RE: autopsy

["Cartwright, Scott C" <Scott.Cartwright@PSS.Boeing.com>]

Erik,
        I think your system worked well (especially for a first run) and I vote 
that we use it from now on.  I think you have a good list of fixes below (you 
covered all that I can think of now.... including numbers starting with 100 for 
the bidder numbers).
        I believe you included this in the list below but I thought I would 
just emphasize one fix that I think is important (make sure that the computer 
user can easily back out an incorrect entry for any of the fields.... I know 
that some are already set this way and good to go).
        Overall........very cool!  

        I'll talk to you all later (how much later via email I don't 
know.....).  I am planning on showing some solidarity and going on strike 
starting this morning at 9am.  I'll be reachable at home via voice message or 
direct contact  :)

> ----------
> From:         Erik Olson[SMTP:erik@thekrib.com]
> Reply To:     gsas-board@thekrib.com
> Sent:         Wednesday, February 09, 2000 8:15 AM
> To:   gsas-board@gsas.org
> Subject:      autopsy
> 
> Hi guys,
> 
> Thanks a lot for all your help last night, and for your perseverance with
> my hokey little auction program.  I also apologize for bringing in so many
> plants.  Kathy and I haven't really done this big of a cleanout in the
> 3 years we've been married, just because we've been constantly moving to
> more and more tanks until last year.  I promise it won't happen again.
> And if it does, I'm going to pack things in sublots of five so they'll go
> quicker.
> 
> I have no idea if you think we should use the computers again for the
> general auction. I actually think it went pretty well, barring some
> initial snags and when the cable came loose from the wireless base
> station.  On the upside, checkout was relatively painless; We got some
> half dozen people checked out early without disturbing the recording
> process.  On the "needs to improve" side, read the tome below; feel free
> to add your own. :)
> 
>   - Erik
> 
> -------------
> 
> Autopsy of 2/2000 Plant auction:
> 
>   [General]
> * Remove unnecessary help text in grey boxes - took up space, not helpful
> * Move major mode buttons "REGISTER", "BID", "CHECKOUT", "List Items"
>   to top rather than bottom. Reformat to take up less space.
> * Try and scrape up a 486 laptop with a network card for the server, 
>   and possibly a more compact printer.  Not having a monitor on the
>   server made a very scary
>   few minutes when we had to stall the auction to figure out why everything
>   stopped responding (it was a cable that wasn't quite plugged in and worked
>   its way out on the computer table).
> * Get real crossover cable instead of kludgy telephone junction (that was
>   the part that gave us the trouble).
> * Looks like two touchscreens and two laptops is a good number.  If I could
>   get batteries on the other laptops, we could actually use them in the front
>   during registration next time.
> * Dispense with login screen -- just have the database name.  This held
>   us up for a bit during bidding.
> * Run DNS on the server with fake domain so we can just type in "auction"
>   as the URL on the laptops.
> 
>   [Registration]
> * Educate all volunteers in advance; problems entering seller items.
> * BUG: Do not let seller register with undescribed item; the clickable
>   link is keyed off the description field.
> * BUG: Use ints for seller numbers.  SM 01 was considered separate from SM 1.
> * Need ability to delete seller item.
> * Need ability to delete bidder.
> * BUG: When editing a bidder, the check for duplicate bidder number should
>   be turned off... the bidder's own record was coming up.  Oops.
> * Make new item for seller the left side of the table, not the right. Or 
>   perhaps at the top of the page with the items below.  Was having trouble
>   with sellers with large numbers of items taking a while to display. 
> * Make sure bidder is registered before giving them a number (this> 
>   part actually worked very well; I didn't see any unregisted bidder #'s
>   come up).
> * Need to have all sellers registered before they put their bags on the table.
>   I dropped the ball twice on this.
> 
>   [Bidding]
> * Educate all volunteers before auction begins.  Run through a fake bid or 
> two.
>   Laurie had trouble with the system because of its differences with the
>   traditional odd-even-bidder-record-at-the-end-of-the-bid system.  I had
>   trouble figuring out that this was the trouble! :)
> * Start bidder numbers at 100 so that they don't get confused with the auction
>   price.  I entered one item as $77 to number 30.
> * Having the two people on the computers worked much better than having one.
>   Sam kept up fine when I had to leave to check people out, but it was
>   more of a relaxed pace with two to take alternate lots.
> * Kathy thought it worked well with one person entering all bids in a notebook
>   next to the two computer geeks, not just for the crash protection, but also
>   when one of us forgot the numbers.
> * Steve noted we need an Undo Bid key in case the wrong bid was entered.
> * The bid lookup for seller should have the seller ID as a dropdown
>   instead of a text field.  Makes it quicker to select.
> 
> [Checkout]
> * Educate all volunteers before... yeah yeah, actually this worked out
>   pretty well.  Sam, Scott (I think?) and myself were all checking
>   people out at the end.  The bottleneck was back in the item room, where it
>   should be! :)
> * Have total printed at top next to the pay button, so it's easier to find.
> * Have the pay/print dump you into the list bidders screen so it's quicker
>   to check out the next person.
> * Option to deduct split from amount paid, perhaps if all their items
>   have been bid on.
> * Likewise, have option to print out a page for each seller.
> * Investigate why it shows $99.99 for Mike Cowsert when he really paid $145. 
>   Bug?
>  
> 
> 
> -- 
> Erik Olson
> erik at thekrib dot com
>