There are requirements regarding ECF grading which hitherto have been fulfilled by Jon Griffiths and which after June 2018 will need to be addressed differently by various organisers who so far may not even have realised they had a problem.

The situation on grading for 2018-19 onwards, as I see it, is as follows.

1) ECF-graded leagues (including YCA) will enter their data into the ECF's LMS.

[See 2b for further considerations.]

2) The YCA still needs to appoint an Hon. Grader, who would need to be an ECF Grader, to carry out functions of the type for which the post existed prior to the setting up of a YCA grading system separate from that of the BCF/ECF. In broad terms, these functions are to facilitate in various ways, where necessary, submission of results to the ECF, in the required format, for ECF grading.

(I recently became an ECF Grader, I'm willing to stand if needs be.)

The YCA Hon. Grader's job would consist of, as far as the job holder was able,

a) data entry and submission of results from congresses etc which

i) do not use pairing software which outputs the ECF grading submission, and

ii) do not have their own ECF grader to do the job by some other means.

[This would include some congresses, e.g. Doncaster (software already written by me), but the full extent is as yet unknown.

b) processing ECF grading submissions output by pairing systems &c where the congress &c involved does not have its own ECF grader to do the job.

[This may include processing output from the ECF's LMS until the ECF gets that process automated, so the YCA needs an ECF Grader on board. This task includes checking for ECF Grading codes on the ECF current master list (not necessarily in the grading list), submitting the report file to the “checker” program supplied by the ECF, and responding appropriately to any warnings or cautions raised by the program. It includes YJCA events (software processing output from Sevilla pairing already written by me.)]

Result-publishing facilities could be added by the job holder (if it were I), but that would not be part of the “job description” (a suggestion for which follows).

If the facilities of the ECFs LMS eventually extend to congresses &c then the above duties may be reduced over time.

NB The YCA Hon. Grader job will not involve maintaining a Yorkshire Grading system separate from the ECF Grading system.

3) Events which are not to be ECF-graded will have to make their own arrangements outside the scope of the YCA Hon. Grader. People involved may get together to set up a combined non-ECF grading system; that is their right, or even take over Chessnuts (which does not belong to the YCA), though the time for such intervention has arguably long since passed, and the idea has never been realistic except in the minds of those with inadequate grasp of the extent and demands of the task.

Suggested YCA Hon. Grader Job Outline

What the YCA Grader is expected to provide to organisers is facilitation of the ECF-grading of “Yorkshire” events whose organisers are not able to achieve this using their own resources or ones provided by the ECF or commercial software. In specific practical terms this means the following.

Type of Event	Data Entry	Output Checking
ECF-graded Leagues	Organisers enter data into ECF LMS system, and create the ECF data-submission Excel workbook (or text file). *	If the organisers don’t have their own ECF grader, then YCA Grader should check output and submit finalised output. *
ECF-graded Congresses	Organisers enter data into third-party software, and create the ECF data-submission Excel workbook (or text file). **	If the organisers don’t have their own ECF grader, then YCA Grader should check output and submit finalised output.
	YCA Grader enters data into own software, and creates the ECF data-submission Excel workbook. **	YCA Grader checks output and submits finalised output.
Other ECF-graded Individual Events &c	Organisers enter data into their own or third-party software, and create the ECF data-submission Excel workbook (or text file). **	If the organisers don’t have their own ECF grader, then YCA Grader should check output and submit finalised output.
	YCA Grader enters data into own software, and creates the ECF data-submission Excel workbook. **	YCA Grader checks output and submits finalised output.

* If the ECF’s LMS system is developed to the point where output-checking can be done on line, and the data submission sent directly from the LMS website, there would be no need for involvement of the YCA Grader. Currently, an ECF Grader would need to run the LMS output through the ECF's “checker” program.

** If the ECF’s LMS system is developed to encompass congresses and other individual events then there would be no need for involvement of the YCA Grader.

The YCA Grader is not expected to oversee the production of an “YCA Grading List” independent of the ECF grading list.

Steve Mann