Streamlining Your Morning Meetings for GCM

Introduction:

Job boards are one of the most important parts of starting crews and organizing days. The most popular type is the large dry erase board. Or in some instances, a person is reading jobs off a piece of paper in the mornings going through everybody's job one by one. It would be easy to say the average morning meeting is 10 minutes long. A year ago we were given the task of re-working the old job board to incorporate the most readily available technology. Versatility, price, ease of use, availability beyond one room, and quality were key factors of our project.  

Our task was a little difficult to comprehend at first. A requirement was to get all the managers (11 people) on the same page in the morning. One way is to simply type up the morning job sheet and print it off for all the managers. But, for our project we determined that would take too much time. 

In a time when everybody carries a smartphone in their pocket we decided to turn our focus there. Email was the first and easiest solution but, the bombardment of constant emails and changes to the daily jobs didn't fit our need for efficiency. We needed more…and we needed it faster. We looked at it from every angle possible. As we came up with new ideas, we shot them down just as fast, and in the process we wanted things instantly and set the bar even higher.

The System:

We decided Google Sheets was the best format for us, a web based program that allows users to collaborate on one project all at the same time. For us, that meant you could have the daily assignment sheet open on your computer and on your phone at the same time. Any change that is made is updated instantly with virtually no limits. No more running back to the shop to write jobs on a dry erase board. No more filling out a piece of paper and hoping everybody gets a copy. No more, "I don't know what he is doing". No more wasted transportation time… kind of makes me laugh now.

Our set up is…well…pretty freakin awesome. In the center of the room is a 140" screen and two 42" TVs mounted on the walls beside it with a third mounted outside the break room displaying announcements and important dates. All the displays including the projector are connected to a 4x4 HDMI splitter. Our inputs into the splitter are the Mac Mini, Cable TV, a Miracast (supports Android/PC screen sharing), and an open port (don't tell Pete but, thats for the drone).

Brains

The brain of the system is a Mac Mini. In a PC dominated company we decided Apple was the best system (brain) to use. It gave us an easier system to use and a longer life of use compared to PCs (projected system life is 7-10 years). With the majority of us using iPhones, it gave us another reason to go Apple based. Having a computer dedicated to the projector (the mini is literally mounted above the projector) is not completely necessary. You can achieve the same goal using a direct connection to somebody's computer or USB. Though, there are limitations to those options but, they may be effective for other applications. We also installed a program called AirServer. This program allows up to any 12+ people to display their phone screens all at the same time. Pretty nice when you need a quick visual aid. Having a computer dedicated to the projector really opened up the possibilities for expansion. Live video conferencing, visual aids, live training, facility access management, drone command center (yes that's being researched right now), live weather radar, and other possibilities we haven't thought about but, are now possible.

Projector

The Epson 1940w was the best projector for our needs and price. Bright room, with even brighter light coming from the windows (yes, we could have closed the blinds but, do YOU want to do that everyday?) made brightness the most important feature. Epson is a very reputable company and they stand behind their products. We had an issue with the internals of our projector (after 10 months of above normal use), called Epson and they overnighted a brand new unit. Like I said…reputable. Projectorcentral.com has everything you need to get started when it comes to shopping for projectors. The calculator is very handy when it comes to projector positioning, screen size, and ambient light.

Practicality

We have used the system for a full year now (beta year). I for one, don't see how anybody uses a dry erase board anymore. TVs are cheap, projectors are cheap, and computers are cheap. Our system has already paid for itself if you were to crunch the numbers. We have 60+ employees in the summer, 1 minute is basically $100 as soon as that clock hits the start time. So, if the system saves us a minimum of a minute everyday over the course of 4 months well…a lot of people start to smile. I will say, some issues have come up in the first year but, its nothing that would suggest against the system.

Ease of Use

Everybody (managers) is involved in setting up the day. We have two courses and everybody instantly knows whats going on even the mechanic! Second jobs? No Problem. They can be changed out in the field from your phone or tablet. The system was designed to be as versatile as possible. If a visitor wants to give a presentation, our system is designed to meet their needs…wirelessly.  Having Miracast and AirServer allows any computer to wirelessly connect to the projector and display their presentation.

