Online entry systems.

[andypat]

I suspect I am not alone in using the online entry systems (Fabian4, Oentries, SI entries) as a kind of an online race diary to make sure I dont miss any.

I noticed today for the first time that there are no orienteering events on either oentries or SI entries. Has Fabian4 cornered the market? Is it time for rationalisation?

One of the downsides with Fabian4 is that you dont get to see the closing date on the front screen which you do with oentries - I find this invaluable.

As an organiser I've only used oentries which I found fairly easy to use, although had some difficulty with age categories vs courses - it could maybe have been more flexibleI think.

Is Fabian considered the best? Or cheapest?
Why is everybody using it?

[Freefall]

JK2011 used SIEntries and there was a stream of information (emails) in the run up to the event itself. I am glad you have asked the question because I need to compare systems for a major event due to happen next year.

[NeilC]

I used SIentries for the British Sprint/Middle because SI were doing the computing for the event and therefore there was more likely to be a seamless interface between the entries and results. Indeed I didn't have to do any configuration stuff. They also offered a discount if you used SIentries. As an organiser I had no problems with the system.

As a competitor I prefer Fabian but that is probably because it's the one I use most and am most familar with. As a club we have used Fabian for other events, have had no problems and found Adrian very helpful.

Much less experience of OEntries/ntrees etc

[Mrs H]

From an organisers point of view Fabian is incredibly flexible so you can add on all sort of extras and combinations of entry possibilities. Adrian is very helpful and it seems a very personal service.

As a competitor I prefer it also as it displays all the classes on one page so you can scroll through quickly and see if your mates are going too.

[SIman]

I believe that they all charge a similar percentage, but SIentries has a higher minimum per entry which is why it is not popular for smaller, cheaper events. Because of this not so many people are familiar with it and so it is not used to much - catch 22.
I have also happily used OEntries and Fabian as a competitor, organiserr and results processor.
Competition is a good thing, and I suspect that they will all read this thread and seek to improve their service. It wouldn't surprise me to see closing dates appear on Fabian soon.

[andy]

They're all good in their own ways, but I actually think oentries is probably the best now but nobody uses it because it wasn't so good a few years ago and fabian4 cornered the market.

The fabian4 look and user interface is really horrible and clunky and there is no closing date on view which would/should be easily fixed.

As SIman says sientries is slightly more expensive but the UI is good and it is a very good one-stop-shop if your event timing is being managed by SI (which is their main business)

Oentries I think people don't really know at the moment, there's been development done in the last few years that nobody really knows too much about.

I'd love to see oentries and sientries being used more and fabian4 a bit less, competition will get us better entry systems overall

[Paul Frost]

We did extensive testing of the 3 systems before deciding to use Fabian4 for the Scottish 6 Days.
There was very little to choose between them overall. There are differences in the user experience, but most of these came down to individual personal preference. What one person sees as a positive feature another finds annoying.
As with most things in life none are perfect, and there are constant tweaks being applied in response to comments from users.

Fabian4 has been building momentum, and the more events it has, the more people get used to using it, the more organisers see it being used, the more organisers choose it themselves.

The minimum charge applied by SiEntries kills it's use for single day events where the entry fees are less than £20, which is probably all of them. So orienteers may only use the system a couple of times a year.

Oentries has the problem that it has not been used for any large multiday events, so it doesn't have a track record that organisers can look at to provide confidence. So the classic "chicken and egg" circle prevails, which is a shame, but how do you break it?

The real problem is that the volume is not big enough to support three or more systems. The individual entry fees are very low (compared to most other running or adventure events) and so the relatively small % admin charge can't support commercial development. Oentries and Fabian4 are developed/managed by people in their spare time. SiEntries is part of a larger business that is not dependant on orienteering for all it's income.

[andy]

The alternative, which I have considered for esoc, is for clubs to write their own. It's on my ever growing to-do list. Do any other clubs have their own?

[Marco Polo]

The alternative, which I have considered for esoc, is for clubs to write their own. It's on my ever growing to-do list. Do any other clubs have their own?

MDOC used to have, but look to have moved to the commercial systems.

I'm not sure that it would make sense unless you already have experience and skills in that area?

[Marco Polo]

but you probably remember the reasons why it's difficult to go it alone

http://forum.nopesport.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9669&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=mdoc

[andy]

I'm not sure that it would make sense unless you already have experience and skills in that area?

Correct, not something to really do if you're not a web developer..

[IanD]

The alternative, which I have considered for esoc, is for clubs to write their own. It's on my ever growing to-do list. Do any other clubs have their own?

Southdowns have their own, or rather are the main user for Peter Drake's "vuggles" system. I've no experience of it as an organiser, but it seems fine as a competitor. I believe it is available for other clubs to use, so can be considered a rival to Fabian etc.
http://www.vuggles.co.uk/software

[andypat]

I suspect I am not alone in using the online entry systems (Fabian4, Oentries, SI entries) as a kind of an online race diary to make sure I dont miss any.

I never heard of that one! I suppose it falls down on any potential benefit you may get in the form of publicity that you would get from the more widely known softwares.

[EddieH]

Altough this is not recent, when setting them up I found Oentries extrewmely easy and quick. Fabian took quite a bit longer as it requires a lot more detail. However that was compensated for by Adrian's very personal assistance.

On balance as a past entries guy I'd choose to use Oentries.

[skybluepete]

I had a recent experience when at an event there was confusion over the closing date published for reduced fees.
Fabian 4 had been given the date and time of midnight of the Thursday, as was the small print on the clubs website; whereas the clubs event flyer was showing the Friday for the deadline for reduced fees.
When I tried to enter on the Friday the higher fees were calculated, so I contacted Adrian who despite being away was able to contact the club and alter the deadline within an hour or so of my initial e mail. That afternoon/evening (being the last day) a number of other people entered and benefitted from the revised reduced fee.
Therefore the personal service of using Fabian 4 certainly has its advantages.