CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

But....if you describe exactly what you want the synchronize function to do, I am sure it can be developed without too much effort

I would like this synchronize function to update the information on the DB based on recent changes

For example:

1) We begin the journey by running CIVIcrm at the judo club and having the volunteers enter all the startup information of all the members, including DOB, contact details, email and whether their membership and training fees have been paid.

2) We now upload that database to the website, so that the "admins" have access to their details and we can send out our email newsletters.

-now for the synchronisation-

3) An admin updates a few member's payment status at the club. At the same time, a different member updates their email address from the website.

So now, we download the DB from the club location onto a USB and use it to update the website. We then get the website's DB and load it onto the USB - take it back to the club and update the standalone DB. The "trick" is to not simply overwrite the entire database with the other, but update only the changed fields based ideally on a time/datestamp.

Firstly, I'm quite curious what thoughts you had about scanner / barcode reading of attendance - I know a club with an interest in something similar.

Well, the barcode scanner is a "wishlist". It can be hard to keep track of attendance, so it would be lovely to have a barcode scanner so that either 1) member have a card they scan at the entrance to mark them as attending or 2) admins have a list of names with barcodes underneath so they can simply check the class and scan the names to log attendance.

Your use case below does not really match very well what CiviCRM offers now (or in the near future). Synchronizing two db's is a non-trivial issue and that is not on our current roadmap

lobo

Thanks for the clarification.

I think in this case it is more a matter of modifying our requirements/expectations to suit CIVIcrm's capabilities than vice-versa. Expecting major modifications and hours of work to suit a narrow field of application is obviously not realistic.

We essentially need to:
1) Investigate whether internet access at the club is worthwhile
2) Consider other ways of using CIVIcrm, possibly something along the lines of a paper-based/excel spreadsheet based admin at the club, with regular (weekly?) reports printed from the website regarding outstanding dues
3) Consider different software altogether and sacrifice CIVI/Drupal integration

SKrael,
good luck with your investigation, let us know what you finally decide!

and Eileen,
thanks for arranging beer and kisses 

Thanks guys for your feedback. If you're ever in Australia, com visit us and we'll have a rumble and a beer.
www.budokan-judo-club.com

Never heard of 4X, though I have worked with a number of Aussies.............my knowledge of Australian beer is limited to Fosters. Just like everyone knows Heineken from Holland I guess......