CO Leftovers Posted!

[Zach]

I wouldn't say I'm upset by any means, but I would look at the below off the top of my head:

From an IT perspective:

• Slim down the user dialog to checkout your cart: I think wilm is spot-on - there are 3-4 different user action pages/server calls that go serially (Fulfillment method, Fulfillment service level, T&C, Credit Card info). That took the lion's share of the time.
  
  My Credit Card info is already saved in my CPW account, and I have to imagine you could accept T&C's upon creating the account (or - through a different push atr logon as many, many websites have recently done to refresh their T&C's). You could also have a default shipping method in your profile and a simple check box to choose shipping service level that is sent in the same transaction as the rest of the info in your cart. The whole cart checkout should be 1 selection/call which would cut down the server communication substantially. This is where I, and everyone I've talked to, got stuck.
  
  
  
• Add more server horsepower (I assume they are using hosted servers and ramping up capacity during these events). They can add more capacity.
  
  
  
• More drastically would be a random 'virtual bracelet' where people in virtual line are assigned random numbers and then are allowed to transact in order. This model is used for some concert tickets. This would require substantial IT effort. At least for concerts, it has the added plus of people that get a high number logging off thereby reducing traffic overall.
  

From a process perspective:

• 1 Species at a time isn't a horrible idea, but I don't know how much it would help. There would be whining, but there's plenty of whining already and that won't change. Probably couldn't hurt and may have some improvements.
  
  
• Potentially hold another 1 or 2 small-scale 'leftover draws' in August (say, the 1st and 15th) where you put in for the tags you want and it runs and awards tags like the 1st leftover draw does. Charge a few bucks for it. Probably not sustainable from a cost or effort perspective, but I think this is the fairest method.
  
  
• I personally would not be averse to Online-Only sales of these IF they addressed the IT issues around capacity and stability.
  
  Leftover Day for the non-CPW license vendors can't be a net positive for them (probably some minor amount of sales increases, but I would guess it's marginal and doesn't offset the labor and other costs that go into dealing with people camped out).
  
  It would most definitely be a net positive for the CPW locations who overstaff substantially for this day. I know this would cause a giant ruckus, but if the tech was solid, this would be ideal.
  
  

All told - for me it was better than last year. I was able to get most of the way through the process, it just took too long and I missed out. Last year it just crashed and no one could do anything. So that's a step forward (albeit the same result for me).

It's only a matter of money, right...
Next meeting I attend, I'll have to ask the question.

 

[Oak]

Any chance they’ll ever go to a straight lottery second draw? Maybe one where only unsuccessful applicants can apply?
Sounds like yesterday was a hoot...just wish I coulda got in on it!!

They already do that, but it only includes licenses that were leftover from the initial draw, not reissued licenses. As it currently stands, the second draw is only for those who applied in the first draw, but you have to select "leftover letter" as your refund option when you apply in the initial draw.

 

[Zach]

For anyone wanting to hear the explanation of the online issues, go to the 8/10/18 meeting recording, hour 2:36.

 

[cedahm]

For anyone wanting to hear the explanation of the online issues, go to the 8/10/18 meeting recording, hour 2:36.

Thanks, Zach! Very interesting discussion (especially if you have any IT background).

Key takeaways I heard (it goes on for quite a while. I admit stopping after 45 minutes when they got into fading state parks passes):

• Main culprit was a Bad/Missing database table Index - I would think should have been caught in dB tuning and/or Volume testing.

• Aspira CTO said they stubbed out the 'Report' transaction during testing (the one that actually pulls the license into the cart, and had the missing table index) and thus missed the bad/missing index. That's just a Testing failure around a critical function.

• The Test transactions not being able to be done with payment processors is a little bit of BS. That is possible.

• What neither Aspira's CTO nor the Client service exec mentioned was an ongoing effort into re-designing/slimming the user dialog and functional flow, and the amount of calls to the dB. That wouldn't have solved the missing index causing interminable queueing, but it would sure minimize the calls and overall load. He talks later about Test cases, but it seems they didn't do much UAT with a real user - since you would expect a license buyer (or any consumer, really) to raise a flag if they have to go through a 5-step process just to checkout.

• Colorado was essentially a Beta for a lot of functionality.

I had no idea that the Commissioner McDaniel was formerly the CIO at Xcel. He asked some excellent questions - and laid down some excellent requests (demands) for Aspira. I'm going to email my personal thoughts to McDaniel and copy Aspira if I can get a contact. May go nowhere, but feels like the right thing to do.

 

[Zach]

Hopefully everyone is seeing this email from Aspira

Dear Big Game License Holder,

Congratulations on receiving a license through Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Primary Draw!

We at Aspira provide the technology for IPAWS including the fulfilment of the draw issued licenses. Due to a printing issue a percentage of customers received duplicate licenses. Unfortunately, you might have been mistakenly mailed multiple copies of the license(s) drawn.

Note: these duplicates are not valid licenses and cannot be used to harvest an animal.

If you have received multiple licenses in the mail, check the carcass tags to see if they are exactly the same. The best way to verify this is to compare the number in the upper right corner of the carcass tag. If this number is the same on both licenses, you have received a duplicate.

If duplicates are found, please contact CPW’s Call Center at 303.297.1192. Instructions will be provided on what to do with the duplicate license.

If you have already contacted CPW about a duplicate license and resolved the issue, OR No duplicates were received. No further action is required.

Thank you for your continued support of Colorado Parks and Wildlife and we wish you well in all of your outdoor recreation endeavors.