Colorado Draw Extended

[cedahm]

It was open for two months...don’t wait until the end and it’s not an issue.

I don't disagree with your general statement.

But @wllm1313 is still correct. If there is a published deadline, they need to provide adequate support and access to IT resources up until that deadline. They did not.

I personally doubt that it was purely the 'volume' that set the extension in motion. Based on some of the error messages I saw people getting and a basic knowledge of cloud IT - something was awry technically beyond just "volume".

 

[BlakeA]

What’s the difference if the server goes down March 28th or April 6th?

You should be able to submit until the deadline as posted, if the system breaks it’s the agency’s responsibility.

I'm completely fine with them making it right for those who had issues within the deadline. That's only fair and is absolutely the agency's responsibility. It's just complete bullshit to me that those who didn't even attempt and "forgot" get rewarded. It gets old. Good lord it's 2021. Take 15 seconds inbetween scrolling IG, FB, or tik toking to set an alert on your phone. Between application services and the CPW emails/ads and then influencers jamming it down your throat 24/7 for likes and $$ you literally have to be living in a hole to forget.

 

[BlakeA]

It was open for two months...don’t wait until the end and it’s not an issue.

It's funny how the server issues always happen the last hour of the deadline. Always. I wonder why? The application periods could be open 10 months and this shit would still be going on...."duh....I forgot...please help!"

 

[cedahm]

It's funny how the server issues always happen the last hour of the deadline. Always. I wonder why? The application periods could be open 10 months and this shit would still be going on...."duh....I forgot...please help!"

Yes - a spike in volume opens the door to issues, especially when server space is scaled (or should be) based on demand. But to your point - the timing of a spike is VERY predictable and a 5.5% increase in applications (from 649K to 685K) shouldn't have had that kind of impact in and of itself.

As some may recall, Aspira (the software vendor for the CPW front end) had an unindexed query that was never tested bring down the whole system, including vendor locations, 2-3 years ago on reissue day. It only appeared when volume was high, but was an underlying/core issue with the software itself. Aspira continues to disappoint.

 

[Oak]

“Approximately 20% of the almost 700,000 big game primary draw applications were submitted in the last 24 hours of the application period...”

 

[Deleted member 28227]

It was open for two months...don’t wait until the end and it’s not an issue.

04/06/2021 15:59:59 is the cut off. ANY application filed before this time stamp must be honored. There were numerous folks who contacted the department about the system being down, before the end of the period. Folks didn't call up 4/7/2021 and say hey I wasn't able to apply, people were on the phone with CPW during business hours on the 6th.


Should you wait until the last minute, absolutely not, I applied March 10th. I have alarms set on my phone for the opening of every application and or point buying period that I have interest in. If I was asked for advice about applications, I would say "often things get bogged down the last day, don't wait till then, you are asking for trouble".

Nevertheless

 

[SaskHunter]

That happened a few years ago here in Sasky, the system crashed the last evening due to extremely high traffic. They ended up extending the deadline and people still managed to apply last minute or completely forgot to apply. The ensuing butthurt on social media was quite entertaining!!!

At the end of the day, if the servers can't support an influx in application, first or last hour of the app period is irrelevant, the problem is with the department, not the last minute folks.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

It's funny how the server issues always happen the last hour of the deadline. Always. I wonder why? The application periods could be open 10 months and this shit would still be going on...."duh....I forgot...please help!"

Agreed, every state every application.

You would think during the IT meeting, someone would say, "Hey we should probably create a system that can handle every single application hitting within a 1hr period."

That said, CO is a bit different than say NM or MT due to the sheer volume. CO has an order of magnitude more applications than any other state.

 

[Oak]

They could probably assuage some of the issues by simply making it a midnight deadline.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

They could probably assuage some of the issues by simply making it a midnight deadline.

It will only get worse as there are fewer and fewer OTC options and more and more limited.

 

[cedahm]

“Approximately 20% of the almost 700,000 big game primary draw applications were submitted in the last 24 hours of the application period...”

140,000 transactions in 24h (or even in 24 minutes) should be nothing. I have junior staff that manipulate that many records in freaking Excel and it takes minutes to recalc/index.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

140,000 transactions in 24h (or even in 24 minutes) should be nothing. I have junior staff that manipulate that many records in freaking Excel and it takes minutes to recalc/index.

Yeah bro but do they have to select free shipping or overnight?

 

[winmag]

It's Colorado after all - a hurt-feelings-free state.

I just hope they extend the deer season this year when I haven't filled my tag yet.

 

[cedahm]

Yeah bro but do they have to select free shipping or overnight?

That part of the CPW process drives me utterly insane. I may have to hire a lobbyist just to get that fixed. Or maybe I should run for public office with that as the only plank in my platform.

But I still can't figure out the vitriol with the extended deadline (not really in this thread, but you should see other social media). Their technology broke before their own published deadline and became an unpassable barrier. It was their fault, so CPW extended the timeline. Why is that such an issue?

 

[TOGIE]

i think the only thing to be upset about is the fact the cpw seems to have a very rampant issue with their system and doesn't really seem to be working to fix it.

every year something doesn't work right. and while they may be doing more to try and fix it than we realize, it doesn't appear so from the outside.

 

[crock239]

So I assume the huge spike in apps in 2018 was the "everybody buy a PP for $3" craze?

 

[Deleted member 28227]

That part of the CPW process drives me utterly insane. I may have to hire a lobbyist just to get that fixed. Or maybe I should run for public office with that as the only plank in my platform.

But I still can't figure out the vitriol with the extended deadline (not really in this thread, but you should see other social media). Their technology broke before their own published deadline and became an unpassable barrier. It was their fault, so CPW extended the timeline. Why is that such an issue?

Could you add a plank about fixing bear tags, please and thank you.

 

[BoulderBulls]

CPW posted the following on Twitter 7+ hours ago:

“To date for 2021, we have received over 685,000 big game hunting applications. Please remember this is a number of applications, not the number of individuals or numbers of licenses that will be issued. In 2020, we received 649,351 applications.”
View attachment 179925

Could you add a link. I scrolled back through there twitter and couldn't find anything?

 

[Deleted member 28227]

But I still can't figure out the vitriol with the extended deadline (not really in this thread, but you should see other social media). Their technology broke before their own published deadline and became an unpassable barrier. It was their fault, so CPW extended the timeline. Why is that such an issue?

Selfishness

If the system broke on day 2, the people who applied on day one would be ranting about how giving people the allotted time is a communist, snowflake propaganda stunt.

 

[cedahm]

Could you add a link. I scrolled back through there twitter and couldn't find anything?

It was in the linked article they tweeted yesterday which is here:

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. The agency manages 42 state parks, all of Colorado's wildlife, more than 300 state wildlife areas and a host of recreational programs. CPW issues hunting and fishing...

cpw.state.co.us