Bravo! Bravo! 

Your BJCP IT Directorate has been working for well over a year now to build a modern system that replaces the legacy code and underlying database for the BJCP website. For decades, the legacy code and database has handled most of the apps and website functions such as Exam Management, Competition Registration and Reporting, Member Records, and Pin/Badge/Kit Ordering and many more ‘behind-the-scenes’ functions.

We are happy to announce that we are almost ready to roll out the updated functionalities of a system codenamed ‘Bravo’ that will replace all applications and underlying databases around Sept 7th/8th. 

The purpose of this announcement is to prepare everyone for this transition and to list/describe the changes you will see after the migration. 

Access to the new database remains the same…
from the BJCP homepage, use the button at the top right labeled “Judge Account”

Your Judge Account Home Page will soon look like this…

What will remain the same: 

• All static pages that do not interact with BJCP Member, Exam, or Competition Databases will remain the same including the current WordPress Based main website and most of the underlying pages. This includes most of the current top-level menus and pages, newsletter systems, documentation etc. 

What will change: 

All the applications that deal with dynamic content and data. Below is a complete list of changes. 

• Judge Records:

• • The judge records page will have a completely different look and feel. 
  • In addition to displaying your scores, exam and competition records the new system will also show your progress towards the next rank along with showing what you need to work on to achieve your next rank.
  • All updates to your judge records will be instantaneous! This includes change of addresses, competition points, exam results and even your promotions (see below for more details) 

• Competition System: 

• • Competition Registration:
    • The payment and reporting system is completely revamped and payment will be handed through Bravo (using PayPal as before). 
    • Competition listing on the calendar is instantaneous on approval.
    • Access to your registered competition:
      • If you are an active BJCP Judge you can access your registered competition from your account directly without requiring a password. 
      • If you are not a BJCP Judge you can still access the competition you registered with a competition specific password (which will be emailed to you on competition registration). 
  • Competition organizers can access and download a list of active judges from the new Bravo interface. This interface now has additional features/functionality to allow filtering by city, state, country, rank, cider/mead certifications etc. 
  • You can edit your currently registered competition (i.e., change dates, website, entry fees etc,) and it will reflect instantly on the competition calendar. 
  • You can submit your report using one of the following three methods: 
    • Entering manually – this will be improved substantially as system will automatically fill the name as you enter the judge ID or start typing name
    • Uploading an XML file from a competition software
    • Copying and pasting XML report into a window 
  • After report submission, the application will review the report for compliance with BJCP rules and flag any entry that violates. You can not submit the report until all violations are corrected. 
  • You can report partially and continue to add over time/days, the report is not final till fully submitted. 
  • One big upgrade: Upon submitting a competition report judge and staff points will be visible instantly in each member’s record!
  • Another big upgrade: If, as a result of competition points, a judge is promoted in rank the system will flag it as a promotion and the status will reflect immediately in that judge’s record once reviewed and approved!

• Exam System:

• • • Exam registration, payment, and results reporting system is fully revamped.
    • Exam Grading system will remain the same as it is now – to be integrated into Bravo as future enhancements.
    • Exam registration will be on Bravo through a similar form submission system.
    • Exam Approval will be on Bravo.
    • Exam document retrieval (Examinee/Proctor Instructions, Admin Cover Letters, Examinee/Staff files etc.) will be accessible from the judge account of the exam administrator.
    • Exam payment will be through Bravo (via PayPal as before).
    • Exam results will be processed by IT/Exam Staff once grading is completed. 
    • Big Upgrade: Exam results and related promotions will be available instantly on the judge record on processing of exam results!

• Pin, Badge, and Sensory Kit Orders:

• • Ordering system is completely revamped 
  • Judges can order and track Pin, Badge, and Sensory Kit Orders within your account.
  • Payments for Sensory Kit orders are also handled through Bravo (via PayPal as before).

• Reports:

• • Various reports, such as Mead, Cider, or Beer Exam proctors, list of National and Master Judges, etc which are currently available on the legacy system will also be available on Bravo. Some of these reports will have additional features and functionality such as being able to filter based on rank, city, state, country, cider/mead certifications etc.
  • Judge Lookup will perform similarly to the current legacy system. One can look up a judge by full first name and last name or by their judge ID.

In summary, apart from complete revamp of user interface and back-end systems/platform, one of the major changes will be that all data will be 100% live, including competitions, exams and judge records. The legacy system required a manual update to the website (which was done manually and periodically – more recently on a weekly basis). This dependency on periodic manual updates will go away with deployment of Bravo. We feel this is one of the major benefits of Bravo. 

In addition, this move to a modern platform and technology will allow us to add more features and enhancements in the future. Up until now we have only focussed on replicating current functionality, but as we continue development, you will see additional functionality/capability rolled out over time once we have determined the basic functions of Bravo are stable. 

As can be expected for any development intensive rollout we may experience some issues during deployment. You can help us by reporting any issues using the “Report Issue” button on the new website with as much details as possible (along with screenshots if possible). Thank you in advance for your patience and help – we will do our best to work through any transition related issues with immediacy. Additionally, more documentation on usage of the new website/database can be found here: https://docs.bjcp.org