Here are our answers to some of the questions we’ve been asked about LOMBARD. Add your own questions in the comment section and we’ll address them.
What is LOMBARD for?
LOMBARD is a website that SCA members in Lochac can access from their phones, using a password initially given to them by the same Registrar that handles their membership. With it, they can book for SCA events. This has the following advantages:
- Exact prices, dates and other event-specific information is available, personalised to each user.
- A booking made on LOMBARD is communicated directly to the event steward, together with all the information they need.
- At the door, people who book with LOMBARD don’t need to mess around with the paperwork that slows everyone else down. It’s a fast lane for entry into the hall!
- It remains optional, so that booking the old way is still possible, just as a paper copy of Pegasus is still available to those (few) people who don’t like the speed and convenience of the emailed version.
Where did the idea come from?
A couple of Lochacians had time, in the long, hot queue to a mid-summer SCA event, to imagine a better way. The rest is just a Small Matter Of Programming.
Can I pay for an event using LOMBARD?
Not directly. If you select “direct deposit” as your payment method, you will be given the bank details and a special code to put into the “reference” box when you use internet banking. That’s how LOMBARD connects up payment records and bookings, but beyond that it doesn’t really deal with money. LOMBARD is all about bookings.
What about PayPal?
The Australian SCA’s legal requirements and the PayPal rules are fundamentally incompatible. The Australian Board of Directors would love to be able to use PayPal, but short of totally redesigning everything about the SCA’s financial structure, it ain’t gonna happen. Believe me when I say you are not the only one to be annoyed at this.
How do you manage to sign an indemnity using a computer?
If the insurers are OK with a non-signature-based indemnity system, which seems likely once you’ve identified yourself by member number and password provided to the registered email address of the member, then why complain? We already have a couple of systems that allow non-signed indemnities (the membership sign-up page, the Rowany Festival booking site) and they work OK. Signatures are old tech.
The Rowany Festival booking page is pretty ugly and hard to use. Is this going to be like that?
That site is 1990s-era web technology. Have a look at Google Spreadsheet or Facebook or any other modern web app for more modern design, with components that update and adjust in real time. The fact that the third-party system we use for Festival bookings doesn’t incorporate the same sort of features is purely criminal. We can do better!
If you need a password that you get with membership, how do non-members use LOMBARD?
Non-members can be added onto a member’s group booking, for example when Lady Marjerye and Lord Homer decide to bring Homer’s dad and Marjerye’s sisters along to an event, but there has to be at least one member involved. Non-members by themselves can use the old-fashioned method, which is how we know it will never entirely go away. What can we say? Rank hath its privileges.
What about people who don’t have internet access?
They book the old-fashioned way. No big deal. This is never going to be compulsory.
What if the event has no internet coverage for mobile phones?
In the worst case, you go up to the doorkeeper, say “I booked on LOMBARD, here’s my membership card,” they find you on the list they pre-printed that morning, and in you go. Still quicker than the old way.
If everyone presses the “We’re On Our Way To The Event” button, won’t the bookings officer get spammed with a million emails?
No. It’s not an email notification, just a section on the webpage that only the bookings officer can see. “Total number booked: 7 groups, 23 people. Total number on their way as of this moment: 4 groups, 9 people.” With the option to see who the people are, of course.
Doesn’t this add to the steward’s or booking officer’s workload?
It shouldn’t. Any Steward able to use Facebook should have no trouble with LOMBARD. They already had to use a very old-fashioned web form to register their events before they even started; LOMBARD only adds an email, containing a link to a website on which they get to see who has booked and maybe print out a piece of paper for the troll. Then the troll has an easier time of it because a proportion of the people coming through the door won’t have to futz around with paperwork.
When will we be able to use this?
It has to be written first.
How long will that take?
That depends on a bunch of factors: the state of the registry and event databases, which this needs to work in with; the willingness of the BoD to authorise the creation of something this new; the willingness of either the BoD, the kingdom, local branches or individuals to kick in some money to pay the programmer to write it.
Why does the programmer expect to get paid for this? We are a volunteer society, after all!
Computer programmers and engineers in general have a motto: Good – Fast – Cheap: Choose Any Two. So you can have it fast and cheap if you don’t care about quality, or good and cheap if you don’t mind waiting ages, or good and fast if pay for it. The programmer is happy with Good+Fast or Good+Cheap but he doesn’t compromise on quality, and we’re talking years if you decide to sacrifice the Fast option. Choose Good + Fast because it’s the best outcome, and be prepared to pay money for it. Not a huge amount, because this is still mostly a labour of love and the programmer’s needs are few, but still more than a pittance because you’re dealing with professionals here.