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The short answer would be yes, a system could be set up. During my time here (almost 5 years), I have kept most of the databases that I have come in contact with. Along with the version of GEMS that they were created in. That also includes the BALLOTSTATION that the database works in. Chances are I have what you need. It just a habit of mine to keep everything. I have made a proposal to management to create a PM (Preventative Maintenance) Group. Included in this groups many duties, would be to maintain databases used for demos etc. But, the proposal has been set aside to be looked at later. The long answer is yes. But, you have to keep in mind that all of the old databases will not work with the new software and hardware. In some cases the database will have to be re-created. Why, because as you know we upgrade our software often to fix bugs and make changes for the customer. Also, to accommodate the ever changing election environment. So, it would very important that when a database is created, such as, a demo database, that will be used later, the following minimal information would be needed; GEMS version, password to gain access to dB, Accuvote-TS version it was used with, Accuvote-OS roms used for Central Count, if using a BOD printer, offset settings for ballots. This type of information could be placed in a text file. The dB and text information could be place on our website in a section setup for old databases. Bottom line, to keep us ahead of our competitors a system of this sort needs and should be in place. I am all about keeping things simple, a system of this sort would be an easy way for sales people and support people to have access to certain databases. Rodney D. Turner
To whom it may concern, Would it be possible to set up a system of election databases, such that items such as databases used for ballot printing, audio files, etc. could be saved for later retrieval, so we could re-create election environments 2 months, 6 months, even a year later. I know it would take organization and disk space, but it seems feasible. There have been several instances of late, where we could not reprint ballots (for central count testing) because we no longer had, or could find the ballot database. Where we could not find the GEMS databases so we could do central count for the old ballots that we found in our garage, because we could find the old database to create new ballots, again (for central count testing), or today where we could not find audio files so we could try to re-edit sound files which had different volume settings, etc. There should be a central depository of files that we can go back to. An alternative is to find a working demo for all our products, but I dropped that illusion many years ago. I'll settle for being able to find old files and not having to re-create the wheel for each demo we do. (Old PCM audio files today would have helped us for our Santa Clara demonstration ($20M), so that we don't go down there with two very different volume levels of audio for instructions vs. the ballot info for vibs. In the real world, Steve |