BOATING COURSE ASSISTANT PROGRAM
Boating Course Assistant
Program by: P/D/C J. Kenneth Guscott, ITCOM Version 6.5.0 of BCA is intended to make the uploading of boating course data to the USPS website simpler and more obvious. The ED-27 data transfer is now automated to a large extent. Important Note: The Education Department has been adding more seminar subjects. To avoid having to make frequent updates to BCA, it is designed so that the user can add seminars as they become available. To do this follow these steps.
1. Start a new class and open the class setup dialog.
2. Select any existing seminar and click the button "New / Edit Course"
3. In the resulting dialog, click on the "Next" button to see if the new seminar was pre-loaded.
4. If found then click the "Edit" button and type in the catalog number. Go to step 6.
5. If not found then click "New" button and type in seminar name and catalog number.
6. Click "Save" button then "Close" button. The seminar will now be listed and may be selected for a class.Be sure to get the catalog number correct or the students may not get credit when the class is uploaded to HQ.
A program designed to help with the management of the USPS public boating courses and seminars.
- Compatible with the new USPS public boating courses and seminars. Continued support of old public courses: Boat Smart, America's Boating Course and the The Squadron Boating Course.
- Include any State examination as part of course.
- Print certificates and wallet cards.
- Print ED-26 headers
- Print a correct answer overlay on the ED-26.
- Print PWC endorsement labels
- Print Membership Application Form partially filled.
- Keep database of student information by course (ED-46)
- Calculate student examination score.
- Perform a missed question analysis
- Compile course statistics.
- Make course reports using course statistics:
- General staff memo
- PR chair memo
- Membership chair memo.
- Keep attending staff database.
- Make merit mark recommendations for attending staff.
- Compatible with the DB2000 Database Manager to simplify data entry.
- Export / import class data between computers.
- Export student data as Excel® compatible CSV file
- Upload ED-26 data electronically.
- Upload ED-27 data electronically.
- Upload USPS seminar class data electronically.
This program is for USPS use only. It is not at all useful for the general public.
Version 6.5.0 is compatible with the Windows Vista® OS and previous versions of Windows. File management differs from previous versions in that all support files are stored in the "My Documents" path on the hard drive in a folder named "BCA". The application itself is in "Program Files\BCA\" or in a user defined folder.
If you are using a previous version of BCA you MUST uninstall it before installing the new version. Use the Windows Add/Remove Programs utility to do this. Doing this will not harm your existing database and report files which will be used with the new program.
Download the file and locate it in an empty folder, e.g. C:\Downloads. Do not download the program to your desk top. Run the file using Windows Start\Run.
Download Install_BCA_654.EXE(14 MB)
Last updated: March 19, 2008For those that have installed BCA version 6.5.0 or later the following update may be applied without the need of a full install. Download the file and locate it in an empty folder, e.g. C:\Downloads. Do not download the program to your desk top. Run the file using Windows Start\Run. For Vista and XP OS users you will need administrator privileges to perform the install.
NOTE: Update below corrects a bug encountered when importing pre-registration data. It also corrects other minor anomalies in behavior.
Download Update_BCA_660.exe(1 MB)
Last updated: Apr 13, 2008
Recent changes made to BCA in response to HQ changes in reporting:
Versions prior to 5.0.0 do not support the new data reporting standards, so the data will not get to where it is required and worse, the course graduates may not get credit for taking the course.
Due to recent Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) between USPS and various state regulatory agencies and NASBLA. We now have to advise them of classes being given prior to the date of the class. Also, after the class, we are required to provide class statistics. To assist in this, a USPS web page has been set up to for squadrons to post the class dates and for students to pre-register for these classes. The pre-registration information, if any, is emailed to the affected squadron. BCA can import this data from the Windows clipboard.
After the class, we have to post the ED-27 data to the web site where it will be processed and the required statistics forwarded to the regulatory agencies. The DEO will also be advised automatically so there is no need to do this directly from BCA.
It is important to remember that not all state requirements are covered by this. Some states require a list of passing students by name and to provide other statistics. You will still have to do this. BCA has a printed report for Florida which probably would cover most state requirements.
ED-26 and Seminar class reports are sent to HQ via a file upload to the national website.
ED-27 class data is posted to the national website.
From time to time, we conduct workshops on the use of BCA. The handout notes may be useful as an adjunct to the help files or to conduct workshops in other districts.
Download Workshop Notes(40 KB)
Update: March 2008Print your own PWC endorsement labels.
Download PWC_Endorsement(28 KB)
Date: June 10, 2003The above are RTF documents which can be opened in most word processors.
Sometimes at workshops an overview of BCA as a PowerPoint® presentation is useful. This version has been updated to BCA 6.5.4
Download BCA_PPT.zip(2.3 MB)
Date March 16, 2008
The latest version of the PowerPoint viewer, Office 2003, does not support running external macros. Many of the boating course presentations require this capability. The following file contains the viewer from Office 2000 and will run macros. It is not needed for the BCA_PPT.
Download PPVIEW32_2000.zip (2.7 MB)
Using BCA with DB2000 will greatly improve it's squadron data capabilities including personnel data. It requires a password to download a roster file. This may be obtained from your squadron commander.
Download DB2000 from the linked website.
Other News:
