look at this for free. No luck so far in getting the
application. The transfer of files to the Webserver is straightforward, or
at least should be straightforward.

Part of the problem here is that both of us are working from 2nd and
3rd hand descriptions of what is wrong, which makes diagnosing the problem
and its resolution rather difficult.

I watched Deb Sherry key TLA's into the system for a half hour or so
back in February, it seemed to be a heavily structured data entry
environment, but I don't know if it is the complexity that is the
problem, whether it is corrupted, or just that the 'system' was clumsy
to start with. Any complexity problems haven't gotten better with
personnel changes, probably because the various steps that those people
were doing are no longer being done (or done right), in part because
NOBODY has much documentation on what to do when.

In some ways this is symptomatic of the USCF's approach to data over the
past decade.

The TLA Access program is a standalone, it cannot get to the current
membership database to verify affiliate or TD ID's and addresses and it
doesn't know what other tournaments are outstanding or unpaid, since it
doesn't connect to the crosstable system or to the A/R program in accounting.

The A/R program ALSO doesn't link to the member database. Because
of that, the underlying problem with New Jersey (and other affiliates)
recently was probably that the accounting program had the wrong addresses,
so bills for past tournaments weren't going to the person who had to pay
them. I suspect that payments were made without being credit properly, too.

The sad fact is that the USCF office has a thoroughly Balkanized data
environment. Got a problem or data that isn't being collected? Stick
an Access program here, an Excel spreadsheet there, use Peachtree
in accounting, plug in some other program in another spot situation.

To *******ize Sen. Dirkson's famous remark, a gigabyte here, a gigabyte
there, you still aren't talking real data.

Thus, even though having you look at the Access program might be
part of a viable short term solution, in the long run the better
solution is still to make TLA's part of a unified database environment.
--
Mike Nolan

The TLA application is in Microsoft Access. It could be enhanced to write
the HTML pages. I have written Access application that do just this. I
offered to look at this for free. No luck so far in getting the
application. The transfer of files to the Webserver is straightforward, or
at least should be straightforward.

George

Well now you have done it.
Now there is no chance it will ever happen.

Straightforward indeed.
You should have your head examined. USCF doesn't do straightforward.

Just consider, I offered them the technology to rate games for free in 1999.
Instead, they choose to cost themselves $250,000 running their rating service
in the last four years.
But no.
They cling to their nine step ratings program because that is the way it has
always been done.

Rp

Rp

"Mike Nolan" wrote in message
...

Mike,

-snip-

Thus, even though having you look at the Access program might be
part of a viable short term solution, in the long run the better
solution is still to make TLA's part of a unified database environment.

As you are well-aware the USCF MIS Committee (formally the Internet and
Internet/Computer Committee) has been pushing for years for an integrated
solution with the goal of entering data once (including where feasible third
parties via the Internet/Web) and allowing this data to be easily shared
internally. You and Gary have been working on such a solution for a couple
months. I hope our leadership will commit to the necessary funding that
will allow your work to continue to its necessary completion. It would be a
pity for the work to stop in mid track, resulting in yet another solution
that doesn't adequately integrate with anything else.

I offered to take a look at the Access program only to see if there was a
quick fix solution to some of the more pressing short-term problems. It was
mean to be a tactical instead of strategic solution.

George

In article , "George says...

I offered to take a look at the Access program only to see if there was a
quick fix solution to some of the more pressing short-term problems. It was
mean to be a tactical instead of strategic solution.

George

George,

There is something about Mike's reply that makes me feel like he doesn't want to
set the broken bone in your femur unless he can also do the artificial joint for
your degenerative hip at the same time.

Kevin L. Bachler

"Kevin L. Bachler" wrote in message
...
In article , "George says...

I offered to take a look at the Access program only to see if there was a
quick fix solution to some of the more pressing short-term problems. It
was
mean to be a tactical instead of strategic solution.

George

George,

There is something about Mike's reply that makes me feel like he doesn't
want to
set the broken bone in your femur unless he can also do the artificial
joint for
your degenerative hip at the same time.

Kevin L. Bachler

Kevin,

The flip side of this is that Mike may not want to apply a Band-Aid to a
patient whose heart is about to fail and desperately needs a transplant.

The other analogy is an extremely old, unreliable car that wasn't that good
even when it was new. The cost of fixing it can eventually greatly exceed
the cost of simply replacing it with something that is much more functional,
reliable, and much easier to repair when it breaks. Would you prefer to
spend $15,000 a year in parts and labor on a 10 year old Yugo, or a $15,000
for a new Toyota Corolla? Given the high labor costs of the USCF, the cost
of the Yugo would be even higher.

George

George John wrote:

"Kevin L. Bachler" wrote in message
...
In article , "George says...

I offered to take a look at the Access program only to see if there was a
quick fix solution to some of the more pressing short-term problems. It
was
mean to be a tactical instead of strategic solution.

George

George,

There is something about Mike's reply that makes me feel like he doesn't
want to
set the broken bone in your femur unless he can also do the artificial
joint for
your degenerative hip at the same time.

Kevin L. Bachler

Kevin,

The flip side of this is that Mike may not want to apply a Band-Aid to a
patient whose heart is about to fail and desperately needs a transplant.

The other analogy is an extremely old, unreliable car that wasn't that good
even when it was new. The cost of fixing it can eventually greatly exceed
the cost of simply replacing it with something that is much more functional,
reliable, and much easier to repair when it breaks. Would you prefer to
spend $15,000 a year in parts and labor on a 10 year old Yugo, or a $15,000
for a new Toyota Corolla? Given the high labor costs of the USCF, the cost
of the Yugo would be even higher.

George

The USCF plan is to fire all of the best employees and then use the
savings to have a party in Vegas for three Board members and to purchase
a brand new $25,000 Yugo with whatever's left over, with borrowed money
from the last of the LMA.

Incidentally, the entire Yugo factory was shut down by a lightning
strike which killed 60% of the hamsters whose treadmill running was
needed to produce Yugos at all.

Best Regards,

Bruce

ojunk (Ernest W. Schlich) writes:

As long as whichever database program is selected as the office's primary data
collection and reporting resource is OLE capable, having Access as either a
temporary or even perhaps permenate front end to accept TLA data from the web
is not a bad solution in my opinion.

I've not tried Access with PostgreSQL (the database the USCF is using),
but I did try it with Oracle, and was very unimpressed with the results.
The PostgreSQL development community appears to be unimpressed with Access
as a front end, too.

One of the limitations of PostgreSQL is that it has no native front end
environment for end-user tools, though it has several for developers.
Neither does MySQL, which is what MSA was developed in. The open source
community has not spent a lot of time on front end tools for things like
data entry applications, because they're not easy to develop.

To go to an environment where there are native front end tools (such as
Oracle or MS SQL Server) or to use 3rd party front end tools would have
involved a rather large up front expenditure in software that the USCF
was unwilling (or unable) to make, plus considerable time getting
proficient in those tools. What we do NOT need is another badly designed
front end, whether that be in Access or anything else.
--
Mike Nolan

"Kevin L. Bachler" wrote in message
...
In article , "George says...

Would you prefer to
spend $15,000 a year in parts and labor on a 10 year old Yugo, or a
$15,000
for a new Toyota Corolla?

I'd rather spend $200 on the Yugo to get it to run for a couple of months
while
I lookd for the best deal on the Toyota, thereby solving both the
short-term and
the long-term issue.

Sounds good to me.

George