Seems like these should be compared, they are competitors are they not? Well actually no.
All software is written with specific goals in mind. It is then extended in any number of directions by marketing, creeping featurism, whatever.
The NSTC has a specific set of goals they must accomplish, one is the centralization of their data. What was it they said at the SAGM, there were a total of 19 databases in use at the NSTC? They also have a burning need to process and track certifications and volunteers for legal purposes. They have to know player counts for accounting and insurance purposes. They also have to run their day-to-day business.
The Business System (TBS for short) was designed to achieve their goals. Now as a result of this effort there are some things they can do to help the regions at the same time, but remember, the primary goal was to solve the NSTC's problems. Regional support features are bolted on to their core application.
WebYouthSoccer grew from the other direction. It's goal is to aid in the day-to-day execution of a region. Our problems are radically different; tracking players playing time, evaluations, scheduling referees, scheduling games on limited fields. Tracking our coaches, identifying potential coaches and referees, assigning uniform colors, practice fields, argh..
The key is that these systems don't have to be viewed as competitors to each other. They should in fact be viewed as partners in helping you successfully run a region.
The reason they tend to overlap is because the NSTC was so unresponsive to the region's needs on tracking certifications, timely feedback, etc. that some of that functionality started being included in regional applications, like WebYouthSoccer. There was also the slip of schedule for TBS, again forcing us to expand our functionality to fill in the gap.
I would prefer to not expand WebYouthSoccer to be everything to everyone at every level. In my mind that is the path to failure. I have only limited visibility into the problems the NSTC faces. And unless everyone at the NSTC has lived through being a regional commissioner in a region short on volunteer support they cannot begin to see the world through my eyes. So it just makes sense for us to work together, each focusing on what we do best.
To accomplish this goal we need to have a few things.
1. It would be nice if the NSTC would have more of an open approach to their the Business System. Allowing those of us with regional systems to plan for the integration of the two. I was on one of the technical committees of TBS and felt it was of almost no value. We were shown a couple screen shots of potential modules. No real guts, no real plan.
2. The NSTC has to realize that there is no chance of them producing a application in the near term that will satisfy all regions. There are just too many regions that have custom solutions that they will not, can not, quit using. With every new region I bring online with WebYouthSoccer I find areas that are unique to them, from the way the number their teams, the labels they give their divisions, how they assign their referees, etc. The list is endless. A one size fits all approach will fail.
3. We need a binary interchange format with TBS. Going through the processes of printing out copies of all of our registration forms to then mail to the NSTC so they can type them back in is just silly. A waste of resources on both of our parts. But for many of us that is currently the simplest alternative.