ACU Sport 80 Question

[Alshine]

Just completed my clubs first online entry setup using the new ACU Sport 80 system ( The neighbours have probably learnt a few new swearwords 🤬)

Its done my head in especially entering info for all the youth classes, does anyone know if all the info I have typed in  for this event eg classes etc will be saved in the system making a lot easier when setting up our next competition.

I would have asked ACU but I'm still waiting for answers to the email I sent them back at the beginning of January.

[stpauls]

30 minutes ago, Alshine said:

Just completed my clubs first online entry setup using the new ACU Sport 80 system ( The neighbours have probably learnt a few new swearwords 🤬)

Its done my head in especially entering info for all the youth classes, does anyone know if all the info I have typed in  for this event eg classes etc will be saved in the system making a lot easier when setting up our next competition.

I would have asked ACU but I'm still waiting for answers to the email I sent them back at the beginning of January.

I admire your calmness, persistence and restraint.

[Alshine]

 Calmness. My blood pressure has shot up since they brought this out. 😆

[micm]

Having been obliged to use it and as someone who uses computers regularly for business I found the whole design of the website, the grammar and/or pointlessness of the questions, the poor layout and the non-feedback of some pull down menus a real pain to operate.

If you understand or better are taught the system, it does work perfectly satisfactorily but the design and layout screams cheapness.

The technical assistance available is pretty grim and minimal from all sides mentioning no initials, unless you can phone a friend which luckily I could. 

Without the skilled and patient friend I would have packed it in. As it was it took ages of wasted time for both of us. 

Certainly no better than a Greeves Pathfinder with flat tyres attempting an technical A route if you like.

Somebody must try harder and please produce a decent detailed manual via a PDF (not that crappy short thing kicking about with a bit of coloured pencil scrawl thanks) and a You Tube vid, both preferably, if we are stuck with it. It can't be that hard, or expensive. 

If it wasn't virtually a closed shop the customers would have fled IMHO

[Alshine]

Totally agree with you. My numerous pleas to the ACU for help with my various queries are still unanswered but luckily I was able get the help and expertise of other club secs in my centre and between us we managed to somehow get things sorted.

A lot of work goes into setting up the online entry system for an event and the thought of having to re-enter the same detailed information for each event p****s me off. I only hope there is an option to save information so it can easily be called upon next time.

 

 

[ChrisCH]

I used to produce (big) reports for a living and constatntly re-typing stuff is very annoying and somewhat pointless.  As a suggestion - assuming the platform does not facilitate it - can I suggest you cut and paste whatever input is routine and store it on a word document.  Then you can copy and paste from the document into the dialogue boxes on the platform next time.  If is a bit agricultural and offends my sense of doing things correctly, but if you need to type the same paragraph more than once it is a viable workaround.

[trapezeartist]

20 hours ago, micm said:

If it wasn't virtually a closed shop the customers would have fled IMHO

It's not a closed shop. There's AMCA. I ride a lot more AMCA trials than ACU.

(But I agree, the person who adopted the Sport 80 system should be taken outside and shot.)

[rabie]

in the old system you could create a "template" of how your event classes/licences structured, this one is meant to. we've done one very early event with it, and have several more coming up (each different styles), so haven't yet had the a repeat event to test this on. there is also a lot of "upgrades" / usability stuff happening, Gary Thompson (at ACU HQ) is sending updates out now (there is a weekly email) that should be going to each club (definitely each centre). i strongly suspect some of the issues we had with our first event (a big centre trial going live 24 hours after the system launched) has been superseded by various people's hacks/system improvements, etc

the ACU HQ say the email/help desk backlog is cleared, so if you haven't got an answer from an old question please ask again, as i understand it if you do ask through the helpdesk system they can keep track/help you better than email

 

i think it’s clear to everyone the adoption / beta testing / rollout / user documentation / etc of this project has not gone the way anyone would have hoped, it's a ****up. we can't go back in time and un-****it up. from what i can gather everyone at the ACU (Board of directors, sport committees, all the staff, etc) know this has been a real issue (its the thing that preoccupied everyone for the last 3+ months), i can only praise those clubs, volunteers, etc that have perceived and made it work, helped the others and please, anyone out there that needs help, is struggling please ask.

 

trapezeartist - what clubs want is an online entry system, as i understand the AMCA don't offer that, but others have either built their own or gone to a private company

 

[micm]

Quote from the Sport 80 website...

"We exist for the good of sport. Our expert and skilled team is constantly developing new ideas and technology that revolutionise the way that sports organisations coordinate and manage their online presence, increase their revenue and promote their sport."

