2020 Holiday Greetings – Crew Manager Updated! |
Hello %firstname% %lastname%,
Welcome to our newest Crew Manager subscriber Phil Perrut of Jeanneau Sun Fast 35 Warrior from East Greenwich, RI.
First things first! Clear your browser cache to take advantage of the latest Crew Manager features. Most browsers handle this if you press Control and F5 simultaneously, otherwise check your browser directions. Why? Just in time for the holidays a major Crew Manager upgrade significantly improves the viewing experience. Some files saved in your browser cache need to be replaced. New feature details are described in the section below.
New Features
- Location Chooser Added to event Creation & Edit: Dan Corcoran from J/109 Strider requested a feature to provide an easy method to reuse boat locations and associated addresses when creating or editing events. There is a new section above the Event Details section labeled Reuse Previous Boat Location & Address:. As locations and addresses are manually entered for events, they will automatically appear on a dropdown when adding or editing an event. Clicking on the dropdown and selecting a location & address automatically enters the information in the Location Name and Address boxes in the Boat Location Details section. The annotated picture below shows the upgrade.
- All Crew may now easily send SMS Text to crew groups: The Compose SMS Text to Crew button on the Roster page and all events is now enabled on mobile phones for all logged in crew members. This was previously only available for the Skipper.
- Crew Weights may be in Pounds or Kilograms: The Regatta Weight Report available on the Skipper menu was enhanced to report weights in either lbs or kgs. This is set in the Crew Manager Modify Settings page. Individual crew may enter their weights in their crew profile and select either unit. Conversion for the Regatta Weight Report is done automatically.
- Significant Upgrades for Desktop & Mobile Viewing: Over the past 3 weeks, significant time was spent reviewing the various screens and menu options. Resulting from this review are a number of changes to enhance the information displayed on both Desktop and Mobile displays. The enhancements are outlined below.
- All action buttons now change shade on mouse or finger over so it is easy to see an action will occur if clicked. This prevents confusing buttons for any banners that might look like buttons.
- A “sticky” header is provided when scrolling to make it easier to follow the scrolled content. Pages updated include Results, Availability, Assignments, Regatta Registration, Roster, Edit Assignment by Crew, Edit Assignments by Event.
- The order fields are displayed in columns is more consistent between the various pages.
- The Jump to Next Scheduled Event button action has been updated to compensate for the sticky header.
- The mobile display floating Submit Changes button has been repositioned to the bottom center so it doesn’t obscure limited screen real estate.
- Calendar Agenda View and individual events are reformatted on mobile displays to prevent having to scroll left and right to see the tabular content.
- Recurring events in Calendar view have a badge showing all the recurring dates. Only the master event has a submit button. The badge replaces the Submit Availability Change button and directs that availability changes be submitted on the master event listed.
- Significant mobile display formatting updates were made when data entry is enabled to prevent having to scroll left and right to see the content. Pages updated include: Calendar & each event, Results, Availability, Assignments, Regatta Registration, Roster, Edit Assignment by Crew, Edit Assignments by Event.
- The Crew Manager Modify Settings page has been cleaned up to more easily view and select one time setup options.
- When the WP Admin Bar is enabled in a users profile, it now scrolls off the screen on mobile displays so it doesn’t take precious real estate. On desktop displays it stays stuck at the top since real estate isn’t an issue
- Link to Mobile Carrier lookup added to Crew Profile: Dan Corcoran from J/109 Strider requested a feature so he could lookup the mobile phone carrier for those who did not enter a carrier in their profile. A link was added to the right of the Carrier dropdown visible for Skippers so they may use a free carrier lookup service. The results are only as good as whoever did the phone port as sometimes when someone switches carriers, the database doesn’t get updated.
Bug Fixes
- Selecting a Tag & Category did not filter both: Selecting both a tag and category to filter events on screens with filters would only filter using the last dropdown selected. This was fixed and now filters the combination category and tag selected
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
Over the winter a major rewrite of the Crew Manager online documentation is planned. It will include a searchable table of contents and index to make finding information easier. Stay tuned for future announcements.
Planning the 2021 Season helpful hints: The 2021 Crew Manager master calendar has been populated with a number of 2021 events that are already scheduled. If you find events that should be added so multiple subscribers may copy them to their own calendar, please email the information to me. Creating your 2021 schedule should be much easier this year with the following tools:
- Smartcopy Events from Past Seasons
- Copy Events from Other Crew Manager Sites
- Import Events from Excel
- Split & Edit Recurring Events
Included from a past email update is the following as 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.
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.