Google Docs Forms

I'm coaching track again this year. Took a break last year for a few reasons...new position, wanted to go back to middle school level, blah, blah, blah.

We are hosting an Invitational this year. It's a first for us. We are hoping to get 8-12 schools (boys and girls). That means when we organize the meet, it will be more like 16-24 teams. Not a big deal, since I organized an annual meet for the high school for 6 years that had between 25-30 schools (girls and boys). The largest meet I recall had over 625 competitors. That is huge. We used Meet Manager software, and it is a great program.

This year, for our middle school invitational, I have created a Form in Google Docs Spreadsheet (GDS). I will be emailing the coaches next week to notify them that they will complete the form - 13 events, 2 athletes per event. When they finish the form, which is embedded in the email (how cool is that!) My GDS is automatically updated.

No more trying to decipher the handwriting of coaches in a hurry. I can export the GDS to an Excel format. Since we purchased the software for the school site, I can use the Meet Manager software to import the entries from Excel. That should save me about 15 hours of data entry.

I have always believed that the only good technology is the kind that makes life for humans better or easier. GDS does this. It is good technology.

Spreadsheet
Input info
Get others to help you
Accurate, quicker, and smarter
Data

Blogged with Flock