USPS Information Technology Committee Bulletin # 05 - 08 June 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anouncing a new set of scripts being made available to all squadrons. Go to www.usps.org/national/tools for more details. Online Squadron Roster This is a set of scripts which are being made available to all USPS squadrons. They were originally created for use by my squadron, Somerset Sail & Power Squadron, and have now been modified so they can be used by any squadron. They were created to fill several needs. The primary reason was the need for members to get up to date rosters more than once a year. In addition, given the time needed to prepare a roster, most rosters are already out of date when printed. Not everyone has access to DB2000, or wants to learn how to use it. (Their loss!) Even if they did, it still wouldn't solve the need for an off line paper copy. These scripts provide an online roster summary display, a detailed listing for each member, a mail list generation capability, an organization chart display and printout, a squadron calendar display and printout, a hard copy roster generator, and the capability for individuals to enter biographical data changes online and to have them emailed to the squadrons designated IT contract (the one set at www.usps.org/national/tools ). While maintenance of the data used by this system is not difficult, someone will still have to periodically upload roster files from DB2000 and will have to enter biographical data changes into DB2000. Once the not very difficult setup is completed, the roster is accessed either through a link on a squadron page to /cgi-bin- nat/tools/index.cgi, through a link at www.usps.org/national/tools, or directly through the URL of the directory where the data has been placed. The user is presented with a list of squadron members and they must select their name and enter their certificate number. New members, who have not yet received their certificate number, enter “new” as their certificate number. If the user has previously logged into members only national pages, has asked during the logon to have their information remembered, and is a member of the squadron, the validation is automatic and they jump directly to the online roster page. While this mechanism only runs on the USPS server, squadrons who host their website on another host can still use it. They will have to open an account on the USPS machine and install the minimum data needed on the server. Then they can access the logon script as www.usps.org/cgi-bin-nat/tools/index.cgi and the USPS server will take care of the roster requests. Want a test drive? Go to www.usps.org/national/tools, enter 5999 in the squadron number and click on GO. When you get the logon screen use my name Daniel Bartell and use A123456 for a certificate number.