League/Membership Data Processing

[Keith Chambers]

Are other areas (merged) having trouble getting their local association database consolidated? Two of my leagues are now in their fifth week and our certification and membership have not been submitted by the local association yet! The story is that USBC was unable to merge the three data bases (BA, WBA, and Youth) because the summer leagues had not been finished (still aren't) and data can not be transmitted via the new merged association until the old association data bases have been "closed" and all merged together.
I am not a computer whiz of any kind, but this sounds pretty hoaky! I have exchanged several emails with various people in Greendale without any satisfaction to date. If this situation is true, then the USBC should have anticipated/planned for this circumstance and developed a workaround.
Our local association manager will be working all weekend to get caught up on the over 100 leagues that have been submitted so far. Other leagues are holding their certifications until they can be processed.
Hopefully we are the only ones experiencing this problem, but if not, then it is time for a much louder uproar from the membership.

[Frank Goebel]

I haven't heard of a problem local to me...our association manager (merged) is the former men's secretary, retired and spending no less than 20 hours a week at the office. I do know of members having already received cards (other leagues).

[Keith Chambers]

Frank, if you would, could you ask him about his database merger experience? I believe that at least some of our problems are locally induced, but headquarters is spouting the party line and supporting her all the way.
I was a Vice President on the BA board, the chairman of their transistion committee, and spent many hours working on the merger. We understood that the data bases would be merged in July, so as to be ready to transact business as a merged association on August 1st. The BA and WBA operate out of the same office, the WBA Secretary is now the Association Manager, and the BA office was closed at the end of July. It was not a happy parting by the former BA Executive Director and there have been some problems with the BA data base being corrupted. But it is now the last week of September and we are still not able to input membership or league certifications, much less transmit info to Greendale.

[Frank Goebel]

Keith - I will ask if I remember, the next time I talk to him. The topic never came up at a board meeting, so I don't know if it was something he could do on his own...or, perhaps one computer was used for the old WBA and BA all along...could that have been the case? I will have to ask, although I don't know what I could be able to offer to help. I don't know the current office hours (the phone may not be answered so as to avoid pausing while entering league information), so I will have to try until I get an answer...be patient on this one.

[Angel Zobel-Rodriguez]

Keith, I'll get more info when I go into the office today, but if San Diego is a fairly large association, NLAC had issues too.

The summer averages did not have to be entered before merging. I know it took a few times for the manager to merge the leagues (and she has significant computer experience and a high comfort level). It took several attempts over several days to merge everything. It didn't go as smoothly as one would expect or even hope (but this is Winlabs and it's not exactly the most bug-free program). Summer averages go into the old databases, not the newly merged ones from what I understand.

The bigger issue is when all these databases were merged (in NLAC's case that was 4 separate ones), that the bowlers were not left in the leagues. National has said this was because with some bowlers being in more than one data base (mainly women in both the BA and WBA), they could not simply merge the people in the leagues without complications. So rather than clicking on a majority of the league members, every bowler has to be 10-keyed in. Not a major process, but instead of a few clicks, it's taking a bit longer on each league.

I'll ask more when I go in today, because I'm one of the volunteers going in to help get everything caught up.

Bottom line, I'm in my office a few times a week (and living with the president), and that's exactly what I've been hearing up here too--almost verbatim.

[Frank Goebel]

Keith, I just spoke with my association manager...we're a bit smaller (don't know precisely how large it is). He said it was nearly automatic, they did use built-in software he said, just had to initiate it. Really didn't have problems. I can't say how large the databases were, though. I'm certain size was a factor.

[Angel Zobel-Rodriguez]

The association manager told me it was one of the databases that had a problem (of four merging). So I'd guess too the larger databases might be more likely to be corrupted.

[Keith Chambers]

Thanks for the feedback. Although it validates the local situation, it certainly does not speak well of the national organization's planning for this event. We do not enter summer averages into the WinLABS here, and since membership and awards had already shifted into the new season, I still maintain that the data bases should have been merged prior to the start of the fall leagues. That merger should have been seamless and a 'no brainer' to the locals. It also seems to be that even if a bowler was in more than one data base, it should not make any difference as they should have only one bowler ID number.
We had an All Star committee meeting this afternoon and the Association Manager was busily inputting league information. She believes that most of the problems have been resolved, but has not attempted a transmittal since the new data base was merged.
Perhaps USBC should have hired CDE to manage this data base merger. It certainly would have been smoother!

[Angel Zobel-Rodriguez]

Keith,

I've been helping enter leagues this last week. I've said the same thing you have at least three times. Winlabs from the USBC side is the same program that bowling centers use with BowlerTrac. They're both about what I'd expect from a beginning programming class. I would guess that BLS circa 1994 would run circles around it. :)