By Giselle Cancio/Contributing Writer
The recreation center is moving towards a paperless operation including wireless scorekeeping for intramural sports.
As of Spring 2013, IPads have been become an integral part of an employee’s work day. With the wireless internet available, the supervisors are able to complete accident reports and work requests for broken machines on the IPads.
While in the past the maintenance crew would have to come out to check a broken machine, now the reports include a picture, taken from the IPad, and it has become a more effective process in ordering new parts for the machines.
“Hopefully it will allow for fewer machines to be broken at a time since it should be a faster repair service process,” senior electrical and computer engineering major Gabriel Alvarez said.
Supervisors aren’t the only ones using the IPads. The personal trainers are using them for client’s information and it highly benefits those participating in the FIU Lose It Program.
The Lose It Program is based upon TV’s Biggest Loser series and it promotes weight loss in a competition-based atmosphere. The program was adopted to help promote health and wellness to the University community and according to the recreation center’s website, it has already helped the FIU family lose over 2,000 pounds.
“The trainers would be able to record medical history, weight loss data from workouts and keep notes of things that occur during these one on one sessions,” Director of the Recreation Center Rob Frye said. “I know some may be concerned of their information being on an IPad, but we guarantee it is a secure system.”
In addition to being able to complete reports over WiFi, rosters, game sheets, brackets and electronic score keeping are all added functions which benefit intramural sports. All intramural sports played in the gym are recorded on the IPad immediately after it ends. This minimizes mistakes since it is done instantly.
“With the scores posted the next day, students would sometimes come in and complain because the scores would be switched or listed under the wrong team,” Assistant Director for Intramural and Club Sports Matt O’Conner said. “The immediate posting of the score allows for teams to check the website to confirm.”
Unfortunately, the games played at the intramural fields are not currently being recorded via WiFi. Although the plan was to have both locations launch the paperless scorekeeping at once, spotty WiFi at the fields has prevented that. The recreation center is working with UTS to fix this problem and there will be testing as soon as the spring sports start.
“The goal is to be paperless as possible, so we hope to fix the problem soon,” O’Conner said.
“We will always have paper as a backup because we like to be prepared.”
Recently, a scoreboard was installed in the intramural fields making it easy for the players and spectators to know the score. This also helps the supervisors confirm the referee’s scores and what is posted on the scoreboard match.
“The quick posting of the scores may spark more student interest in intramurals, maybe at some point there will even be social media updates on scores,” Alvarez said.
At this point, almost all forms have completely turned over from paper to paperless. The only ones that are still on hard copies are rental agreements and waivers because they need signatures. The recreation center is looking at potentially doing electronic signatures to alleviate the last of the paperwork.
Having the facilities request online allows students, faculty and staff or off campus departments to make a request for the field, gym or fitness rooms from the comfort of a computer.
“If two groups want the same space, there is a time stamp when the document is submitted so it is awarded to the group who turned it in first,” Fyre said.
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