I'm having this little love-in with the league sheets that I am running thanks to the software from CDE. I'd been after my manager forever to replace the tired old dot matrix league sheets with something that was at least 20th century, when he finally got the ok to buy the software for the junior leagues. I managed to convince him to broach his boss, the district manager, with the idea that it would take me fewer hours to do the league awards, and let all the junior leagues run their points the way they wished. Honestly, I was just tired of the sheet service complaining about me allowing bowlers to makeup rather than prebowl.
Back in December, I started with the Junior Gold league. It was very cool. By January, I had rolled all the new Saturday morning leagues into CDE. The parents love the league sheets, and even more of the kids like getting their standings posted to the website. I adore it because there are people out there catching my mistakes (there aren't many, but it's so hard to proof yourself), so that by the time I print out the sheets, I am virtually error free.
More than just the league sheets, though, I am in love with the awards printouts (that go right to YABA and get fulfilled a week later), the Pepsi qualifier section (I did it on paper, too, this year, but next year I'm sure I will be confident enough to let the machine handle it) , the great reports I can create for phone lists and the like, and the customer service is phenomenal.
I can't believe I waited this long to convert from Mac to PC, solely because I couldn't believe anything could be worth defecting. Well, I was wrong. CDE is worth ditching the Mac forever. If I say it has given me back 3-4 hours a week (when I really only clock in for 8-10 to begin with) I mean it.
My only wish was there was more of a manual. I must run the goofiest leagues in the world, because I almost always have to ask how to get them started. But the guys at CDE answer right away, and we're off and running again. To quote Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." I'm not sure who it applies more to, the people at CDE or to my program. But sky's the limit since I can run anything they ask.
Posted by Angel Zobel-Rodriguez at June 13, 2003 12:21 AM