CDs been waiting for this.

[Hoss Cain]

I received this in a mailing from AMA. Probably sent to all Contest Directors. Not sure how it will work for coordination, but it seems that CDs prefer such. Will read the document later.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On-line sanction forms are now available on the AMA web site! Follow the link below to submit a sanction easily and quickly. Paper forms will still be accepted in the normal way but we hope you will take advantage of the faster on-line portal.

https://www.modelaircraft.org/MembersOnly/Portal/Sanctions/cd.aspx

The answers to most questions are on the portal under CD Help.

 https://www.modelaircraft.org/MembersOnly/Portal/Sanctions/cdhelp.pdf

Thanks
Greg Hahn
Technical Director
AMA
<<<<<<<<<

[BillLee]

Unfortunately, the Contest Coordinators appear to have been cut out of the loop when they did this implementation. There are still a number of things that need to be fixed before it can be truly useful. Yes, far better than the mess they tried the FIRST time! Then they allowed the CCs to preview it and there were so many gotcha's that it was shot down in flames. Now the second (or third or fourth or... I'm not sure) iteration, but this time they didn't ask for our input.

We'll see.

Bill

CL/FF Contest Coordinator
AMA District VIII

[david beazley]

Bill,
You mean as a Contest Coordinator you don't have final say before HQ lists the event?  When I saw the email I scanned it and figured after submitting it went to the CC for approval.  You mean the CC's were kept in the dark about this?

[BillLee]

There are two parts to this new system. The part you as a CD will see is the ability to submit a sanction application. Unfortunately, this implementation appears to have been done in a partial vacuum of real-world experience and there are several things it lacks. That from a CD's perspective.

The second part is the Contest Coordinator part. As sanctions are submitted, it will still be our responsibility to pass judgement before AMA is given the go-ahead to actually make the sanction. It still is to be determined if there are problems there since a testing database would be needed, and testing done by experienced Contest Coordinators, not just the IT folks at AMA HQs.

The problem with this implementation is that neither of us in D-8 (Doug Powell for RC and me for FF/CL) were in any way involved in the evaluation or beta testing of it. The announcements today were the first either of us had seen. That's what I meant by "the Contest Coordinators appear to have been cut out of the loop".

A bit of background: this is not AMA HQ's first attempt at an online sanction application. There have been previous. But the bad thing about them all is that they are systems being written from the perspective of the ivory tower we know as "AMA HQ's". Out here where the rubber meets the road, where sanctions are being created, where contest coordination is happening, the outlook is a lot different than what the isolated computer programmers in HQs see.

The first iteration a couple of years ago was put out for at least some of the Contest Coordinators to critique, and it was VERY obvious that it was simply an unworkable system. I know that Chief and I both made many page responses pointing out things that were wrong, and that system was quickly canned. I do see that this current system addressed many of our concerns, but without the opportunity to "take a look" before they went live, we were excluded. I don't know why, and there are still problems that involvement of the "real world" in the design and implementation would have foreseen.

AMA has a long track record of exactly this sort of problem: nothing of any worth can be done anywhere but at HQs. Those who know me also know what I mean when I say that.

Bill

[Hoss Cain]

Bill, You have made my day. You and I have had some differences in these past years since I returned to TX in '82. However right now, all I can say is, "Thank You, Mr. Lee."

It's about time those words were planted for all to see. I wish you would levy them on the AMA Discussions Forum and on the AMA forum at RCU where my post exists.

Since I have not done CL events in years, I have not had any contact with you, yet I know you do excellent work with the CL folks.  In addition, "Chief" is the best RC Coordinator that one could ever ask for, and like you he just keeps on pumping it out. Far too many CDs don't provide much help to the Coordinators with such as getting the Event requests into the CCs before the event itself is history. 

I do know a bit about coordinating as I had the job for AMA District VI for 3 years, mid-late '70s. Then there were no computers, telephones were not in every pocket, and one DCC had to handle all, RC, FF, and CL along with Indoor.

Once again, Thank You, for speaking up for the workers out here in the field.

[john e. holliday]

Glad you guys cleared this up for me.  The notice was in my spam mail.  After this past week with something from DHL crashing my portion of the main computor, I just blew it away.   Where is AMA getting all these experts to run the orgnization?   

[Joseph Patterson]

      It takes the Contest COORDINATOR out of the loop which may cause conflicting scheduling problems within each district. The CC'S are always aware of the events in their districts, whereas HDQs. knows very little. We almost had a scheduling conflict for our annual contest this year, but DVIII's CC, Bill Lee, took care of the problem very easily when he was made aware of the problem. I don't think it would have been resolved so easily through HDQ.
      Doug

[BillLee]

Doug, the new system still leaves the Contest Coordinators in the loop. When you submit online, the next step will be for the coordinator to take a look before it gets to HQs.

Bill

[Brian Massey]

After receiving the email. I tried the link. It took me to a sign in page. When I signed in, I could find no link taking me to the on-line forms. Once signed in I tried pasting the link into the address bar, that started a loop taking me back to the sign in page.

I did this yesterday, and again today . . . I feel stupid, what am I missing?

Brian

[BillLee]

Brian, are you a Contest Director? If not, I suspect you will not be allowed into this new section.

(That's just a guess. For definitive answers, contact AMA HQs.)

Bill

[Brian Massey]

Brian, are you a Contest Director? If not, I suspect you will not be allowed into this new section.

(That's just a guess. For definitive answers, contact AMA HQs.)

Bill

Yes I am, but only for several months now; maybe I'm not in the system yet.

Brian

[John Tate]

The Contest Coordinator Help section on the AMA web site does nothing for me (it must be dead). I received a couple emails from the adjoining coordinators (around District IV) asking questions. I am in the dark as most any member of AMA is right now about the matter. I am lucky to have a great group of coordinators around my district. I feel that we work great together making sure contests do not over lap each other.

Gene Martine started an email system between the east coast Control Line Contest Coordinators awhile back that we still use today.  We probably need to modernize the system and I am sure there will be some bugs that will need to be worked out.

John Tate
District IV CL & FF Contest Coordinator