Beginning this year, testing crew chiefs will electronically tote all those records in the palms of their hands.

Say hello to paperless drug testing.

The National Center for Drug Free Sport, the independent organization that collects drug-testing samples for the NCAA at championships sites and in the year-round program, will begin using a handheld data device that is part of a computerized record-keeping system dubbed the Secure Collection Automated Network (SCAN).

The system employs handheld computers, barcode scanners, data servers, modems and the Internet in collection of data at testing sites and transfer of information to and from the center's offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and the University of California, Los Angeles, Olympic Analytical Laboratory.

SCAN was developed by Rick Hanson, a former NCAA staff member who currently is a partner in ClearData Consulting, Inc., in Kansas City.

"I started working with the center in October 2000 to document current processes, and began discussions about what they would like to accomplish with the new system," Hanson said.

The system received a trial run last February, and all crew chiefs will be using the system beginning this fall.

Frank Uryasz, president of The National Center for Drug Free Sport, said the system will eliminate bookkeeping-type errors, dramatically reduce expenditures for paper, printing and shipping, and speed up the collection process and transfer of data to and from the UCLA laboratory.

-- Jack L. Copeland