Senior Member Record

[James Shaw]

I am trying to help the local squadron with updating their Senior Member Records by putting them on the computer. I have a couple of SM who have been in CAP for over 30 years. The problem I have is putting all of their Awards and Decorations in section 9 of the form. I can not find any reference as to the order of precedence of which should go in. Does anyone have a current standard practice they use?

I had thought to only put in the Highest Achievement reached but that negates the others being recorded. Or maybe only putting in the first received of an award like a Commanders Comm and then add a sheet at the end of the file. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[BillB]

Jim, one way is to check the ribbon precedence. The awards follow the same prescedence. Check 39-1 Chap. 5

[James Shaw]

Sorry for the confusion Bill. What I meant to say was that there are only so many slots on the form for the awards. What do you do when you run out of space for their awards. Lets say they have 30 awards and only slots for 20?

[RogueLeader]

Just get a second form and fill them out notating page 1 of 2 and page 2 of 2, or- at the bottom of the first page "continued on second page."

[MIKE]

Putting the awards in the order earned is most logical.

Ditto on using a second sheet if you are using the CAPF 45.  If not, then you might consider leaving off some of the lesser awards or subsequents.  But you should still have record of them somewhere if they won't fit in the database... Like the CAPF 45 above.

[SarDragon]

I'd say date earned. That's how they should appear in the CAPF 45 if it has been properly maintained.

[Eclipse]

I'd suggest using SIMS, it does all the leg work for you, produces an SUI / CI acceptable Senior Record, and pulls in CAPWatch data so anything NHQ cares about / knows about is already entered.

[acarlson]

I'd suggest using SIMS, it does all the leg work for you, produces an SUI / CI acceptable Senior Record, and pulls in CAPWatch data so anything NHQ cares about / knows about is already entered.

absolutely!  AND SIMS ver 8 is almost ready to be released... we're 99.8% there on getting the SM side up and running.

[Pylon]

absolutely!  AND SIMS ver 8 is almost ready to be released... we're 99.8% there on getting the SM side up and running.

I'm excited!   

(On a side note, to whom can we report errors and bugs with the current release?)

[James Shaw]

Thanks for all of the replies. I will pass on the suggestions to the Squadron Commander. He is not very computer savvy and would probably elect to go with the duplicate pages of the form.

[LtCol Hooligan]

Thanks for all of the replies. I will pass on the suggestions to the Squadron Commander. He is not very computer savvy and would probably elect to go with the duplicate pages of the form.

I find it very interesting that SQ/CCs choose to go to duplicate paper files like this.  I have been using SIMS for years and although we still use paper records as a backup, between eServices and SIMS, we have just about everything we need and things are way less cumbersome!!  I honestly think this is where the IT Officer Specialty track really comes in at the squadron level.  Members have to know how to use eServices and all the apps in there and in all reality, with more and more automation, they need to learn SIMS, Excel, or some other database to manage the squadron.  I have recently been working with a new squadron commander in one squadron who is abandoning SIMS to return to paper records even though his predecessor has been using it meticulously for years.  I honestly cannot believe that someone would try to run a squadron using only paper forms. 

As you can tell, I am a huge advocate of SIMS and cannot wait for the next version to come out.  If your squadron is not using it, I recommend looking at it as it will save your commander, admin officer, testing officer, pt officer, and many others a lot of time!!  It is amazing the records you will have at your finger tips.  Remember to back it up though!!  It is not fool proof.

[ColonelJack]

Remember to back it up though!!  It is not fool proof.

It's impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so [darn]ed ingenious.

Jack

[RogueLeader]

Remember to back it up though!!  It is not fool proof.

It's impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so [darn]ed ingenious.

Jack

If you make it so even a fool can use it, only a fool will use it.