Online Entries Training and Investigation

[Dee]

I think that for the most part the online system is reasonably easy and intuitive to use, but that doesn't mean that several organisers out there wouldn't like some training and/or a walk through of some of the functionality and "what to do if......" scenarios. (Even most of those currently using the system have not yet reached handling waiting lists, promotions, startlists and cancellations and I'm anticipating some queries when you do ).

The practicalities of location do make doing this in person a bit tricky. I'm in Ascot and the rest of you are spread all over the UK (well, strictly speaking, not all over as no-one I know of in NI, but you know what I mean). So I'd like to suggest that we consider a webinar.....

This would mean that you can sit in the comfort of your own home (as can I) and I would share my screen, so that you can see what I am referring to, and we can talk and hear over the internet. You would need a computer (laptop, desktop or tablet) with a speaker and microphone attached.

So two queries:

1) would this be of interest?

2) does anyone have access to a webinar system that we could use - (most of the freebies I can find are limited to 3 users which is a bit restrictive for this; I really need someone who has their own business with paid access that would be prepared to let us piggy back)

Alternatives could possibly be some training at the Sheppy events in March and/or Lee Valley (if it can be arranged) in April, but this is not really going to work for anyone seriously competing or from the North.

Please pass the word and let me know what you think - you might not even feel that you need it, I don't know.......

[CeeBee]

What a great idea and a very generous offer Dee.

I think you deserve some reward and recognition such as flowers (it is Valentine's day after all) for setting this system up.

Now for a financial question -

Lets say you have a debit card that has an expire date of 30/5/17. Can you enter a race today with this debit card if the race is in July say i.e. by the time you collect the payment 3 weeks before the race, the expiry date will have passed?

[Dee]

The short answer is no. The longer answer......

When you try to enter we now check the expiry date of the card and refuse it if it will have expired by the time we are due to take payment. This is to minimise the number of issues when we try to charge you. (We do have another process to handle situations where the card has been lost, stolen, can't be charged etc).

Not perfect for those with only one card, but these days I think most people probably have access to more than one (we can take credit as well as debit cards). Trouble is there really is no perfect solution!


(PS My darling husband is a rather wonderful and special man, but flowers and cards are not (and never have been) his strong point, but I did buy myself some flowers yesterday )

[Debs]

Can I just say how much I am loving this online entry
As a parent with very limited funds, I have found it very difficult to raise the amount of money needed at the start of each year to cover all the race entries and booking accommodation, particularly straight after Christmas!
This system has really taken the pressure off and is simple to use. Thanks so much

[Nick Penfold]

Dee
Another "what if": my card was valid to October when I put in entries, but it has since split in two and I have a replacement - same card number, etc, but a new expiry date. Problem or not a problem?

[Dee]

Will probably depend on your bank - they may or may not reject it.

The are a whole heap of reasons why cards might be declined at the time we try to charge - lost cards, replaced because they wore out, stolen, suspected fraud, insufficient funds, account closed/moved etc....... So moving over to deferred payments always meant that we would need to provide a process for these to be resolved. The process from your end is about as hard as entering in the first place!
If everyone responds promptly, then organisers probably won't even notice, but I suspect that some will need chasing .

If your card is rejected when we come to charge it (3 weeks before the event)..........

1. You do not suddenly loose your place; the system does not automatically cancel entries.
2. You will receive an automated email that tells you that we have tried to take the money and have been unable to do so and asking you to repay.
3. On http://www.canoeslalomentries.co.uk, when you are logged in, you will see a "FAILED PAYMENTS" option on the menu bar (next to the login/out button).
4. Clicking on that will take you to a page that is a bit like the checkout page, so that you can enter your new card details and pay.

If you do not pay within 48hrs of the email being sent.

1. Your payment record on the organiser's payments page will go red
2. We might make the entries do this as well, but they don't do so at the moment, and I might think about sending the organiser an email, but again we don't at the moment
3. It then becomes up to the organiser what they want to do - I expect/hope that most will start by sending you a chaser email and only then if you still don't pay might cancel your entry.
4. As a more extreme case (since you do not automatically have a right to cancel) you could, I guess, get reported to the slalom committee.
5. This year, you might get a reminder email from me as well, as I will be keeping an eye out for any system/process issues.
6. Any issues will not be made public; the only people that can see there has been a problem are the organiser(s) for the competition (and me)

We can review how this all goes when we can see how many issues we are getting and how much chasing is required.

[djberriman]

I'm happy to help people as much as I can with Dee's system, can't say I can answer everything but I'm willing to pass on my experience so far.

[JimW]

2) does anyone have access to a webinar system that we could use

Did you find a solution?

I was in a Skype conference the other day (hadn't used it for years) and my client was able to share his desktop with us.

[Dee]

Hi Jim thanks for the suggestion.
I've used Skype for screen sharing but it is limited to three people (unless you pay for a business version).

Since no one has yet come back and expressed an interest I'll just let it ride and answer the odd questions as they come.

[Dee]

In case anyone is watching this thread......

There are now a couple of useful (I think) buttons......

For Prem/1 Competitions:
On the start list page - there is an export button for data formatted for use by the timing team, so, as an organiser, once you have created your start list send the timing team the link (cut and baste the url) and they can use the button. (They do not need to be logged in to get at this)

For Competitions using Simply Slalom
On the Manage Entries Summary Page, there are a couple of buttons:

• The Simply Slalom Export button will, in the longer term, provide a download that can be uploaded to SS by a button press. However, the upload process is not yet complete, so, in the mean time.....
• Against the summary for each day is a button for a "cut and paste" download. This creates a download of data that can be cut and pasted into Simply Slalom - the order of columns matches that on Simply slalom, SS paddle up conventions are followed and ranking details for officials is added to the Cls column. You have to do each class separately. Copy columns A to F for the relevant rows from the download, position your cursor in the RTC column of the appropriate SS sheet and paste. (You may wish to use Paste special - Values to retain SS formating).

[CeeBee]

I am loving watching the online entry system evolve - thank you so much Dee for creating this. How much time do you reckon it has taken to get to this point?

[Dee]

I am loving watching the online entry system evolve - thank you so much Dee for creating this. How much time do you reckon it has taken to get to this point?

Dread to think. There is the development time, but also time spent explaining what the system does/doesn't do, providing support etc, and a fair bit of time working on the deferred payment process to make it really robust (we wouldn't be popular if we double charged people). In fact the things that take the time are often the bits that most people don't see - bit like organising an event. Must be around 1000hours as a rough estimate.

Fortunately, I've enjoyed the process.

[Dee]

I've consolidated all the organiser's help and added some for paddlers to create a Help menu option, so that 'ctrl+f' allows you to do a word search, which might help when working out how to do something.

Help as largely been written piecemeal as I've gone along, so unfortunatel is screen based more than task based, one day ........

[CeeBee]

Hi Dee

On the online system, could you add a total at the top to show the number of entries per class for each day.

thanks

Catherine

[Dee]

Do you mean on the competition home page or .....?