iShow Software

iSHOW – THE SHOW SECRETARY’S FRIEND!!!

At the recent WARCI Five Star Young and Adult Stock Shows I trialled a software program designed to do most of the Show Secretaries paperwork quickly and easily. I was very impressed with the program, and the time it saved and thought I would spread the word!!

The program is called iShow and is produced by the same people that make the pedigree program iBreed. I recently bought iBreed and was asked if I would like to have a look at iShow.

I downloaded the program from the Website and had a quick look around the program but it was hard to imagine it as a “workable” program without any data in it. The creator, Nigel Shippam, sent me a database of shows that had used the program in England and by studying these databases I could understand more easily how it worked.

The Introduction to iShow lists some of its feature. These are:

	iShow makes it easy to manage the entries to your show. iShow records details of each show together with its schedule and entry fees. A main show can also host entertained shows. You can then make entries, as they occur, for the classes in the show. A schedule can contain a limitless number of classes and a show can host numerous entertain shows each with their own schedule.
	iShow calculates all entry fees automatically as they are made. Different levels of entry fee can be made for each show and class. The BRC Levee and Lucky Pen fees will also be calculated automatically.
	iShow simplifies recording entry details by storing each exhibitor’s details and recalling them for subsequent use – once entered, you never need to enter an exhibitors details again.
	iShow automatically assigns pen numbers in seconds, this process takes in to account entries in entertained shows too.
	iShow automatically produces top quality Penning Lists, Penning Cards, Judge Sheets and Results Sheets – in seconds.
	iShow produces Prize Cards for all your breed classes (1st, 2nd and 3rd place). You can design your own cards and include fields from the show (class, judge, club name, entries, etc) automatically on the cards.
	iShow allows monies received from exhibitors to be recorded. Any debts incurred from underpayments or "no shows" can automatically be collected the next time an exhibitor enters a show. At the end of the show a final Revenue Report can be produced for the main show and each entertained show, detailing all revenues collected and outstanding.
	iShow lets all prints be viewed prior to committing them to paper. This allows all of the above to be viewed for entry errors before printing. It also allows individual or ranges of pages to be printed if required
	iShow enables you to email or mail all exhibitors to a show or number of shows. This can be used to confirm entries, remind them of forthcoming shows, etc.
	iShow automatically performs database backups and audits all entry information for your shows. If the worst happens and your machine fails, you should always have an up-to-date backup and audit of all the activity for the show.

If you were like me, you read this and thought two things….Can one program do all these things? Does it really work?….and…If it does all these things how much does it cost?

I have fiddled with this program long enough now that I feel I can give some insights into the good and bad points of this program.

SETTING UP THE PROGRAM.

Probably the most time consuming part of using this program is setting it up. However if you set it up correctly it does make it easier later on.

The first thing you need to do is to set up your show schedule within the program. The program recommends that you create a new schedule for each show even if the schedules are the same. However once you set up your basic schedule you can easily copy it and rename it for another show… We use the same schedule for the whole year and it is only changed slightly at the start of each year so setting up the schedule only needs to happen once.

Setting up the schedule from scratch was quite time consuming as each class had to be entered separately – you couldn’t just do “ditto” down the page as we do in our printed schedule. Also extra information had to be entered as to whether the class was a challenge class, whether you needed the class put on the judges sheet and the level of the fee to enter the class. Some of this info could be selected from a menu to save typing but some had to be typed in completely. I ended up doing some copying and pasting to save time typing classes because typing ‘Netherland Dwarf AO Agouti Pattern’ three times for each age got a bit frustrating!!

Typing in the schedule took quite a lot of time – and thought. And I learnt a few things along the way that took a bit of fiddling to make them work. After typing all 269 (!) classes in I realized that I needed to include all challenges with a class number so had to go back and include those. Our schedule does not usually have class numbers for challenges so that was something I hadn’t thought of before I began putting the schedule into the program. Also I decided that if I wanted Best of Breed classes to be included in the judges’ sheet I had to make a class for them as well within the schedule. We usually write the Best of Breed classes in the Book Stewards books without thinking but you find there are a number of things like that, that you do automatically that you actually have to set up the program to do.

