8. Swiss Manager (Hal as TDOCP Chair)

[Lyle Craver]

This section is reserved for Hal Bond as Chair of the CFC's Tournament Director and Organizer Certification Program. This program has been going on for 25+ years but has usually had a fairly low profile.

[Hal Bond]

Dear Governors;

The TDOCP would like to evaluate Swiss Manager, with the hope of adopting it as our national rating software. This program is very popular in Europe, and more reliable than Swissys.

The quote I received last year from Swiss Manager was 200 Euros (one time) for the Master licence and 350 Euros per year for an annual licence. The other cost to the CFC would be an interface with our own database, in order to upload the tournaments. The owner, Heinz Herzog, also expressed an interest in running our rating system, which he does for a number of countries.

Chess-results.com is the server where Swiss Manager events are stored. I find the output generated by Chess Results quite useful.

What we need then, is permission to purchase a master licence for evaluation purposes. A number of Organizers and Arbiters would test drive it and report back with recommendations.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

The quote I received last year from Swiss Manager was 200 Euros (one time) for the Master licence and 350 Euros per year for an annual licence.

How much are other costs? Like Would TDs need to purchase a license to use for a tournament or series of tournaments?

Could you compare financial side to a current cost of SwissSys?

[Pierre Dénommée]

This is a great idea because SwissSys pairing are not always good.

Can the software handle half-point byes in a graceful manner? Since they are not legal under FIDE rules, there is no requirement that a FIDE endorsed pairing software support them.

But the price is quite high for individual arbiters. For CFC rated tournaments that are organised by the FQE, the arbiter must own a legal licence to the pairing software.

We should try to get a rebate for CFC Certified arbiters. Furthermore, that would be en incentive to get certified by the CFC.

[Christopher Mallon]

Pierre I thought it was apparent that we would be looking at actually replacing our nationwide license of Swisssys with one of Swiss Manager.

If that is not the case then I'm not sure it's such a great idea.

In any case a simple data-conversion program should be possible in the meantime to allow the CFC office to accept Swiss Manager files and convert them into SwissSys files.

Also, it's not just about finances. What are the benefits for the arbiters and for the office of a switchover?

[Fred McKim]

Pierre I thought it was apparent that we would be looking at actually replacing our nationwide license of Swisssys with one of Swiss Manager.

If that is not the case then I'm not sure it's such a great idea.

In any case a simple data-conversion program should be possible in the meantime to allow the CFC office to accept Swiss Manager files and convert them into SwissSys files.

Also, it's not just about finances. What are the benefits for the arbiters and for the office of a switchover?

The finances have to work for this to happen.

I see the main benefits to revolve around those arbiters that run CFC/FIDE events.

[Christopher Mallon]

I see the main benefits to revolve around those arbiters that run CFC/FIDE events.

Yes I figured as much, but I wouldn't mind seeing them itemized rather than "It's a better program"

[Halldor P. Palsson]

The CFC rating system is programmed to process Swiss sys files.

There was considerable effort spend on getting this done. Can we get some idea of how much the switch is going to cost?

[Valer Eugen Demian]

The CFC rating system is programmed to process Swiss sys files.

There was considerable effort spend on getting this done. Can we get some idea of how much the switch is going to cost?

I second this opinion!

[Lyle Craver]

Is there a demo copy somewhere (say for doing up to 3 rounds or 10 players) that one could download for review?

Obviously there's a right cost and a wrong cost and equally obviously Governors should want all the info before deciding!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Is there a demo copy somewhere (say for doing up to 3 rounds or 10 players) that one could download for review

http://swiss-manager.at/download.aspx?lan=1
"The download-file basically is the full versions. But only with the correct installation code, which the customer receives If he buys the program he can use it as light or full version. Otherwise, the program can used as a Demo version."

[Hal Bond]

One step ahead of me Egis - thank you.

Interested parties should download this program and play around with it. I welcome your comments.

My hunch is that we can evaluate the program adequately from the demo version. The question I cannot answer is the cost of the interface with our own database.

If I recall correctly, the Swissys deal cost $5000. This program has been tolerated but not approved by FIDE. I have heard rumors that Swissys is seeking FIDE approval but no word on the progress.

[Patrick McDonald]

I am concerned that I cannot find a facility for running a multi-sectioned tournament.
I am assuming therefore that I would have to run separate instances of SwissManager, one for each section, and therefore lose the facility to easily move players from one section to another.
Another possible problem is that you have to identify the tournament as a Swiss pairing system or Round Robin before creating the tournament.
This means that if you have a small number of players turn out for any given section, you would have to re-create the section/tournament to change from a Swiss to a Round Robin.

For the way we run tournaments, this could cause more delays in starting the tournament.

It just seems more awkward than SwissSys.

[Pierre Dénommée]

I believe that unless it got approved by FIDE, it is only a question of time until we are no longer allowed to use SissSys to run norm tournaments.

As its stand now, an arbiter who use a FIDE endorsed software has to manually enter the tournament is SwissSyss or SwissAssistant which is a great loss of time. Furthermore, this process is error prone.

[Michael von Keitz]

Hal Bond presented a recommendation from the TDOCP that the CFC explore the option of adopting Swiss Manager as the national rating software. The cost, especially in relation to the previous adoption of SwissSys, was raised as the primary concern, though it was also suggested that the exact benefits to arbiters and the office might be better articulated. Ultimately, it was discovered that a demo version of Swiss Manager is freely available and interested parties are encouraged to evaluate it, reporting back to the TDOCP Chair (halbond@sympatico.ca) with any thoughts/recommendations.