[Ansteorra-marshals] Online Authorization System

Morgan Buchanan morganbuchanan at gmail.com
Wed Jun 29 14:14:49 PDT 2011


I do very much appreciate your thoughts.  Thanks!

A fighter will HAVE to select an authorizing marshal, and the average
marshal at large won't have access to the list of pending authorizations.
But administratively we will be able to get that person authorized even if
the marshal he selected doesn't do it.  I'm not sure if that answers the
question you were asking.  Let me know if I can further clarify.

Several of the questions you asked are areas of development... like failures
and delayed authorizations and the like.  But we should be able to do most
anything.  We'll be able to pull reports, and so if Bob Jones is showing up
as failed by Don Juan and passed by Don Jose Cuervo, we can investigate.

I do want to get the youth into this eventually.  I want to be able to get
anyone their card anytime, rather than have to wait, and fill out temp
paperwork and all that jazz.

Each marshal will have the "stuff" they're qualified to approve on their
list.  So if you came to me and asked me to authorize you, when I logged
into my account and pulled you up, the only options I will have available
are exactly the things I have.  So using heavy combat as an example, you are
a new fighter, and I'm authorizing you.  When I pull you up I see that I can
authorize you for Heavy Combat, Heavy Combat Marshal, and Fiber Spear.  You
are a new fighter, so I only select Heavy Combat.  Bazinga, you get an email
and when you print out your card, you see only that you are authorized for
Heavy Combat.

Then if the annoying thing happens where I FORGOT that you needed fiber
spear, you email me back, I check that box, and you reprint the card, and
won't don't have to make the nice secretary drop another card in the mail.

Morgan


On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 4:02 PM, James Crouchet <james at crouchet.com> wrote:

> This is an idea JP and I kicked around a few years ago and I think it is
> fantastic that it is happening. I have a few thoughts to share from our
> discussions on the subject.
>
>
>   - The one thing we needed that could not be done online was the combat
>   waiver. Our thought was to have just the waiver available online in PDF
> form
>   so the fighter could print it off, fill it in and then mail/fax/email as
>   scan to the marshalate secretary. Until that happens the fighter could
> not
>   be authorized in anything.
>   - Once registered I assume the system will maintain the account for that
>   fighter. That being the case:
>      - Can an authorization marshal authorize a fighter for something even
>      if that fighter has not selected that marshal from the list?
>      - Will the system track the fact that a marshal has failed a fighter
>      for authorization? This would prevent the fighter from just
> marshal-hopping
>      to find someone who will auth them. Perhaps a reason could be
> recorded.
>      - Can the authorization marshal decline to authorize that fighter
>      (rather than saying the fighter failed the authorization)? For example
> if
>      that auth marshal can't make it to the event where he was to do the
> auth.
>   - In Cut & Thrust, authorization is different from anything else we do in
>   Ansteorra. ALL C&T marshals are authorizing marshals, and it take 2 to
>   authorize a fighter. To authorize a C&T marshal requires a current C&T
>   marshal PLUS the kingdom C&T marshal. It would be necessary to code for
>   those quirks unless we are ready to *normalize the C&T authorization
>   process* and make it work like all the other Ansteorran combat
>   authorizations.
>   - Efforts to handle youth separately have always been a disaster. Records
>   get lost, no one has answers, authorization and getting cards becomes
> almost
>   impossible. To include the youth in this there are a couple of additional
>   items to consider and code for, like whether the marshal has a current
>   background check and the age of the person being authorized. However,
> these
>   should not be big obstacles. For the most part it's just another
>   authorization and the marshals need the same sort of access and
> information
>   as in adult activities.
>
>
> Finally, a thought about authorization marshals that could make some of
> this
> easier. As KRM I put in place a system where rapier authorization marshals
> could authorize others for anything in which they held an authorization.
> Thus an authorization marshal who was authorized in heavy rapier and as a
> field marshal could authorize others to fight with heavy rapiers and to be
> field marshals.  If that authorizing marshals becomes a youth rapier
> marshal
> he could authorize others to be youth rapier marshals. All this is easy to
> track in a database.
>
> We select our authorizing marshals to be people with a clue and if they are
> not up to the task of authorizing someone in a particular combat form we
> expect them to know that and turn down any requests for authorizations in
> that form. Anyone who is not that cluefull should not have authorization
> powers.
>
> I hope you find these thoughts and suggestions helpful.
>
> Christian Doré
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 1:35 PM, Morgan Buchanan
> <morganbuchanan at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > Just to give you all a brief run-down of the system we're gearing
> > toward....
> >
> > This is a system to alleviate the paperwork and mailing expenses on the
> > back
> > end of the authorization process, not a testing procedure to replace or
> > enhance the existing authorization process.
> >
> > In a nutshell, we're working on an online process for the administration
> of
> > cards, expirations, authorizations, and the like.  Here is kind of a
> > run-down of the flow of the new system.  I'm going to say "fighter"
> > generically.
> >
> > Fighter wants to authorize.  Authorization marshal may tell the fighter
> > about the website before or after authorization exercises.  Doesn't
> really
> > matter.  When the fighter registers on the site, he will select his
> > authorization marshal from a drop down list.  Once fighter registration
> is
> > complete, the authorization marshal will get an email saying, "You have a
> > fighter who needs to authorize."
> >
> > The marshal logs in and finds the new fighter assigned to him, and checks
> > off on the forms for which the new fighter is authorized.  A marshal will
> > be
> > restricted by the system to only be able to check off on the stuff for
> > which
> > they are approved.  IE, a chiv only marshal can't check off a rapier or
> > archery authorization.
> >
> > The fighter will now get an email back saying, "You are authorized.  Go
> > print off your card."
> >
> > The fighter will be able to download a document, probably a PDF, of their
> > fighter card.  They will be able to retrieve it any time while they are
> > still authorized.  If they wash it or their dog eats it, they can go
> print
> > another.  The kingdom saves hundreds of dollars a year on printing and
> > mailing cards to everyone.
> >
> > We'll be combining this with SCA membership expiration date cards, so
> > warranted marshals will have membership driven expiration on their
> warrants
> > that are shown in the system.
> >
> > Should be pretty cool.  As soon as I have a few more folks on here, I'll
> be
> > posting a link for everyone to go try it out, "get authorized" and so on.
> > The print function isn't working.  But I want to get feedback on the
> > bare-bones of the system.
> >
> > Morgan
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> >
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