However once you have set up this main schedule it is very easy to create new ones from this schedule. If you want to make a new schedule using only some of the classes you can just copy the classes you want or you can copy an entire schedule if you wish. So once the schedule is completed properly you never have to retype the whole thing again.

TAKING THE ENTRIES.

The first time you enter exhibitors details it takes a longer time as you are asked to put in the Exhibitors name, stud name and address details. The program stores these details and you don’t need to enter them again when they enter another show.

When you do the entries you click on the class you wish the rabbit to be entered and it is automatically put into this class. To start with I was entering the rabbits into about 8 classes – these included the class, BOB, Best Fancy U/5,BIS U/5 etc plus any junior classes. However I found that all I really needed to enter them in was their class, BOB, section age class (Fancy U/5) and Junior and Owner bred classes. If the bunnies went any further than their section I found it worked better if the book stewards did that from their Idiot Sheets instead of having pages of pen numbers of bunnies that had not got further than their class. We also ask for Ring Numbers when the rabbits are entered and there is a section where the rabbits ring number can be entered and their breed and colour. The ring numbers are printed out on the penning sheets but I have not found anywhere where the colour of the rabbit is printed out so that (at the moment) is probably a waste of time typing in.

At the moment when I take entries for a show I use the database for the previous show and just change or delete the entries as necessary. This is possible, I suppose, because many of our exhibitors enter every show and often show the same rabbits. I have found that by using the previous show’s database it saves me a lot of time re-entering the same rabbits each show. At the moment, iShow does not have this facility. I have suggested to the iShow developer that the facility to even keep just the previous shows entries (for each exhibitor) in the computer to use for the next show would be a timesaver. He is looking into this idea and may try to include it in the program and I think if it is included it will be a great improvement.

FEE STRUCTURE.

iShow has the ability to automatically calculate the entry fees for each exhibitor. It is designed for Block and non-block entries. The amount of the entry fee can be altered for each level of fees. At the moment the fee structure won’t work for our particular entry fee structure. However the iShow developer is currently working on altering the program so that it does cater for our fee structure. I imagine that different clubs use many different fee structures for their entries and so this may be a problem if each program has to be customized for each fee structure.

PRINTING IT ALL OUT.

The next bit is the best part!! Instead of spending up to four to five hours manually writing up the Book Stewards Books, now you can just click on “Print” and it is all done for you!!

Once you have done the schedule and entered all the entries into the show you can allocate the pens. You cannot do this until you have finished entering all the exhibits. Then the program automatically sorts the entries by Class numbers and allocates the pens.

Once the pen numbers have been allocated, the various reports required to run the show can be printed.

	Penning In Slips. iShow prints out all the penning in slips for each exhibitor. The Penning in Slip has the Exhibitors name and address on it and then lists all the exhibits, their ring number, the class they are in and their pen number. It also has the total fees that are owed. The total fee amount was incorrect when we used the program as the fee structure still needed to be upgraded. Also I asked the iShow developer if he could include whether the rabbit had been entered in Owner Bred or Junior classes on this sheet as I felt that would be an advantage. This has been changed now so that these details are included on this sheet. This means that any errors that have occurred in the entering of rabbits in their classes (particularly Owner Bred and Junior) can be picked up when the rabbit is being penned and not later in the show. Our exhibitors found the format for the penning in sheets to be much clearer than our usual format.
	Penning Sheet. This is a list of all the pen numbers assigned to each exhibit. It includes the Class Number, Breed class, Exhibitor and Ring Number. We use these sheets to set up the show, check for ring registration and to write the prize cards. A column has now been included to show whether the rabbit is entered in Owner Bred or Junior – and I think this is an improvement as well.
	Judging Sheets. This is the part that provided the most advantages in time saving. iShow prints out all the judges’ sheets for the book stewards. You can alter the formatting to include more or less space for comments. The first show I did I entered all the rabbits into every challenge they were eligible for and ended up with pages of pen numbers for classes like Best in Show Adult. This seemed to be a waste of paper but then I realized I could just enter the rabbits in their section classes only but leave 10 lines for the various challenges so the book stewards could just enter the relevant rabbits. This saved a lot of paper and the book steward a lot of floating – but useless - pieces of paper. We usually do our shows in a carbon book so we have two copies of the results. We give the judges one copy to write their report and keep the other copy. With this in mind we bought carbonized paper and printed the show on this paper. It meant we had to print out the show twice (on both sets of paper) but it worked really well.
	Results Sheets – aka Idiot Sheets. These were the one real failure of iShow as they were different than we were used to and made the Book Stewards job much more difficult. However the developer of iShow has redone these sheets and now they are the same as we are used to so they will be much better next time. He still doesn’t like calling them Idiot Sheets but that is what many Clubs in Australia call them!!
	Prize Cards. iShow has the ability to print out the Prize cards for a show. The format of the prize card can be altered a little to suit your requirements. We did not use this facility at all as our prize cards have a completely different format. However I think if this facility could be altered to suit our prize cards and you could print out the details on the card such as exhibitor, pen no, ring no and only have to write the placings on the card on the day of the show it would be great time saver.

