Fred: Something occurred to me the other day that I don't think we've discussed, or at least exhausted in this forum. Should there be any indication as to how outside rebuilding would impact the workload. For example, the workload numbers should probably be significantly different at an institution where the staff rebuilt all the pianos from one where everything were sent out. There are even several shades of gray in this issue. Here, I do all action work, but all belly work is sent out. It's probably too late to thoroughly discuss this, but I think it could be a consideration. dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 2/1/2002 at 9:10 AM Fred Sturm wrote: >Fellow CAUTs, > February is upon us, and before we know it it will be time for the >annual convention in Chicago (early this year - end of June). We are >hoping to present and act on a newly revised/improved Guidelines for >Effective Institutional Piano Maintenance at that time. Meaning time is >really rather short to get that work completed. > I have been heading up the effort to revise the workload formula. My >article in, I think, the October PTJ covered the why and what of what >has been proposed so far. Don McKechnie and David Porritt posted >databases and templates on the caut page including the newly proposed >numbers. We badly need feedback, to be sure we're on the right track, >and, especially, to finetune to the extent possible. So far, the only >substantive feedback I have received came from Jeff Tanner (thanks, >Jeff, for some very insightful comments). > So this is a plea to all of you to try out the new numbers at your >institution, and let us know how they come out. Do they produce a >workload number that is close to what your honest, practical advice >would be? Are there areas that seem wrong? > I have used both David's and Don's databases. They are quite user >friendly and convenient. In each you can go to a cell either by mouse or >keystroke. In the cell you can type in a value or use the mouse to >select a value from a pull-down menu. Don made some macros so you can >enter a default value in every cell in certain columns (like humidity >variation, which is likely to be the same for every room in a building). > Don's is a stand alone program, in both mac and windows formats It took >me about 3 hours to enter my 80 pianos. I could probably have got that >time down if I had thought it through a little better. A couple >suggestions for efficiency: > Take your existing database/spreadsheet. Sort by manufacturer and >model. Put it in table form with serial #, room #, make and model >showing. Size the window to fit about half the screen. THen open the >formula database and size it to fit the other half of the screen. Copy >and paste in serial numbers, and enter room, make, and upright/grand. >Then go through and enter the other data. Having the pianos sorted will >mean there will be a lot of the same numbers in sequential records: eg, >pretty much all my Hamiltons are the same age, condition, acceptable >standard. So I think once, then enter a whole bunch. > Thanks for your help. Let's try to make this something we can really >use for many years to come. >Regards, >Fred Sturm >University of New Mexico > >PS The Caut page is http://www.mursuky.edu/caut.php/homepage.htm >If you'd like a copy of my PTJ article, email me privately and I'll send >it to you. _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________
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