Just curious to know what everyones opinion is about this software. I for one am not a big fan of it - it doesnt seem to be very friendly towards masters events (although this might be premature)
How come a company or someone has not developed an web based application that utilizes SQL/Php or XML?
Is this company the only game in the marketplace?
What do other clubs use?
2ndly - of you coaches or clubs out there that have underwater cameras in use what type/kind are you using? software?
Parents
Former Member
I have used their software for over a decade, mostly for USAS but also for High School, NCAA dual meets, YMCA age group city champs and a USMS zone championship. I have attended clinics and have taught a few on Meet Manager.
That software dates back to the early DOS pre-Windows days and some legacy file formats still need to be recognized. The greatest feature is how well the swim meet software "suite" imports and exports files. Data management dramatically improved.
The reason the software seems so complex is because there are so many different ways to structure and run a meet. Each of the organizations listed above will have their quirks; and that doesn't even touch the international differences outside the US. Still, it seems each season one of our LSC meet hosts will come up with some funky novel meet format that is a challenge to set up with Meet Manager without undue manual workarounds. HyTek listens and the product is active and growing, with features the users have asked for and fill a need.
I'd rather gain some level of expertise with one piece of software that supports all these organizations rather than be barely competant with separate software for each organization.
The new computer operators who have the most trouble are those who have never volunteered at a swim meet before (clerk of course, runner, meet director). We encourage apprenticing for several meet sessions, then take the hot seat under supervision for a few sessions before going solo. Attendance at an annual training course is required before teams can bid to host a meet.
Even so, the LSC usually does the meet setup for the host to avoid troubleshooting errors on the pool deck. Most age group meets are semi-organized chaos trying to handle hundreds of late entries and deck-seeded events.
So yes, I am a fan of HyTek. I've looked at other vendor's programs and wasn't terribly impressed.
PHP/MySQL and XML are great internet technologies. I've been developing with those for many years including some swim custom applications. I'll opine that they are not appropriate for meet management software. Internet connectivity isn't available at many pools in my area nor would I want to rely on it to keep a meet going.
I have used their software for over a decade, mostly for USAS but also for High School, NCAA dual meets, YMCA age group city champs and a USMS zone championship. I have attended clinics and have taught a few on Meet Manager.
That software dates back to the early DOS pre-Windows days and some legacy file formats still need to be recognized. The greatest feature is how well the swim meet software "suite" imports and exports files. Data management dramatically improved.
The reason the software seems so complex is because there are so many different ways to structure and run a meet. Each of the organizations listed above will have their quirks; and that doesn't even touch the international differences outside the US. Still, it seems each season one of our LSC meet hosts will come up with some funky novel meet format that is a challenge to set up with Meet Manager without undue manual workarounds. HyTek listens and the product is active and growing, with features the users have asked for and fill a need.
I'd rather gain some level of expertise with one piece of software that supports all these organizations rather than be barely competant with separate software for each organization.
The new computer operators who have the most trouble are those who have never volunteered at a swim meet before (clerk of course, runner, meet director). We encourage apprenticing for several meet sessions, then take the hot seat under supervision for a few sessions before going solo. Attendance at an annual training course is required before teams can bid to host a meet.
Even so, the LSC usually does the meet setup for the host to avoid troubleshooting errors on the pool deck. Most age group meets are semi-organized chaos trying to handle hundreds of late entries and deck-seeded events.
So yes, I am a fan of HyTek. I've looked at other vendor's programs and wasn't terribly impressed.
PHP/MySQL and XML are great internet technologies. I've been developing with those for many years including some swim custom applications. I'll opine that they are not appropriate for meet management software. Internet connectivity isn't available at many pools in my area nor would I want to rely on it to keep a meet going.
