Government Technology - November 2008 - (Page 45)

“I’ve got kids on my basketball could end up with none, and one team who are taking music lessons, may end up with three,” Britt said. dance lessons and drama lessons. Then Britt applies a general layer Many are involved in church proof players over the map, quickly grams. These kids are booked assigning them to location-approalmost five nights a week,” Reagan priate teams. Easy and Cheap “We have enough kids on teams Developing Cary’s said, adding that he stopped receiving requests for after-practice rides that we’ve been able to accommo- GIS rec team date them with a facility relatively assigning process once the GIS program went live. Reagan did have concerns before close to their home in nearly every didn’t cost extra Cary implemented the GIS project. case,” Britt explained. “We’ve had money, said GIS Up to that point, the PRCR assigned folks who were residents in nearby analyst Leith kids to teams by holding tryouts to cities, and they were several miles Britt. He built it ensure each team had an equal disaway from any facility. There are with existing GIS tribution of strong, medium and also kids who are returning for a resources. Britt weak players. second year who may have moved said ease and “They’d bring kids out to dribble, in the off-season, and they still go low cost are two aspects of GIS do layups, try to take a couple jump on the team they were on before.” projects that made Jeffcoate said the GIS assigning them especially fun. shots. We’d get them to jump to see how high they could jump. We’d process didn’t change any of the PRCR staff’s procedures. The agency contin- weigh them, and then the coaches picked in ues to receive player registrations online and order,” Reagan said. That kept overzealous coaches from scourthrough its phone interactive voice-recognition system. They direct that information ing the community to recruit the most talto an Excel spreadsheet, which goes to Britt. ented tykes. “You didn’t want all the good guys to be Once the teams are assigned, the GIS tool populates a new Excel spreadsheet with on one team and the weaker players to be on the assigned teams, which Britt returns to another team,” Reagan said. “It just wouldn’t be fun. The good guys wouldn’t have anybody the PRCR. “They’re able to pull up the Excel spread- to compete against, and the other guys would sheet and e-mail it out to their coaches so they keep getting the tar beat out of them.” To Reagan’s surprise, that didn’t happen have a roster,” Britt said. when tryouts were eliminated. “It hasn’t made any difference in terms of competition,” Reagan said. The change also More players attend practice since Cary removed some of the pressure coaches felt to implemented the GIS project, according to judge talent accurately at tryouts. “If I was a coach in the placement and rated Walker Reagan, a PRCR basketball coach. “Last year, with my young guys on this a player wrong and got stuck with that player, geographic distribution, we were having 90 it was my fault. Now the decision is on Cary percent attendance at practices. Before the Parks and Recreation. If I end up with a bad technology, you might have gotten seven out team, it’s not my fault,” Reagan said. He said the PRCR is considering using GIS of 10 kids who showed up on a regular basis,” assigning for kids in upper-age leagues whose Reagan said. He routinely gets glowing feedback from parents aren’t concerned with competition. “Maybe you’re more concerned with parents about the location-based assigning having something local your kid can be process. “It has facilitated carpooling. We see a lot involved in and still have fun and get exercise, more players coming in groups,” Reagan said. and winning and losing is not that big a deal,” Previously parents with multiple children Reagan said. “You realize he’s not going to be in extracurricular activities struggled to get a superstar on his high school basketball team, the kids to and from those activities on time. and you’re willing to let him just get out there Parents frequently asked Reagan to stay late and play. Maybe distribution will work out fine for you.” or drive their kids home after practice. Take Public CIO Magazine’s Attendance and Fairness Security Management Survey AND RECEIVE COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS TO THIS INDEPENDENT REPORT: CENTER FOR DIGITAL GOVERNMENT: I AM WHO I SAY I AM: THE ROLE OF IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT IN GOVERNMENT To participate go to: www.public-cio.com/securitysurvey 45 http://www.public-cio.com/securitysurvey http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - November 2008

Government Technology - November 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for … Forward Thinkers Taking Tech Home Virtual Frontier Hidden Costs Uncovered Seeing Red For the Record In the Loop Benign Dictatorship Home-Field Advantage A Better Way to Park New Tools for Fighting Crime How It Works Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise

Government Technology - November 2008

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