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Is Practiscore the next program to transition to?


Dusty Sometimes

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Quick question: Due to the inability to download ACES on our club's newer tablets, we need to transition to a new SASS program and I think Practiscore is the preferred replacement program. I've downloaded PS on a device to start learning it but having a few issues. I can add stages and shooters and enter times but I'm not seeing how to add SASS categories for shooters. I can see that with work it can be used to score a SASS match but it doesn't seem overly CAS friendly. 

 

Are we on the right path? How do we set up SASS categories and are there any training videos or options for help setting up our first post ACES match?

 

Dusty Sometimes

Bayou Bounty Hunters 

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We use what was by far the best Cowboy action shooting scoring program ever developed. It was built by Tex Wayland, and called Cowboy Action Simplified Scoring. But it is no longer available or being supported. If our computer ever dies we will be in trouble. I have tried to copy it off of our computer sp we would have a backup but have been totally unsuccessful at securing a copy. I don't know why, but I stopped trying for fear I would mess something up.  So... that means at some point we will have to transition to something else. I downloaded Practiscore and found it to be very cumbersome and certainly not CAS friendly. I'm afraid that with the CAS world growing smaller nobody is going to take the time to bother with making another program that is actually easy to use and geared toward CAS. 

 

Snakebite 

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We use the CAS Scoring App and are very satisfied.  Personally I do not care for PractiScore as they use a P for penalties which can include misses, procedurals, and Spirit of the Game all together.  Twice a club I shot with had the scorekeeper accidentally hit the Spirit of the Game penalty and it was not noticed till much later.  In fact on one I called the person who had been miscored about two days after the match and alerted him.   That being said, a lot of people use PS, I am just not a fan.

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Many clubs in NC also use CAS Scoring app.  Simple to use, very satisfied. Lots of reports available. The only downside that I see is that it currently will only run on Apple products.  Developer is easy to work with if you find something that it could be improved on.  

 

Posting by: Ms. Jewel, Cross Creek Cowboys, Scorekeeper

 

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I do scoring for Red Hills Rangers & Panhandle Cattle Company - we switched from ACES to Practiscore over 2 years ago.  Practiscore is much better than ACES, once you get used to it.  The only gripe I have with Practiscore is that you MUST put in a first & last name for each shooter, in addition to their alias.

 

Holler

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This is for an iphone

 

After installing go to New Match and select Cowboy.

Now you can select either Cowboy Action or Wild Bunch. Select Cowboy

Fill in the blanks as desired. Note near the bottom is where maximum stage time is entered. If your club uses this here is where you set it. Unfortunately the setting is global and not customizable for each stage. 

You will see your newly created match in the list hi-lited in green.

Hit the back arrow at the top of the page in green again

Select Shooters/Posse

Select match Divisions ( in PS this is the same as category)

Here you will see a list of default Divisions (categories)

Scroll all the way to the bottom and you will see the New Division button. Select this and you can add any new divisions (categories) that your club uses.

When done use the back arrow at the top to return. Now add the shooters suing the New Shooter button at the bottom of the page. If you don't want to add shooters first and last names just enter any character. I like to enter the first initial of the shooters alias.

 

I have a master template that I build up. Then each time I have a match I clone the master and edit it to be specific for that match.

Note that when you are building stages this is where you set the SDQ time for each stage.

 

 

 

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Angie and I have been setting up and running PractiScore on the MS Peacemakers new tablets.

 

The overwhelming consensus over the last two matches has been positive.

 

Not an expert yet by any means but give me call.

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After a match I always like to sit down with all of the scores, penalties, etc. on the same page (or 2 or whatever) & play a spirited game of "Woulda, shoulda, coulda". I have found Practiscore VERY difficult to use for this. I know it can be done, but it is not at all intuitive, & requires more time & effort than it deserves.

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We, the North Alabama Regulators switched to PractiScore a few years back. At our range all of the other shooting sports use Practiscore. USPSA, Steel Challenge, Two Gun, NRL 22 Rimfire match and the PCC all use it. 

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We use practiscore and it works well for us.  You will want to build your match online then send it to your tablets, that is the way it was designed to work, with the tablets as the data entry points.  Another feature we use is the online waiver form that must be checked in order to complete your shooter registration.   There are a multitude of match score breakdowns that you can use to view your scores on the Practiscore website.  If you are just using it on your tablets and not using their online service and uploading the scores to your clubs Practiscore account you are really missing out on the program.  Shooters can sign up online view their scores online.  Not to mention that your upcoming matches will be listed on the Practiscore website for out of towners to see and sign up for.   I load the shooters to the tablets the night before a match takes me 2 minutes.  Oh and it runs on android and apple.  ( I don't work for Practiscore or get any compensation from them other than it makes my life easier as a match director.)

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13 hours ago, Snakebite said:

We use what was by far the best Cowboy action shooting scoring program ever developed. It was built by Tex Wayland, and called Cowboy Action Simplified Scoring. But it is no longer available or being supported. If our computer ever dies we will be in trouble. I have tried to copy it off of our computer sp we would have a backup but have been totally unsuccessful at securing a copy. I don't know why, but I stopped trying for fear I would mess something up.  So... that means at some point we will have to transition to something else. I downloaded Practiscore and found it to be very cumbersome and certainly not CAS friendly. I'm afraid that with the CAS world growing smaller nobody is going to take the time to bother with making another program that is actually easy to use and geared toward CAS. 

