iPad Storage and User (scorekeeper) ideas

[Jaskegreen]

I wanted to open this up to all as I am in the process of working out how our league is going to incorporate iPads and iScore into the mix. We have purchased the iPads, and now that the multiple team league sites will be available by spring, my biggest concern is how to manage and secure it all.

One thought is to purchase a safe for our snack bar where the iPads will be stored. Our snack bar has been broken into a couple of times now, so I am a bit leery of the idea. Though, the existing cash safe has not been tampered with.

The other thought is to send it home with someone each night after games; could be the home team manager or board member on duty. Then we need to get the iPad back to the fields the next day. Sounds like a logistical nightmare.

I'm wondering if there are any other ideas out there you all could share.

Cheers,
Jason

[OhioTex]

Jason -

My first thought was , can my league move to your town.... ..nice.

Seriously,

1) How many units are we talking about .?
How many hours a day per iPad (do you have enough battery life, per unit)?
May need a spare device on call if one goes down, runs out of battery etc.
how hot / how shaded are your fields. IPad heat issue is real.

2) Check on insurance options if your store on site overnight in snack bar safe. .. would your insurance carrier reimburse/replace if stolen?

3) are you planing on having a wi fi umbrella for the fields or are you counting on 3G? (i.e., How will you update FTM servers (iscorecast/export) after each game? if you have to leave fields to update , that may impact your logistics plan too. Seems may be cheaper on tghe league to have / create a wifi hot spot and use wi fi instead of all 3G data plans )

4) how do you plan to re charge at night? that may reguire the take home model... if so, do think a central board member vs each home team taking home makes more sense, (Coaches will forget to recharge or retrun) coaches can still drop off at snack bar after game and pick up at snack bar before their next game.

5) will be some master admin needs, someone to load all the team names correctly and know all the units device IDs. Also will need to ensure all exported daily to 'backup' data.

6) Thinking take home model may be your option for logistics (at lest for inagural season) for charging and updating, trouble shooting... not just theft and control..

7) Training, how are you training the scorekeepers? is it one ipad per team or one ipad per game? Is it a league rep scoring or representative of the teams? if one ipad book per game, is it home team responsibility? Are you going to ask for a paper back up, or go cold turkey?. If it is just one scorekeeper per game. an idea, have home team 'responsible' but require a rep from visitor team, sit with scorer and "help". Will help on learning curve, as at some point the visitor will be home, and also ensure some alignment and confidence on the 'new fangled book'. People will question it. Also, expereince has shown, not uncommon to be looking down working ipad and have to ask... what did i miss, was that a called or swing strike. etc.


Just my intial two cents and thoughts, I am sure others have great ideas too

/ ohiotex

[Jaskegreen]

Thanks for the feedback. Here are some clarifications to your questions:

1) We have two right now (3G) and will purchase one more as we test these out. Power is not an issue as there are outlets at the scoring tables behind the backstops. We put up shade coverings on hot days for the scorekeepers. I think we may need to do it more often to help reduce the glare and keep it a bit cooler. On that note, I'm looking at protection for the iPads as well and have landed on the zCover as a solution. The front and back are open for ventilation. Also going to add a screen protector.

2) I will check on the insurance. Good call.

3) We are using 3G models and I had planned to have scorekeepers update after each game. I thought about using a wifi setup but we only have a phone line to the snack bar, and with 3G we only have to pay for each month that we use it. I figure we will not Scorecast games this year and go with the lower 3G option.

4) Recharging is definitely an issue. If I go with the safe, I will have to somehow get power into it. Hmm, that seems like an issue. But, if the iPads are plugged into power during the game, then maybe that isn't so much an issue.

5) The master admin is me. I will be making sure that uploads and downloads are happening correctly. I am planning that Fasterthanmonkeys will have their multi-team league site ready to go in the spring and also hoping that there will be some sort of CSV upload option to create players, teams, and schedules. I would hate to have to create 600+ players.

6) I will have a face to face training with all of the scorekeepers. Our league requires that each team have one. Home team provides that person for each game, and the Visitors provide the pitch counter. I will then do periodic checkups with each team to provide support. One iPad will be used on each field, so will be changing hands often. Continuity and consistency is going to be a challenge. My initial thoughts have been that since we normally have two volunteers scoring per game, that one would use the iPad and the other would score on paper; at least until the scorekeepers become comfortable. I know that for me, it is very helpful to have another person to help with pitch location, balls and strikes, etc.

Again, thanks for all of the good questions. The more I field, the more it helps me figure this all out. Hopefully soon our league will not be the pioneer, but the norm. I think these tools, iPad and iScore, will revolutionize the way baseball is scored and stats are used.

Cheers,
Jason

[OhioTex]

Ok,

New Question
** What level/age are the players?
** Sounds like up to three fields at once, but How many games in a day/week (roughly)?
** What part of the country (just curious)?

Return Response.
1) Facility
- 3 ipads, nice. ( may consider investing in a 4th, in case /when one fails)
- power, shade, glare and protection.. sounds like you have that solved.
- nice catch on the Cover, do not know zCover, but agree need something.

3) 3G/ vs wi fi.
a) potential 3G cost saving option.. if not iscorecasting live, just updateing afterwards, since all are ipads, you can Option > Data Transfer by blue tooth ipad to ipad, and collect all on a master unit and "export" from there on a single limitless 3G plan or at home later by wi fi.. just a thought. (TBD exaclty how FTM will implement league function, so not sure if administratively helpful or hurtful if all flows though a master admin ipad)

b) albiet I only one use it on weekends, and just for my teams, I have found i can iscorecast everything on the lower 3G data plan. in your tests this year, did you exceed the lower data needs on a unit dedicated to iscore? be curious your response how many games you think will be scored in a month.


