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RE: Ability to do data entry without the use of the mouse in GEMS.



Yes, bulk data entry is definitely a weak part of GEMS.  It isn't just races either -- districts, precincts, and their relationships suffer the same shortcomings.  This is one reason that people stick with their voter-registration systems for data entry. 
 
There are a bunch of ways this could be improved.  Allow table edits in the list view like you suggest is one.  Better organization of the editor dialogs and tabbing though fields is another.  "Quick Editors" without all the buttons and options is yet another.
 
The brutal truth though, unfortunately, is that these improvements are far down the TODO list, and getting further.  What we have works, and works pretty good.  The marginal benefit is a couple of hours of data entry and some carpal tunnel.  This falls into the same category as saving report settings.
 
Anyway, consider it on the TODO list.  Really, we'd like to see it improved.  If development gets a chance to stop and smell the roses for a couple of months sometime in the future, hopefully we can get this and a lot of other pending niceties into the system.  If I had to guess, that probably won't happen before this November, but hey you never know.
 
Ken
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rcr@dieboldes.com [mailto:owner-rcr@dieboldes.com]On Behalf Of Jeff Hintz
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 2:05 PM
To: Rcr List (E-mail)
Subject: Ability to do data entry without the use of the mouse in GEMS.

Jurisidiction:            All Accounts
Date Requested:    April 26, 2001
Date Required:       Before November General Elections
 
Requested on behalf of Larry Calvert at GBS.  Eliminate the need to use the mouse when entering offices and candidates. You have to switch between the mouse and the keyboard to enter candidates for each office. This slows down the data entry process considerably.
 
Perhaps we can do all the basic data entry of both Races and Candidates within the Tree View with a hot key, like Insert.  Once you have Race highlighted within the Tree View, you can hit the Insert hot key and up pops a small field just for the Race Title, then you enter in the Race Title, hit enter to save, and then start over with the Insert hot key for the next race.  Once you have all the Races added, you then can select the Race and get into the Properties Window.  As for the Candidates, we could add a Candidate Tree View under each Race that has been added, then do the same procedure for adding candidates with the Insert hot key; and same process as before for Properties Window.
 
Thanks,
 
JEFF HINTZ
Global Election Systems