Display Improvements, Updated Custom Reports |
Hello %firstname% %lastname%,
Welcome to our newest Crew Manager subscriber John Southerland of J/111 19th Nervous Breakdown from Groton, CT.
The Crew Manager master calendar is being updated as we learn about event cancellations and rescheduled events. This from the past email update as I think it is still a useful feature given the pandemic. The Covid-19 situation has a number of organizing authorities requiring Skippers to submit Crew contact tracing information as part of race registration. Some new features have been added to Crew Manager to make this task easier. Custom Reports is available on the Skipper menu with the Crew Information Report available to produce a report with desired fields as described in this support forum post.
New Features
- Add # Confirmed, Yes, No to Custom Report: EC Helme of J/92s Spirit uses custom reports for events and wanted to include the number of crew responses on these reports. This request was a good idea that is now available on all websites. When Custom Reports is selected from the Skipper menu, the Event Information Report now include | Crew Total |
Crew Confirmed | Crew Yes | Crew Maybe | Crew No | as selectable fields. These fields calculate the same was as shown on the event crew totals. - Upcoming Events Display – Updated with More Information: All sites are setup to display the next five upcoming events in the top right of each page displayed in the right sidebar. When an event is moused over a popup appears with event information. Previously this popup provided a limited summary and did not include crew information. It also displayed canceled events. The upcoming events display has been updated to exclude canceled events. The popup now includes crew information near the top when the the date badge is moused over, and a full summary when the event name is moused over. Both popups have a link for the skipper to edit the event if logged in.
The picture below shows event information popup displayed upon mousing over an upcoming event title. It has full content with the crew list at the bottom.
Pop-up with Mouse Over Title
Mousing over an upcoming event calendar badge displays a popup with an abbreviated summary and the crew list at the top. This is helpful to see who is scheduled with having to open the event.
Popup with Mouse Over Date Badge
- Event Reminder SMS Text Message Content Enhanced: This was done because one of my crew members doesn’t read emails (only text messages) and he didn’t click on the link to read the content of the event reminder. Consequently he went to the wrong place to be picked up for a Tuesday night race. SMS Text reminders now display full unformatted content for text included for each event. The text message does not include the full crew list as the email does, but does include the position and any assignments for the person the text is sent to.
- Easy to Turn Email Sending On if Off on Skipper Send Email: A new feature was added to prevent someone from drafting a message, then losing it when they attempt to send if Email Sending is turned off. If Email is turned off, a message is displayed in bold red text with a link the Skipper may click to easily turn on email sending. The Send Email button is also not shown when emails are disabled. Once emails are enabled, the message is removed and the Send Email button is displayed.
The photo below shows the new message with the link.
Bug Fixes
- Custom reports would not display fields that had a single quote (e.g. O’Connor). This has been corrected and now displays single or double quotes in fields.
Feature Requests Under Consideration
- Crew Pictures (Deferred): Dan Corcoran from J/109 Strider requested a feature for Crew Pictures Integrate with Smartphone. Dan & I discussed the various options available with photo sites, links, etc. and agreed to follow up further once he looks at various alternatives. I created a photo page on my J/109 Vento Solare site and post links to Google photos and Dropbox that crew members send.
- In App Messaging (Deferred): Dan Corcoran from J/109 Strider requested a feature for In App Messaging with Notifications & Positive Acknowledgement. He would like to know when someone reads a message initiated by Crew Manager. Dan & I discussed this and the complexity of the various messaging systems. Crew Manager uses standard email and SMS text messaging. I told Dan I would be willing to integrate an established messaging app he identified, provided they offered a defined API that could be interfaced with, but it was not intended that Crew Manager develop its own messaging program.
Crew Manager Documentation
Support documentation is always available on the Crew Manager Support Forum. Anyone may read the forum but you need to create a forum account to post. The forum is easily reached via the boat website menu where the following choices are provided.
- Documentation and FAQs – Crew & Skipper manuals and answers to frequently asked questions
- Crew Manager User Discussion and Questions – If you have a question or want to discuss something post it here.
- Report a Bug – If you find a problem report it here so it can be addressed.
- Request a Feature – We are open to suggestions, additions or changes to Crew Manager that will make it better for everyone!
Crew Manager LLC is a low budget operation with website hosting expenses and RI Small Business tax filing expenses. If you like it, please help recruit boats by forwarding this email to your friends. The Annual Subscription for New Sites and Annual Subscription Renewal options are the best deal. I hope you find Crew Manager as a useful means to organize your schedule and crew. If you have suggestions on how it can be made better, feel free to post on the Support Forum.
