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Advantages of ShowMan
For a start, the use of ShowMan at a show is optional. ShowMan has provision to record the results from any Show by transcribing from a hard or soft copy of the Jury results. This increases the risk of transcription errors, but it is an essential part of the design, particularly for overseas shows. Some very small Shows may elect to do their own thing and the results from such Shows can be entered by the APF after that Show has finished.
Data for a show is collected once only by data entry, and is then re-used as required throughout the process. Thus, when entries are received, the details are recorded, and are used initially to print the Catalogue listings. The same data is then used to print the binroom documentation, the Exhibitor's Envelopes and the Judging sheets, record the results of the judging, print the critique sheets, the award lists and the certificates, and finally to generate the Web pages that can be used unaltered on any web-site. Transcription errors can no longer exist. Human errors are of course never entirely eliminated, but are minimised.
The rules for FIP and APF classes are encapsulated in ShowMan, so that the judging process can be checked for inconsistencies, like errors of addition, or errors in determining the medal level awarded. As these rules change, so the data that determines the way the rules are applied can be changed, without any need for programming.
And finally, at least some of the labour involved in completing documentation (exhibitor's names, exhibit titles, etc) is avoided, as the documentation is delivered with all known data pre-inserted.