It’s hard to believe it, but in 2008 we’ll be celebrating ten years meeting the needs of sports assignors everywhere!
Referee Assistant started off as a simple Microsoft Access project, which I put together after I could not find a reasonably priced assigning database anywhere.
A couple of years ago, I made some minor tweaks to the program, and made it accessible to customers that did not own Microsoft Access.
After working with many assignors, I started taking a lot of the most requested features into a completely new version of the database, Referee Assistant–Professional Edition.
2007 was a very exciting year for Referee Assistant, with the release of Professional Edition, as well as a Web Services feature that allows assignors to post assignments and manage accept/decline, all on the web.
What’s next for the future?
Standard Edition made assigning simple. Professional Edition implemented your requests and new features.
Web Services brings your assigning to the Internet, where you can post assignments on the web, allow referees to manage day & time availability, as well as accept/decline assignments.
With our current offerings, we have pushed the limits of what Microsoft Access can really do, implementing some great e-mail and web features.
We have some big things planned for the future. For those of you who are current customers, you are probably used to dealing directly with me. I’ve recently added a new team member, who is focused on development of new solutions for referee assignors. Together, we’re planning some terrific things for the future.
Future development can best be described with one word: usability. We want to make the assigning process incredibly easy. You have better ways to spend your time than wrestling with software or configuration.
Stay tuned. I think you’ll like what we have planned.
Jeff Wigal