Using Young Eagles Certificate Program with Two Computers?

At our Young Eagles events, we've been using the certificate printer to make nice looking remembrances of the flight for the kids. The process we use is that when they arrive, and have the form for us, we assign a sequential number, enter preliminary information into the program, and then give the forms to the person assigning kids to planes.
The pilot signs the form, and writes the tail number on the form too since pilot signatures are worse than doctors'. It gets returned to the registration table. When the kid lands and goes back to the registration table, we go back into the program to link the pilot with the kid, and print their certificate. We don't print the certificate until they return to the table, since some just leave.

The problem is that new people are coming in when others are waiting for the certificate creates a bottleneck. I'm afraid of data corruption of having two computers connecting to the same Access database if we have one computer for registration making new records, and another for editing that record and certificate printing.

Has anyone tried this, or have any better suggestion?

Thanks,
Paul

Only use the computer to preprint the certificates, skip the sequential number, pilot's name and aircraft ID, and leave a blank to write in the kid's name. When they arrive, write their name on a notepad, one per line. When they get escorted to a plane, put a check mark by their name. If they want a certificate after the flight, write their name on one and hand it to them.

Will that work for you?

Hi Paul,

We use two computers at our rallies but do so in a slightly different manner. I was not a fan of the way the printing program worked so, being a software engineer, I wrote my own program called the Young Eagles Manager. A couple chapters have been using it for several years now and everyone's been happy with it. It stores the data in XML files that can easily be merged together from multiple computers into a single file at the end of the rally. I'd be happy to share it with you if you're interested.

Here's the process we use. When the kids arrive, they fill out the registration form. Forms then go to dispatch to be assigned to a flight. Once the YE is assigned to a plane and the pilot has signed the form, it goes to printing. While the flight is taking place, the YE is entered into the system, linked with the pilot and aircraft, and the certificate is printed. When the flight returns, the pilot walks the kids to the certificate table to hand out the certificates and logbooks. At the end of the rally, we merge the two data files together and that becomes the starting file for our next rally. We needed two computers because we frequently have 100+ kids at a rally.

On a side note, you should probably be OK using the same Access database with two machines. Where you run into problems is editing the same record at the same time on multiple machines. Since you'll enter some info on one machine and then edit/print it on another at a later time, you should be OK but I have not tried it myself. Network a couple of computers and try it out sometime outside of a rally and see how it works.

I hope this helps!

Most of our kids have the form filled out beforehand. We have them hold the form until they are ready to be paired up with a pilot. They hand the form to the pilot who checks for a properly filled out and SIGNED form. The pilot then gives the form to registration who writes the pilot's name on the form. Then while flying they print the certificate. After flying the pilot and YE then go to a table where the pilot fills out the form, log book and signs the certificate.