COST OF THE PROGRAM.

iShow is a program that you can download from the net but require a license fee to use the program.

In England the amount of the license fee depends on the Star status of the show. One license fee covers all the shows held on the one day at the same location – other “entertained shows”. This means that each different show can be printed out from the one program and all the paperwork is automatically sorted according to the different shows instead of each club having to try and coordinate pen numbers etc.

Here in Australia our Five Star shows attract only a few more entries than our One Star Shows as the number of exhibitors is pretty constant. In Western Australia we have about 150 entries to our normal club shows and probably about 200 for our big shows. Consequently the developer of iShow is working on a fee schedule that suits our particular circumstances.

IS IT WORTH IT?

Most emphatically, YES!! I feel the amount of time it saves is a huge advantage. Admittedly it took me longer the first time I used it but as I learn more about the program I will save more time. Most of us lead very busy lives and if there is something that saves us time then it is worthwhile. Also you no longer have the frustration of making mistakes when writing out the books or the writing in the Book Stewards book being illegible!

When we calculated the cost of the carbon books we used to use compared to the cost of the carbonized paper – which we bought in bulk – the costs were about equal. And our time is worth money!!

There are a number of things that could be improved and some things that just need altering so that they work for us. These include the fee structure and the prize cards. The developer of iShow is still improving the program and is currently seeking BRC endorsement of his program. Many Clubs in England have been using the program and as people suggest improvements these are being added where possible. I have found that the developer is more than happy to listen to suggestions and ideas. A couple of improvements such as the Idiot Sheets were implemented very quickly. I am confident that the program will continue to be improved.

If there is one fault that I can see is the lack of detail in the Help section of the program. At times I had to “fiddle” a long time to work out how to do something or to know what to do next. The program does come with basic instructions but not a real step-by-step guide. I think you would need to be quite familiar with being a show secretary – and possibly a computer - or you may find it difficult to start with. For example: The Instructions state that when setting up the Show Schedule ‘ when deleting or inserting classes the class numbers can be incremented or decremented so they run consecutively’. I made a mistake doing my schedule and needed to change the numbers on the schedule. It took me quite a lot of fiddling before I worked out how to get the program to re-number the schedule and even now I couldn’t be sure how to do it if I needed to do it again. It would have been a lot easier if it had included step-by-step instructions. However perhaps other people would not find this a problem…

So my final recommendation is – Do try out the program. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much time you save and how easy it is. The developer is willing to improve the program and is available if you require help. (He certainly got plenty of questioning emails from me!) I think the small cost per show of using the program is well worth all the time you save. You can spend that extra time getting those rabbits ready to win Best in Show!!

If you have any questions regarding this program I am happy to answer them if I can.

Jenny Buckingham

Perth, Western Australia

jabuck@iinet.net.au

iShow – Show Entry Management

iBreed Systems

Contact: Nigel Shippam – iBreed@ibreedsystems.com

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Date this page was last updated: Saturday, 03 October 2009