BSAC, SAA and SSAC have scrapped their requirement for a UK Diving
Medical and instead now require an annual declaration that the individual is fit
to dive. The date of this declaration can be entered to Dive Data 2000 as the
"Medical Date" and, if it is after 1st April 2001, will be treated as a Declaration of Fitness to Dive with a one-year validity. (Effective from Dive Data 2000 v1.04.0143)
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This can be a stumbling block to clubs buying the program so you can now buy
a one-year or three-year license. These cost £16 and £33 respectively. Think about how much time you spend managing club records each month. Surely your time is worth such a small amount.
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Sometimes when you are viewing a member's subscriptions and click on one of the subscriptions so you can mark it paid there is a error sound and the subscription isn't selected. We haven't quite figured out why this is, but we have found that if you click on the little folder icon instead of the text the record will be selected.
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In branch situations it may be the case that different people have different requirements from the database; perhaps the Training Officer wants to print lecture signing in sheets, the Diving Officer wants a list of who has done what dives that month and the Membership Secretary wants to create subscription reminder letters. In this circumstance I have no problem with each of them installing the same copy of Dive Data on their PCs providing they are all using the same database. In this case they will need to decide which of them is allowed to update the database, and the other two should only report from it. If three people take copies of the divedata.mdb file on their own PC, and each update it separately then there is no mechanism to combine these changes back again. So you must ensure you have one master database and a series of local read-only copies. Each time the master database is updated you will need to give a copy to each person who is reporting from a read-only copy.
You may not pass the disks around the branch so that people can each keep independent dive logs. Anyone who wants to do that must buy their own copy.
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I know that Dive Data has been used on Novell and Windows NT networks. There is one important thing to bear in mind: the underlying Microsoft Access database is not wonderfully good at supporting multiple concurrent users and doesn't have the kind of record locking features that a grown-up database like Oracle would have. It doesn't cost as much as an Oracle based system either!
To install Dive Data 2000 on a network, first install it on each local PC that requires access to the shared information, this will install all of the library files on each machine. Next map a drive to the network directory and copy the files from a local installation directory. You can delete the local C:\Program Files\Divedata2000 directory from the local machines and create a shortcut to the network directory copy of Dive Data 2000 instead. Each PC that you configure in this way will share the same divedata2000.mdb database file on the network.
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People from over 50 different BSAC branches have purchased Dive Data version 1. These include public branches, schools and colleges, companies and armed forces branches. Some of our registered users are listed here.
If you are giving up time to act as Membership Secretary, T.O. or D.O. surely the least your branch committee can do is to buy you a piece of software to make your duties so much easier!
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The beta testing period ran for a full year from 1st January to 31st December 1999 with around 20 participants. During that time many bugs were removed and many suggestions incorporated to the program. I have been using it on a daily basis to support the membership records of St Albans Sub Aqua Club since April 1999 - and with nearly 200 members that is
a pretty tough test!
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No, I'm afraid not. At the moment Dive Data 2000 is Windows only and likely to remain that way because all of the code is in Visual Basic. I am told that it runs under Windows emulators on both platforms but I've not tried it myself.
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The PC must be able to support Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Vista. Realistically this means a Pentium processor, 800x600 pixel screen and at least 32MB RAM. That's hardly leading edge these days!
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Although Dive Data was originally developed for BSAC branches the latest version is very flexible. You can define membership subscriptions and training independently of any particular organisation.
Dive Data 2000 is preconfigured with the training schemes of BSAC, CMAS, DAN, HSA, IANTD, NAUI, PADI, RYA, SAA, SSAC, SSI and TDI, allowing you to record any training course for any diver. You can add any training courses that are not already in the database - even training specific to your own branch.
Similarly Dive Data 2000 is supplied with a list of all public BSAC and SAA branches but you can also add your own branch.
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Dive Data 2000 costs £49 for an unlimited license for a single club. Time limited licenses are available for one year (£16) and three years (£33).
You can download an evaluation copy for free, but without a license number you will only be able to enter five divers. This lets you try the program out before you buy. For a more extensive test you can request a free three month license.
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Many branches have club records already stored in computer databases. The security on the Dive Data 2000 database ensures that information can only be entered via the Dive Data 2000 program, but we can import existing data for you and have done so for a number of clubs. I can also import records from Dive Data version 1.
In both cases this is on a "best efforts" basis. We can save you a huge amount of re-typing but you should still check the imported data very carefully.
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Dive Data 2000 now supports dives in which three people participated as there is an extra column on the "Log Branch Dive" form for the third person.
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Avery L7161 Labels. Size is 63.5mm x 46.6mm with 18 to an A4 sheet.
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All of the certifying agencies are naturally careful about the products they are seen to endorse. Although Dive Data 2000 has been written to support BSAC and SAA branches it is not an endorsed product of either organisation, but BSAC HQ did buy a copy of Dive Data v1.
Ever since Dive Data has been available, which is getting on for ten years now, BSAC have been talking about producing branch management software for their members but it still hasn't happened. Project Neptune is certainly a step in the right direction as it is beginning to enable branch officers and individual divers to directly update their records online - but this is for the benefit of HQ records management, not individual branches. Even if BSAC were to produce software along the same lines as Dive Data, it is very unlikely they will support anything other than the BSAC training scheme and managing BSAC membership renewals.
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Honestly? The truth is that I'm not, I simply don't have time to work for free and most of the clubs who are likely to buy Dive Data already have done so. I keep the program available because the existing users tell me that they still find it valuable but I'm well aware that it is now showing it's age.
If I was writing it these days then I would create a web-based online version and, in fact, have created detailed specifications for just such a program. The reason I haven't gone ahead and written it is because I'm still not convinced there is a market.
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