Price

And, this is the part everybody wants to know. Your project depends on your needs and wants. Simply writing down what you want and need from your system is the best place to start. For smaller facilities a 60 to 70 inch TV works just as well and puts you in the same price range as a projector. For us the importance of getting information to every person in the break room efficiently was paramount. Other courses in the area use systems similar to this one. A system can be installed for under $1000 and that's a conservative estimate.

Free High-Tech Irrigation Maps

Easy Irrigation Maps    

grassmd@gmail.com

Now, I know what you're thinking and no, you're not going to be drawing golf holes on a piece of paper and using colored pencils to shade in the fairways. This is a very FREE solution to a very commonly expensive problem. Now, if your course was built some time ago and, you're stuck with incredibly inaccurate maps this is going to be music to your ears. This solution is highly portable meaning, you can use it on your smartphone (apple or droid doesn't matter) in real time.

The Problem

When some of our golf courses were built there weren't a whole lot of satellites in the sky....or any for some. Designers and contractors had to do their best to give a relative description of where infrastructure was located. These maps were often rough sketches drawn out by hand or even a little more sophisticated ones printed out on very large pieces of paper (not very portable). 

Old Irrigation Map

If you have a map like this (above) one you probably have a hard time relating the information on the map to what is actually out in the field. This can be very frustrating when trying to locate wires, main lines, and valve boxes. Even more frustrating is when the map doesn't even look like the hole (the map above is a dog leg left).

Finished Product in Google Earth

Last year, I took on a project to map all the irrigation heads on a course. Maps that were dated offered little help because, the lack of detail and the inability to update them. I turned to Google Earth, from there I spent a good amount of time building each hole, making heads and stations numbers, fairway outlines, perimeters, measuring greens, and even measuring fairways. This was definitely a classic example of a project that mushroomed....very quickly.

These two pictures (above and below) are the final product of what can be achieved. This on its own is a massive step forward for golf courses that are using "old irrigation maps".  Location of heads give any superintendent using a computerized system a more efficient way of tailoring the irrigation system.

Zoomed in View

Starting the Project

The first step:

The first step and probably the most important one, is figuring out what information you want to collect and put on a map. For superintendents in the south that are thinking about doing something like this, map anything burmudagrass will grow over and you don't want to lose. Best examples would be valve boxes, QCs, wire boxes and so on.

Field Map Of Heads 

On my example (Above), I only mapped (hand drawn points) irrigation heads for the sake of time. Looking back, it would have been nice to have included a few examples from above such as those valve boxes and drainage inlets. There is always a chance for a 2.0 version!

The Second Step:

After all your points have been drawn on your field copy you are ready to input them in to Google Earth. You will be using the little yellow tac icon in the toolbar. This will allow you to choose different colors, icon, font, and sizes. One of the most important things to do is to save the points into folders by hole number. For example, all the heads on the 18th hole should be saved into its own folder.

Adding a point into Google Earth

This is the longest step in the entire process. You will spend hours inputting your points on the map. There is no real way to get the points perfectly accurate. The good news is you will be able to get your heads with in about 3-10 feet of where they are.

The Final Step

When you have finished inputting all your points you are now ready to export the file. The remarkable part is that the whole file is actually really small. This is how it is so easy to get the file onto a smartphone or tablet. 

Temporary Places Highlighted in Grey

Right clicking on the "Temporary Places" folder (highlighted in grey above) will give you a list of options. You will want to choose the "save places as" and name the file and save it to your desktop. You will now be ready to move the file (kmz. format) onto your phone. This can easily be done by emailing it to yourself. The file will go into your "Downloads" folder and be available for use.

For ease of use, you will want to download a file management app. I use ES File Explorer to simplify the opening process (believe me its much more easier to do it this way). Once you have located the file with in E.F.E. you will just add it as a favorite and set the file to open on your app homepage of E.F.E. Now with only two taps you will have your entire irrigation map of your course at your finger tips.

Another app which most people have is Google Earth on their phones or tablets. You will want to have this app if you don't already to use. Most phone operating systems will ask how you would like the file to be opened and give a list of applications to do so. You will want to select Google Earth and check the box to remember this choice. Google Earth also gives you the ability to use GPS and show your location along with the irrigation heads around you.

If you are interested in a project like this, please feel free to contact to me at grassmd@gmail.com. This description is a condensed version and there are more steps that are small and weren't included in this blog article.