Scanning QR code at Sandown Racecourse vaccination centre didn't work. Who designs these things!

I can't imagine how many millions are being spent on Victoria's QR code system yet so many times it fails. Good people are trying to do the right thing but whatever the Victorian government is doing just doesn't work consistently. It's not the QR code technology, it's not the people, it's not the mobile phones, it's the people developing the systems that need to improve what they're doing and the government shouldn't tolerate a system that fails so often.

Recently I've had QR code failures at the Bank of Queensland in Croydon, Officeworks in Doncaster and more recently and much to my surprise, when I went to check in to get my Astrazenica shot at the Sandown Racecourse vaccination hub. Yes I was checked in by one the staff, but really this shouldn't have been necessary.

When sharing my story I asked two other people to show me what they see when they go to check in. This is what they saw and I've also seen this screen.

I just shake my head when I see a screen like this. It tells people nothing about what they need to do.

I've seen people take pictures of QR codes thinking they've checked in.

I've seen people who get this screen who think they've checked in.

I've seen people who don't realise they need to click on the Check-in button to complete the check in.

The government should review the check-ins for the day I was at Sandown Racecourse and audit the number of valid check-ins against the number of people attending on the day. Then at least they might be able to see how often their QR code system is failing. Yes you can manually check-in, but who does that.

The system needs to be very simple. Very consistent. Screens like the above should never appear. The QR code system should rarely fail, but for me it's failed many times, so the QR code system I suspect is failing for many others.

Given the probably millions being spent it really isn't good enough.

If I were to make one suggestion it would be for the Victorian government to provide a sample QR code I and other IT people could use the train people. The sample QR code could then store the person's information ready for when they use a live QR code. The sample QR code does not need to store anything. People could then use the sample QR code to make sure they're doing the right thing.

Kelvin

Easier way for Victorians to find out about new public exposure locations around them.

I was finding it hard to keep up with the public exposure locations for coronavirus in Victoria. There's roughly a thousand hotspot (public exposure locations) so checking them each day or every few days can be a bit overwhelming.

I decided to write a web page where I could put in my postcode and up to 10 postcodes around me. That would allow me to see those postcodes that were of interest to me rather than a list with just one postcode, or the entire list. I then decide to extend the page with a quick fill feature which finds the 10 postcodes around your current location.

Having done that I add the result page to my Home screen on my mobile and can quickly check if there's any new public exposure locations around me. Even better family and friends can do the same.

IF anyone is interested in a neat tool that can help find out about Victorian public exposure locations you can find it at the following location.

Victoria Exposure Sites (onlineconnections.com.au)

Kelvin