 

Snakebite 

I would just add that Tex W. provided and supported the application free of charge to any club that asked for it-- a very generous gift of his time and substantial professional skill.  His protocol was easy to learn, easy to use and fully wifi operational from tablets.  

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13 hours ago, Snakebite said:

We use what was by far the best Cowboy action shooting scoring program ever developed. It was built by Tex Wayland, and called Cowboy Action Simplified Scoring. But it is no longer available or being supported. If our computer ever dies we will be in trouble. I have tried to copy it off of our computer sp we would have a backup but have been totally unsuccessful at securing a copy. I don't know why, but I stopped trying for fear I would mess something up.  So... that means at some point we will have to transition to something else. I downloaded Practiscore and found it to be very cumbersome and certainly not CAS friendly. I'm afraid that with the CAS world growing smaller nobody is going to take the time to bother with making another program that is actually easy to use and geared toward CAS. 

 

Snakebite 

 

If you haven't already I strongly suggest you start learning a new scoring program and not wait till your current one kicks the bucket.

The only 2 available are Practiscore and CAS Scoring.

I have used both and they each have their strengths and weaknesses.

 

Practiscore runs on both android and apple devices. Depending on the device the look and feel is slightly different.

 

CAS Scoring AFAIK only runs on apple devices.

 

Personally I went with Practiscore for two reasons.

1. COST  I can buy 4 or 5 android tablets for the cost of one ipad.

2. Practiscore has deep pockets funding its development and is not dependent on one person to keep it alive. In my short time in SASS I have seen 3 scoring programs die because they were the product of one individual.

 

Its a crying shame that SASS HQ cannot pony up some money to help keep a scoring program viable.

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On 9/28/2021 at 12:15 PM, Max Payne said:

After a match I always like to sit down with all of the scores, penalties, etc. on the same page (or 2 or whatever) & play a spirited game of "Woulda, shoulda, coulda". I have found Practiscore VERY difficult to use for this. I know it can be done, but it is not at all intuitive, & requires more time & effort than it deserves.

 

I post the detailed by shooter, by stage with raw time,rank, penalties all detailed on one page, seconds after a match.    I believe it's in practicescore under match results / combined report.  Not difficult to produce.   It even gives you an option right from that report to email that file out to anyone you have emails for .  Very Easy. 

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Thanks Sedalia Dave, I figured it out based on your tips!  I think I figured it out. 

 

One last question, so there's an online facet of PS?  I take it that I can go online to manage my matches and shooters can go online to see their scores instead of the club having to email scores?

 

Dusty Sometimes 

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1 hour ago, Dusty Sometimes said:

Thanks Sedalia Dave, I figured it out based on your tips!  I think I figured it out. 

 

One last question, so there's an online facet of PS?  I take it that I can go online to manage my matches and shooters can go online to see their scores instead of the club having to email scores?

 

Dusty Sometimes 

 

https://practiscore.com/

 

Scroll down and create an account.

 

 

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You need not create an account to post scores; “upload to practiscore” is embedded in the app.  All you need to do is have a consistent match title so your shooters know how to find scores.

An account is needed if you choose to have online match announcements, signups and such.  You can allow online signups and posse selection if you want to, but be aware that there are fees involved if you allow shooters to pay online, and unless you set it up carefully they can cancel at the last minute and get refunds, yet you will still pay the transaction fees.

Our practical club uses it for sign-ups, squadding, and fee collection, and everyone but their treasurer (and our parent club treasurer for that matter) seems to like it.

For cowboy we post scores there but have seen no reason to use the other features.

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My club adopted it a couple of years ago at least. It has been great. We do have a club setup in practiscore so all of our matches are associated to our club. It has gotten major improvements in the last couple of years to refine the two SASS divisions to be very well catered to our sport. I guess I don't understand some of the earlier comments, because as opposed to what other clubs around here are using, I can actually see what the misses were per stage and not just have the total time per stage. 

 

I have not used in on Apple, but my understanding is the app is much better and gets more regular updates on Android. We just updated our tables, picked up 6 @ $75 each at Walmart. Onn Brand tablets.

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I'll take the PS link to our club's scores and post it on our website, then folks don't have to try to find it on the PS website.

I agree with Max, I do wish it was easier to contrast and compare scores.

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One thing that has not been mentioned.  If you own the right timers, Practiscore can link to them using Bluetooth so the score keeper can import the time directly off the timer with the press of a button.  It also saves all the split times.  

 

I shoot at clubs that use Practiscore, and clubs that use CAS Scoring.  I hope that CAS adds this ability to a future version, because it is really nice.

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I have been thinking about looking into upgrading our paper scoresheet process to something electronic.  After 20+ years of using paper scorecards, maybe it's time to drag the club into the 20th century. :P

 

However, per the SASS Sanctioned Match contract, there is a requirement to use the SASS Premier Scoring program to process the results of that match.  Does anyone know if there is way to port the scores from the tablets into the SASS program?  I know there was an interface for ACES, but I have not heard if there was one for Practiscore.

 

If you are doing it this way, I would appreciate your comments.

 

Thanks,

 

Dogmeat

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For those of you who want a better way of analyzing your PractiScore scores,  look at PractiScore Competitor.   It runs on IOS and Android.  It allows you to pull all matches from PractiScore that meet various requirements, such as your alias.  
 

Once you have the list of matches,  you can select one, and compare people head to head as well as the whole top to bottom list.   It It gives stage by stage comparison charts including spilt time charts if you are using one of the PractiScore compatible Bluetooth timers. 
 

One time cost of about $10. 

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