After reading scouting threads, it seems to me the easiest and, for my team, best scouting option is to use google documents. It’s available for android and iOS and will calculate the averages and everything on its own. However I do have a couple concerns…
My coach and I were discussing how exactly we’d set it up. Our first draft/thought was this:
Have one spreadsheet with a column for each thing we scout and a row for each member on the team (only 20 of us, so it would be fine). Then have a row at the bottom that automatically calculates the averages or whatever from the other rows in the spreadsheet.
However, would it be possible for multiple people to all edit the same document simultaneously and everyone’s data get saved? Or do we need to have a spreadsheet for each person then link them all together in one “results” spreadsheet?
Any other insight on using Google Docs for scouting is appreciated too. Thanks!
we’re going to Bayou Regionals in New Orleans, LA. However almost everyone on our team has smartphones and/or tablets with data plans, so internet won’t be an issue
We have used Google Docs for a few years. It’s easy to use, and everyone can edit the same doc at the same time. I found it easier to make the doc in excel, and then import it. Also, we make a page for each team attending the regional and then the most important data (auto, scoring, endgame) would feed to a main page where we could see all the teams together.
You may want to look into creating a form in google docs too. It is super easy to enter information on a smaller screen & it will automatically populate a spreadsheet with the data.
Ill see if I can find some old copies and add a link to them so you can see what we have used.
As long as you have connectivity squared away, Google Docs is a great tool and will probably be what we use for this year and until we have our dream custom scouting system designed.
we use vb that exports to .txt, then vb reads the .txt files to get all the info on one page. (I wish I knew more vb to export to excel, but I do what I know.)
Google Docs is amazing. We used it for scouting last year and it worked beautifully. We could easily share scouting information from the stands to the pits without people running down with papers or flash drives.
I find Docs sometimes more powerful than Excel, in the fact that if you know basic programming, you can easily modify it to your will. With a little time spent investing in learning how to use it, you get a high return.
Google spreadsheet is really nice for Pivot Tables, which are incredibly useful. For connectivity, we used Clear 4G Wimax into a Cradlepoint CTR35 Router.
Not Wifi. WiMax. Different frequency. And that’s only for the internet connection. Locally, we run strictly wired networks. No wifi is enabled on any device.
I got that part. I thought you were making a WiFi access point from your WiMax connection (but now I realize you must be running all Ethernet from that router).
One cool feature I’ve learned about DD-WRT - I have an Asus router at home with USB ports, and it allows you to use those to share the connection from a USB 4G device. Potentially opens up a lot of options in terms of ‘4G routers.’
So after playing around with forms on google documents, I’m 100% sold. It’s like it’s MADE for FRC scouting
A few questions:
If I send a form to someone, can they fill it out MULTIPLE times? (i.e. for each match) or do I have to send it to everyone before each match?
EDIT: Found out, yes they CAN fill it out more than once.
Is there any way to split the results up by a certain result? Like instead of one giant spreadsheet, is there a way to make it turn into a spreadsheet for each FRC team?
Is there any way to change the theme/background? The defaults are okay but I think it’d be cool to put our team logo on there
Thanks to everyone for the help! I’m very excited now
There are ways of splitting results, you need to use pivot tables or/and some semi-complicated equation like things. Making a sheet for every team is do-able, but we decided against it last year, because we attend the LA Regional, with over 60 teams.
I don’t believe that you can change the back ground. We found the default easy to work with and we organized the rows by light blue and light red (for the different teams).
As for forms, we have had trouble last year using it. It worked perfectly before the competition, but they submitted too slowly and sometime did not submit at all. They might have fixed it since, but manually inputting the data works well too.
Again, Google Docs is one of the best things to scout with. It is so easy to use and it allows all teams to have the potential to make a great scouting system.
If you are grouping the scouts into pairs or small-sized groups like what will be doing, it will be a great idea to dedicate a sheet to each scouting group. Have one final sheet on the spreadsheet file where the leading scout can summarize the information and organize the raw data. Although our team this year will be using the usual sheet checklist type of scouting, another leading scout and I will be inputting the data into a Google Docs spreadsheet file to organize all of the information.
tl;dr Google Docs is a marvelous tool. Use it to your advantage!
