English Chess Forum

Anyone played with it yet?

Drupal is a risky choice.

It is here:

http://ecflms.org.uk/

Carl Hibbard wrote: Drupal is a risky choice.

For those unfamiliar with the name, why?

Roger de Coverly wrote:

Carl Hibbard wrote: Drupal is a risky choice.

For those unfamiliar with the name, why?

It is a content management system and is sort of ok just needs a lot of checking security and patches wise.

To be fair initial impression using a phone on a train are very positive.

The ECF LMS is different than I had expected. It is not a stand alone software available for distribution to and use by independent leagues; it is a centralised League Management Service run on the ECF server.

I propose to continue using my current software hosted on my own (Joomla) site and submit results by ECF grading submission files.

Michael,

You will continue to be able to submit your results without using the LMS. In due course the method for doing this will change to one with direct uploads.This will not occur till we have got the LMS to do that facet of the process. When we have a better idea of timescales, I will write to all graders on what to expect.

Brian Valentine
Manager of ECF Grading

Brian as there is a league AGM on Mon 3/7 will be nice to know what our options are & process. I was all for a free option in the original consultation.

Nick,
Follow the link in Carl's original post above.

Thanks Brian and Cark - same system used for County Championship.

Nick Grey wrote:Thanks Brian and Cark - same system used for County Championship.

My understanding is that the ECF County Championships are hosted on Roger Thetford's website, oxfordfusion.com: http://www.oxfordfusion.com/oca/index.cfm?Org=4

The ECF LMS is a different system being developed by Malcolm Peacock under contract to the ECF. It was released to ECF Graders for Beta Testing on 4th July 2017. It does appear that the Open Section of the ECF Championship 2015-2016 has been uploaded as sample data to test the system. As yet, it does not contain any data for the current season of the ECF County Championships.

There is a multitude of other systems in which individual developers have invested considerable time and effort and they are unlikely to switch to the new system in the immediate future. You will recall that the ECF had run a competitive tender to select a developer for their in-house system.

The ECF LMS, however, does offer an easy way for new organisers to manage their leagues without having to reinvent the wheel. It is in an early stage of development so those making use of it will have an opportunity to influence that development.

To clarify, I was originally one of those approached to beta test the new system. As it was other commitments prevented me from being able to do this but I did enter one county championships result from the previous season. However as the new system was not yet up and running the Oxford Fusion site was used to host the results this season. The two sites did feel relatively similar to use.

The model for a national LMS was the long established chessnuts site in Yorkshire. Chessnuts has its limitations but provides an excellent resource of results across Yorkshire. Even more importantly, once results are imputted the grading script runs automatically and calculates new grades. Excellent as the various results servers across the country are, ultimately they do not talk to the ECF grading system. A grading file still needs to be produced and sent to the grader using a pro forma format drawn up by the late Richard Haddrell. Most servers will generate the actual grading file automatically but some tweaking is always required (a cover form needs to be filled in, Excel will render 01 results as 1) which creates a reasonable amount of work. This is the bit the player or captain in the street doesn't see.

What the ECF are moving towards is a simple process where all events are imputted on a national results server and the data is then captured for easy grading. It is a development that will revolutionise chess administration in this county and should be applauded, although there is still much work to be done.

Andrew Zigmond wrote:A grading file still needs to be produced and sent to the grader using a pro forma format drawn up by the late Richard Haddrell. Most servers will generate the actual grading file automatically but some tweaking is always required (a cover form needs to be filled in, Excel will render 01 results as 1) which creates a reasonable amount of work.

There is a simple fix that can be applied to the Excel spreadsheet: Change the properties of the results column from number to text.

The BCF Result File Checker which is supplied to and used by registered ECF Graders is remarkably good in flagging up data errors and offering alternative Grading Codes for players. I think it was written by Howard Grist.

I am sure that the Grading Administrator, Matthew Carr, will be inundated with results files as ECF Graders realise they need to finalise their submissions for the 2016-2017 season. I know that I have a small backlog to clear.

When the July grading list is published players need to check that all their games have been correctly entered and feedback omissions and corrections to their County or Congress grader for inclusion in the August list.

If anyone is interested in a demo of the ECF LMS at the British in Llandudno or wants to ask anything about it let me know and I will try and find a computer there.