5) GREAT FEEDBACK .. FTM please take note...

i]...." hoping that there will be some sort of CSV upload option to create players, teams, and schedules. I would hate to have to create 600+ players."[/i]

[

6) TRAINING
- face to face, hands on, sounds reasonable. consider a "live floater" the first few games too
-- Agree!!"

i]...idea that one would use the iPad and the other would score on paper; at least until the scorekeepers become comfortable. I know that for me, it is very helpful to have another person to help with pitch location, balls and strikes, etc"[/i]

- would your league be willing to 'adapt' for electronic purposes modification to 'home = book' visitor = "pitch count" to " iscore both" but duel responsibiliy, home rep on key board, visitor on paper book (in case of electronic crash). sitting next to each other. All who use regularly seem to agree a person next to you helps. I also think it adds credibility, if both teams have a representative near by that is collaborative.. though home team gets to break ties on scorebook, and visitor breaks ties on pitch counts. if a difference of opinion on hit vs error etc. ideally would note, TBD or ? on plays that need later review.

regards
ohiotex

[FTMSupport]

A few comments on some of the things mentioned:

* We definitely intend to improve on ways of importing data for Rosters from external sources.

* For people with multiple devices in the same general area, it might be more cost effective to look into some of the Wireless Hotspot options (like MyFi). It will not be cheaper than a single data plan, but there are plans that allow connecting up to 5 devices that might be worth it --- you can then get WiFi only iPads, and take that money to actually pay for the Wireless Hotspot plan (not to mention the potential monthly savings over 3 or 4 data plans).

* For the League functionality, we will not care if the games are being exported from a single device or multiple devices. We have run test leagues where each team had their own device (30 teams), where a single device scored all the games (1 field that 8 teams used), and where a "pool" of devices was used to score for a group of teams (tournament with > 100 teams involved, played across 20 fields with a device at each field and any team could be playing on any field).

[Jaskegreen]

OK OhioTex, here we go:

** The two levels we are starting with are Mustang (ages 9 and 10) and Bronco (ages 11 and 12). We are looking (and more than likely) expanding to Pony (ages 13 and 14) next year.
** For now, two fields, 10 games each week. 2 games Tues., 1 game Wed., 2 games Thurs., 5 games Sat.
** We are in San Diego North

3a) Good points and worthy of considering. My gut feeling tells me to KISS. I'm asking non-techies to take a large leap from paper, bypassing the keyboard to touch screen. I want it to stay simple by having them press one button -- EXPORT.

3b) This past season, I used my own iPad (non 3G), so I don't know about data rates. It would be nice to get an idea of how much time or how many innings are possible within each data plan. FTM, any data on this?

6) Since I'm the one heading up this move to iScore, I find every good idea possible. I too am thinking along the same lines in redefining the roles of the volunteers. I like the idea of home team working the iPad and visitors working a book, both helping each other out with pitch location and unassisted triple plays.


So, now a new thought:
I feel keeping defensive stats are important and am thinking about requesting managers to report changes in defensive positions each inning. We have them report substitutions each inning, but not defensive positions. Shouldn't be too hard, and the stats the managers receive I think will offset the extra bit of work. Any thoughts on this and examples of how it has been done elsewhere?

[danmcc]

Jaske, great overall effort pulling this together for your league. I think that announcing defensive stats is a great idea and as you point out the managers get something in return for their added effort. If announcing the substitution doesn't fly with the coaches, having player numbers on the front of the uniform makes it much easier to make defensive changes for the scorekeeper. That is something that could be managed preseason when ordering uniforms.

Who will have access to the website stats, just coaches or everyone? It would be great to have the stats available to everyone but I am curious how parent/coach conflicts regarding stats would play out.

[Jaskegreen]

danmcc, really good suggestions. I remember from last years tournaments that other teams had the number on the front and it was easy for me to shift people around. I'll suggest that as the option. I bet I can raise our finance officer's blood pressure a bit with the suggestion.

All will have access to the information. As for parents and coaches, I don't think that feud will go away anytime. I know for my buddy and me, we make sure to have the "parents are in the bleachers to cheer" talk every season. For the tournament teams and All-Stars, any good manager will put the best 9 players in the lineup and the stats will help. I also see it helping to keep parents at bay who think there kid is a phenom and should be batting cleanup.

Cheers,
Jason

[FTMSupport]

For the data size... if you are running an iScorecast for a game, you can assume it takes about 100Kb of bandwidth.

If you send one email after each game with all the data selected, it can be as much as about 250Kb of data, but we actually compress it before sending, so it is probably about 1/2 that size.

When you export, your entire database is sent each game, so the database gets larger as the season goes on. Each game scored takes approximately 150Kb - 180Kb to store. Again, we compress the data before sending to our server, so the actual bandwidth usage will be about 1/2 that size.

[Jaskegreen]

Good info to digest. Sounds like a feature update for the future then is to have the export run a diff against the last upload and only send the updated information.

On the iScorecast bandwidth, I'm assuming you mean 100k for the whole game. Is that for a 9 inning game or less? We run 6 and 7 inning games in our league.

Cheers,
Jason