Fine words butter no parsnips

[trapezeartist]

On 3/18/2023 at 9:57 PM, rabie said:

trapezeartist - what clubs want is an online entry system, as i understand the AMCA don't offer that, but others have either built their own or gone to a private company

I have a system almost ready to go. It's simple, and would just work for a club without all the complexity that the ACU system has (which would be great if it worked, but ....). It would be free for any club to use if they want it; just my way of giving back something to the sport.

Having said that, not every club does want on online system. I certainly know some who prefer enter-on-the-day.

[caravan_monster]

On 3/20/2023 at 1:55 PM, trapezeartist said:

I have a system almost ready to go. It's simple, and would just work for a club without all the complexity that the ACU system has (which would be great if it worked, but ....). It would be free for any club to use if they want it; just my way of giving back something to the sport.

Having said that, not every club does want on online system. I certainly know some who prefer enter-on-the-day.

I know it's a pain for clubs handling cash and forms out the back of a van on in the wind and rain, but taking away the facility to enter on the day is going to lose casual competitors, which is not something the sport can afford to do. These are the riders who enjoy the day out but for whom trials is not their central focus and previously would often have made the decision to attend the local club trial at the last minute. They'll miss a few entry deadlines for trials they wanted to ride on the abysmal new ACU site and get sick of it and drift away. Lose them and that's entry and club fees gone, observers gone, people introducing friends and family to the sport gone and fewer people buying bikes and equipment.

[ChrisCH]

11 hours ago, caravan_monster said:

I know it's a pain for clubs handling cash and forms out the back of a van on in the wind and rain, but taking away the facility to enter on the day is going to lose casual competitors, which is not something the sport can afford to do. These are the riders who enjoy the day out but for whom trials is not their central focus and previously would often have made the decision to attend the local club trial at the last minute. They'll miss a few entry deadlines for trials they wanted to ride on the abysmal new ACU site and get sick of it and drift away. Lose them and that's entry and club fees gone, observers gone, people introducing friends and family to the sport gone and fewer people buying bikes and equipment.

Agreed.  I have a group of friends that fit this profile.  I have tried to get them to ride at our club but they just do the practice ground when they feel like it.  The lad is a very good rider and his dad bought him a new GasGas recently.  Hid girlfriend is good as well and she would benefit from other women in the mix IMHO.

Is it not possible to pay on the day with a smartphone app?

[trapezeartist]

7 hours ago, ChrisCH said:

Is it not possible to pay on the day with a smartphone app?

That would require the club to have a suitable bank account with someone like Square, and it would also require an internet connection; something that is frequently lacking at a trial venue. There's no reason why a club couldn't mix pre-entry with pay-on-the-day. Sufficient pre-entries would give the confidence to go ahead with the event, and if 75% of the entry was on pre-entry that would be 75% of the entry list already written for the results team. Just the remaining 25% for be transcribed from hand-written entries on the day. This would be just like the application of the trial observer app (https://mototrial.co.uk/observer/) which can at least bring the club 50% of the benefit if 50% of the observers use it.

[caravan_monster]

21 hours ago, ChrisCH said:

Agreed.  I have a group of friends that fit this profile.  I have tried to get them to ride at our club but they just do the practice ground when they feel like it.  The lad is a very good rider and his dad bought him a new GasGas recently.  Hid girlfriend is good as well and she would benefit from other women in the mix IMHO.

Is it not possible to pay on the day with a smartphone app?

Or the simple and reliable solution of paying cash and signing the form on the day, as has worked successfully across the board for many decades.  Going outside the scope of this thread, I don't think I'm alone in getting sick of being expected to use smartphone apps only available via Apple or Google Play Store to carry out tasks that didn't previously require them.  Even further off topic, it is worthwhile to consider the wider implications of going cashless and employing corporate products as sole gatekeeper to accessing products and services.   

[ChrisCH]

53 minutes ago, caravan_monster said:

... I don't think I'm alone in getting sick of being expected to use smartphone apps only available via Apple or Google Play Store to carry out tasks that didn't previously require them.  ... 

No you are not alone.  I am the proud owner of a cheap Nokia that doesn't connect to the internet but does make phone calls if you want to ring up when out and about.

However I think the majority of people just see a mobile device as a "phone" and do not question it.  It is quite hard now to avoid getting drawn into the smartphone world.  Eventually you have to give in as something you want or need is really only available through this channel.  Finding a PAYG service provider is almost impossible as well.  Mine needs you to "top up" every 120 days which is not too bad but I now have a lot of credit that I cannot use.  Enough that I am thinking if I got a smartphone I could maybe use up the credit somehow doing something on the internet.  Quite what I don't know.  Watching YouTube on the toilet I guess.  Ah the modern world.  You gotta love it.