With nearly 3,500 individuals covering 22,000 annual assignments at more than 300 institutions in nine sports, the NCAA's largest member conference faces some formidable challenges when it comes to officiating.

The Eastern College Athletic Conference, based in Centerville, Massachusetts, but with members reaching from Maine to Virginia, has made significant strides in both speedier and more effective communications among its officiating coordinators, officials, athletics administrators and coaches, through the implementation of a World Wide Web-based system.

Its success has prompted ECAC administrators to encourage other NCAA conferences to give the system a try.

Previously, the coordinators communicated their assignments to staff members at the ECAC office, who in turn sent game notices via the U.S. Postal Service to the officials and participating institutions with the officials' names and fee information. The conference was spending more than $55,000 annually on postage related to its officiating program, and it was difficult to notify institutions of last-minute changes.

Under the new system, the coordinators themselves can enter the assignments into a computer database. Officials and institution administrators with Web access can visit the ECAC site and enter the data base with a valid user name and password. The postage savings for the 2000-01 academic year, the first full year for the Web-based system, are projected to be more than $40,000. In addition, administrators can easily determine changes in officials and avoid processing fee checks for someone who will not be working a contest.

The Web-based system has not completely eliminated the need to print and send paper copies. According to recent figures released by the conference, 15 percent of the officials who receive assignments do not have Web access.

"We expect the 15 percent figure to decrease," said ECAC Commissioner Phil Buttafuoco. "It seems like every day an official calls to give us an e-mail address and to learn how to use the system."

In addition to their assignments, officials can find information on playing rules changes and other policies and procedures on the Web site. Administrators need only click on the link titled "2000-01 Officiating Fees" to determine each official's game fees and travel allowance.

Another feature of the Web site is the capability for coaches to complete their postgame evaluations of officials online. Similar to campus administrators, coaches must obtain a user name and password to file an evaluation, but early indications are that they prefer this method to the previous one.

"The return rate of the postcards we used to send coaches for officials' evaluations was 12 percent," Buttafuoco said. "This season, the rate of online evaluations is at 30 percent for basketball and 40 percent for ice hockey."

An added benefit of the online filing is the enhanced usefulness of the evaluations to coordinators, who are the only persons who can access them. Before, the postcards were sent to the ECAC office, where the ratings and comments were compiled by hand, and then sent to the coordinators located throughout the East. In some cases, the coordinators were not receiving evaluations until late in the season or afterward.

It is now possible for the coordinators to base assignments on ratings from the current season and determine facets of officiating that need special attention and education.

John Collins, ECAC football officiating coordinator, is enthusiastic in his review of the new system. "It's fantastic," he said. "The ease with which assignments can be made is incredible.

"The coaches who used it to evaluate officials loved it. I don't know how we operated before the Web system."

Collins also was able to use the site to more easily compile his annual fouls report. The form that game referees complete after each game was adapted for the Web. Referees could submit the data online and it was automatically added to a spreadsheet with game totals from throughout the season.

Buttafuoco acknowledges that there was a significant initial investment to develop the Web-based system. However, he believes the money was well-spent and thinks conferences of any size would agree.

"The ECAC spent $68,000 to develop the system, but in only 18 months, we will save that amount in postage, paper and phone charges that was used to distribute the information in the past.

"Any conference would benefit from the speed and efficiencies this system provides."