New Tracker Wanted!

[tsptalk]

After 11 months of hard work EWGuy has decided he needs a break from the job as the TSP Returns Tracker. I want to thank EWGuy for his dedication and commitment to a complex job that he made look easy. He made many changes to the project he took over over nearly a year ago, and it will be difficult to replace him.

So, it will be a hard act to follow, but we are now in need of a new tracker. If you might be interested, please send myself and/or EWGuy a PM and we can answer any questions and fill you in on what you can expect - and we'll tell you about the puny benefits that come with the job.

Thanks!

 

[tsptalk]

Unfortunately, if I have to take over the tracker myself, I may have to start to charge a small fee. I just don't have the extra time to do it so it has to be worth what I will give up, namely sleep or family time.

If someone wants to step up and take over the job, here's what you might expect in return:

- The tracker page will be set up with Ads that pay you

- PayPal donate buttons can be placed on the page using your payPal account

- I can even compensate someone on a per account basis and see how that goes

You must have some knowlegde in spreadsheets. EWGuy can explain the rest. We also have a member working on an automated program but that is still months away.

You must be able to work well with, and communicate well with others as you will be in contact with other members when there are problems or questions with account allocations.

Any questions or comments, please contact myself (Tom) and / or EWGuy via PM or email.

Thanks!
Tom

 

[GGal]

I can't volunteer for such a big task. I'm not reliable. Why not give everyone a tracker and let them do their own and report to rokid if they want to be included in his report?

 

[Spaf]

We need that automated version, sort of like the TSP.gov site for submitting and confirming IFT's.....

 

[ChemEng]

Ive been tooling around with website design the past few weeks and Im just about certain that you could automate the process using php. I just got to get myself smart on the details.

 

[tsptalk]

Ive been tooling around with website design the past few weeks and Im just about certain that you could automate the process using php. I just got to get myself smart on the details.

We made need you. Actually, Ocean has been working on this off and on and has given us a drop dead date of August to - have it completed or to move on to someone else if not.

 

[ChemEng]

We made need you. Actually, Ocean has been working on this off and on and has given us a drop dead date of August to - have it completed or to move on to someone else if not.

No big deal. I was just talking out loud to see if anyone who currently possesses php skills could affirm or deny. (Im just not beginning to tool around with php for my website. It is getting better, but I am far from an expert right now.)

But the more I think about it, it should be entirely possible to pull the transactions of the day from the mb database. The trick would be to automate the integration of that file into the master excel database. But even if you cant get the 2nd phase, the amount of work would be much smaller than what is currently being done.

 

[FundSurfer]

You could always create a file and then write an excel macro to suck in the data. That I could do... writing php-whatever I couldn't. I've thought about learning but it's too low on my list of priorities to ever actually get done.

 

[ATCJeff]

Since I started my little thread on the top decile returns, I've been thinking of a easier way to compile the data for the tracker. I'm not a expert on Excel, but I'm pretty sure you can just input allocation changes onto a master member list and have a list of the daily fund prices and you should be able to output a ranking based on YTD return.

Any thoughts?

Jeff

 

[tsptalk]

EWGuy has offered to stay on as tracker until the automated program is ready to go. That's a relief! He will take a two-week vacation this month and some folks have offered to step in temporarily. Much appreciation to all!!

Keep those ideas coming. Anything that will make the tracking and tallying easier is a big help.

 

[rokid]

Way to go EWGuy!

Thanks EWGuy! Have a great vacation.

 

[FogSailing]

Tom:

I have to be on a road trip until early July (family bidddness), however, I can offer EW some part time help for a few weeks to a month in either July or August.

Just let me know.

FS

 

[tsptalk]

Thanks! Good to know.

 

[EW_ret]

Thanks for the offer on help. I will keep that in mind. Just to keep our members informed, I have all TSP fund prices and member transactions in a MySQL database located on internet server. We use PHP software routines to manually enter member IFTs into a transaction form, and generate the weekly WebTracker spreadsheet. This was developed earlier in the year by a good friend of mine. It has saved time entering member transactions, generating the spreadsheet, and reduced the spreadsheet size.

Tom:

I have to be on a road trip until early July (family bidddness), however, I can offer EW some part time help for a few weeks to a month in either July or August.

Just let me know.

FS

 

[FogSailing]

Tom/EW:

Just send me a private email when you would like my help. TSPTalk offers tremendous benefit to federal workers and retirees. Nothing wrong with a little relief pitching once in a while.

FS

 

[tsptalk]

(except for the poor guy or gal who gets stuck with writing the software ).

That would be Ocean. Let's hope it comes through for us.

 

[MADDOG]

my concern would be that everyone is trying to input at the same time,
11:50 - 12:00, and how slow it would / may be. i can tell a big difference when i hit the new post button during this time

md

 

[Griffin]

I don't know if ocean read this, but my concern with creating something that looks to close to the tsp.gov site is that folks will get confused about which screen they entered a transaction into and forget to make one or the other. It probably would be helpful to have a bold message on the screen to remind folks to make the change in both places.

Someone needs to create a screen exactly like the TSP IFT screen.....

 

[ocean]

Hi,

I am more than 50% done with the automated tracker and I expect it to be completed by early August. I am writing the transfer rule sets now and I believe the following rules are correct but I would like to verify with someone here. Please let me know if the followings are true.

1. IFT the day before the holiday after 12:00 EDT (the government official site will IFT at the end of the next business day. (e.g. IFT from 7/3/2007 after 12:00 EDT to 7/5/2007 before 12:00 EDT, the actual effective transfer will take place at the end of 7/5/2007).
2. IFT from Friday after 12:00 EDT to Monday before 11:59 EDT will take effect on Monday COB.

Thanks
Ocean

 

[nnuut]

All seem right to me ocean! Keep up the good work on the new tracker, sounds like MAGIC!
Norman