Official Way to Bitch about Ride Times?

[AltersAreUs]

[QUOTE=rothmpp;8746185]

I asked the question in general, but I’ll ask you specifically - have you ever scheduled a show? If not, why not volunteer to help next time?

I have no idea what you do for a living - but are you a database programmer? I can use a database but could never in a million years write code, so I would not begin know what it would take to get it as automated as you are envisioning. If you know how to write code, maybe that is why it seems so ridiculous to you.[/QUOTE]

I have and multi-ring shows as well. I wasn’t using scheduling specific software, just excel. It was time consuming & annoying (yes, you never make everyone happy) but not the impossible task people like to make out to be. There were also generally about a handful of “legal” solutions to choose from, so this mentality of “well, we had no choice” just doesn’t make sense.

I’m not a database programmer. I am a mathematician who has done a lot of resource allocation engines, including massive air traffic control systems. Yes, I can code but that’s not the hard part of this problem. Developing the constraints and defining your solution search space is. Trust me, the math for sports scheduling is not that hard given the number of data points and variables involved, even if you are looking to brute force it. It’s multiple orders of magnitude smaller than what modern computers can tackle with ease, assuming you have a programmer who knows how to do optimization problems. The database is just the backend storage … not to diss database programmer because the storage/access/retrieval can hose your system if it’s done poorly but that sort of skill set is very different from what I would expect you’d need to build a true piece of scheduling software.

[AltersAreUs]

[QUOTE=leheath;8746646]
I do feel your pain and would really like to think that the huge gaps you describe were avoidable. However, until you try scheduling a show, please don’t tell those of us who spend many, many hours doing so that it is “not a hard mathematical problem!”[/QUOTE]

I have scheduled shows by hand so can I still bitch about this? Seriously, the “not a hard mathematical problem” was solely in reference to software and not meant as an insult to people doing this by hand. What is easy for an algorithm is often impossible for a human to solve in any reasonable time. That’s why we use computers.

It seems like there are definite shortcomings in the existing software. Detecting overlaps on a schedule seems basic. So does adjusting the start time for classes following a moved class in a ring.

[Libby2563]

[QUOTE=AltersAreUs;8747414]
I’m not a database programmer. I am a mathematician who has done a lot of resource allocation engines, including massive air traffic control systems. Yes, I can code but that’s not the hard part of this problem. Developing the constraints and defining your solution search space is. Trust me, the math for sports scheduling is not that hard given the number of data points and variables involved, even if you are looking to brute force it. It’s multiple orders of magnitude smaller than what modern computers can tackle with ease, assuming you have a programmer who knows how to do optimization problems. The database is just the backend storage … not to diss database programmer because the storage/access/retrieval can hose your system if it’s done poorly but that sort of skill set is very different from what I would expect you’d need to build a true piece of scheduling software.[/QUOTE]

@AltersAreUs;8747414

It seems like there are definite shortcomings in the existing software. Detecting overlaps on a schedule seems basic. So does adjusting the start time for classes following a moved class in a ring.

Sounds like there might be a market for better scheduling software, and you have the expertise to capture it! Do it, for the sake of all show managers and competitors out there. You might even make some money off it, right?

[lorilu]

I just read that someone here uses FV and it does not find conflicts.
In my understanding it DOES find conflicts. …
Our show manager uses it although I have not.

??

[yaya]

[QUOTE=lorilu;8750538]
I just read that someone here uses FV and it does not find conflicts.
In my understanding it DOES find conflicts. …
Our show manager uses it although I have not.

??[/QUOTE]

It detects SOME conflicts.

It will detect conflicts of horses or riders riding closer together than whatever time you input as a limit. (Most of the time, the USEF limit of 50 minutes between different horses is used.)

It does not detect conflicts such as two rides scheduled at the same time or overlapping times in the same ring. You have to catch that manually when you run the daysheets.