Aside from the standard features, what are the qualities that make a good rodeo management system? What questions should you ask your rodeo management software provider? As the lead programmer of a rodeo management software system that was used by hundreds of organization, we hope to help you answer these questions with our suggestions below. Please note that we are not subscribing our recommendations to any particular brand of a rodeo management system. Rather, we are basing our recommendations on an overview of a number of systems available and the most valuable aspects across the sampling.
Ubiquitous
In a simple measure of useability, is this software available to use across a wide variety of locations.
Works Across Member Devices
A good system will be easy for members to use, working efficiently across a variety of devices. Members do not want to invest in software and also do not want to struggle with software which is confusing beyond their comprehension. The time from initial use to being able to interact with the rodeo organization should be less than 2 minutes. This assumes that the software is intuitive and that it can be used without requiring an extensive dive into a user manual.
Flexibility & Customization
While ease of use and short learning curve are essential for members, for Admin users, of higher priority is the system flexibility and customization to their needs. All rodeo associations have a rule book published by their executive and it's hard to find the same rules in any two rodeo associations. For good reasons, there are some subtle and some major differences between how associations operate their rodeos and seasons. It is the ability of the software, or software provider, to accommodate the many combinations of rules and exceptions.
Trial and Testing
When the hooves hit the dirt, the software must work. The best way to prevent surprises and system failures at a rodeo is by trialing and testing the software before it goes live to members. This means the software provider should offer a risk-free trial period and work alongside the association to test the system.
Payment or No Payment Solution
Online payment has tremendous benefits. Much of today's consumer commerce is conducted online nowadays, whether that is ordering products online or purchasing entertainment tickets. A Rodeo Management Should offer this as a standard feature. But, also prevalent in the rodeo industry is a subset of people who do not want to, or who are not able to, process payments online. Whether the reasons are preferences, or capability, an effective solution should provide online payment but also streamline the process for an association to record payments by other methods.
Data Integrity
The single biggest risk to any organization's data is to have one single device or one single storage location. If both the software and data are resident on one users device, the opportunities for failure run the full spectrum from accidental damage, equipment failure, user error, theft, any many other situations which would leave an organization system-less. The integrity of the data requires that it, and the device, need to be separate, and that the data is stored where it can be access by another device with approved access.
End to End
This almost a extension of the features discussion, but it's really a summation of the features. The best Rodeo Management System will provide the broadest and most integrated set of features that allow the rodeo admins to operate the system without requiring processing of data/information by any other software.
Data Export
In contrast to the paragraph above, there are certain situations where the ability to export data from the rodeo management software to use in a different setting is a tremendous asset. for example, rodeo software is not accounting software. But it has valuable data that is required as inputs to accounting software. The ability to export reduces data entry errors to the external system.
Support Costs
Lastly, before you hang your hat on any software solution, you need to understand the support costs involved. How much does customization cost? How much are you charge to resolve a support item? What are the training costs. These need to be added to cost of the software to arrive at a true cost of ownership of the software.