Anyone using this stuff on the High School Level? I am trying to get our board to start using it to assign game and to allow us to get our schedules on line. Comments or suggestions are needed/welcomed!

Both of our local HS associations (boys and girls) converted to the Arbiter this year. I was on the committee that recommended the conversion and we have heard nothing but positive commments all season long. There were only two concerns that I heard prior to the season about going all online.

1) Some officials don't have access to computers. We only have one official in that situation and his schedules are printed for him.

2) The other concern was that attendance at general meetings would be lower since officials didn't need to show up to pick up their assignments. Attendance has actually been higher and meetings have been more about basketball and less about paperwork.

Z



[Edited by zebraman on Jan 12th, 2006 at 10:14 AM]

Our association has been using the RefTown.com site for the last several years and it has worked really well for us. We have 325+ officials and cover roughly 7000 games ia a season, all assigned & acknowledged throught the online system.

Meeting attendance hasn't been an issue, as OSAA requires attendance at a minimum number of meeting during the season to maintain certification. As zebraman said, the meetings have been more rules focused than administrative, and somewhat shorter as a result - a good thing IMHO.

I welcome you, or anyone looking for such software, to have a look at my site: http://www.RefTown.com.

True Hybrid
 

You might look into http://www.assignmentmaker.com

The system has a synchronized Web display - substantial computation is done at the desktop, then schedules transfer to the Web portal.

We just started with Arbiter this year. I think it is awesome. Our assigner loves it. It is so easy. It sends you email reminders of games. It is a database for contact numbers and phone numbers for your partners and links to maps for school locations. You can get your schedule or the entire schedule at the touch of a button. Apparently there is a way to do evaluations too but our association hasnt activated that yet. In fact, it was brought up at our meeting this past monday and everyone voiced their support for it again and all the rank and file said they loved it. It has ways to handle rotations so you arent working the same spots and partners all the time. It lets you as an official block out time on your calendar so that you dont get games when you dont want them. It is a great way to do announcements for cancellations. You get notified of them by email. It is web based and really easy to use. I love it.

And I agree it makes meetings more about basketball. NO time is now spent handing out assignments and changing things and all that paperwork.

How much
 

How much does your association pay for the software access, per year?

Sorry, I dont know the answer for that. :(

[Edited by cdaref on Jan 13th, 2006 at 04:00 AM]

#1 an official can always use the computers at a school, library or friend’s.

#2 suggest to have your association issue pay checks only at the meetings and if request by mail, add a check fee. Your association should have a minimum requirement for attending meetings to avoid fines and or to receive playoff games.

My association started using Arbiter this season and I really like it. It sends you a "reminder" email the day of the game. We also use it for rec games and we can schedule our own games in the rec section.

Re: How much
 

Arbiter has an fee based on the modules you use, plus a fee per offical. We pay less then your assignmentmaker software costs. Arbiter runs pay reports, creates invoices, the works. I've looked into a few different programs, and quite frankly, based on my extensive research, The Arbiter is the best program I have found out there. Someone above mentioned that you can go in and block dates/times you are not available. Not only that, you can block partners, schools, just about anything you want to block. Great value for the money.

Hmm. Are you a professional shill?
 

Hmm. Are you a professional shill?

The software you refer to has a one-time charge - and, if you want to use the web module, a much lower charge than Arbiter.

We use Zebra-ware, but I think there has to be something better.

Re: Hmm. Are you a professional shill?
 

Unlike you and a few other posters, he doesn't seem to have a dog in the hunt -- he's just an enthusiastic user. I think the phrase "professional shill" is unfair.

I am a new Arbiter user and would recommend it highly.

--Rich

Re: Re: Hmm. Are you a professional shill?
 

He's not just being enthusiastic - he's also talking about that which he knows not.

The cost of my system has historically been way less than Arbiter - for one thing, there has never been a yearly charge.

Sure, Arbiter is good! It wasn't so good for years when it was messing up people's XP installations. It can't do some things my system does beautifully - then again, my system can't do auto rotations of football crews . . . not my thing.