Calendaring is used for defining Field Location Schedule Slots and entering Officials Availability to officiate games. This section described how to use the Calendaring function for these two screens. For fieldslocation, a calendar entry is referred to as a Calendar Schedule Slot, for officials, we referred to calendar entries as Available Time Slots. For this generic section we will use Calendar Schedule Slot. Everything that applies to a Calendar Schedule Slot applies to an Available Time Slot with exceptions noted.
The flow chart below will illustrate the link between a Calendar Schedule Slot, a Schedule Type and a Schedule.
As you add calendar schedule slots for a fieldlocation, you will see list boxes labeled Schedule Types Available and Schedule Types Selected. These schedule types will eventually determine which schedules can use the Calendar Schedule Slots for scheduling games. First, a Calendar Schedule Slot can be assigned to more than one Schedule Type. A Schedule can have one and only one Schedule Type assigned to it. Schedule Types can be assigned to multiple Calendar Schedule Slots and multiple Schedules. In the chart above, Calendar Schedule Slot #1 has two Schedule Types A & B. Since Schedules #1 and #2 have Schedule Type A and Schedule #3 has Schedule Type B, Calendar Schedule Slot #1 can be used by all three schedules. However, Calendar Schedule Slot #2 is only linked to Schedule Type B. Therefore, Schedules #1 and #2 cannot schedule games in that Calendar Schedule Slot. Only Schedule #3 can schedule games in Calendar Schedule Slot #2. When you generate a schedule via the Scheduling screen you will see all the possible game slots for games to be assigned. This will be determine through the linking of Calendar Schedule Slots and Schedule Types.
Officials Available Time Slots follow the same concept except officials availability can always be assumed for games and used exception conditions to exclude times that officials are not available. While you need to set up Calendar Schedule Slots to have the automated Scheduling system assign games to that fieldlocation, you do not have to set up a Calendar Schedule Slot to manually add games to a fieldlocation, nor do you need to set up Officials Availability Slots to add officials to games.
Adding Schedule Slots
If you have worked with a calendaring software product before, this should be pretty straightforward. There are two ways to add an entry. The first is to click the ‘New’ button and a blank calendar entry will appear. It will default to the currently displayed date. You can use the previous and next buttons to move backwards and forwards one day at a time. You can also just click a date and any calendar items for that date will be displayed. The other method to add a slot is to click your mouse on the calendar at the start time of the slot. Drag the mouse to the end time of the entry and release the mouse. A blank calendar entry will appear with the start and end times prefilled. The times will be rounded up to the nearest minute based on the interval selected on the Preferences screen. Clicking ‘New’ will default the start and end times to that of the previously saved entry. You will need to fill in all fields and click ‘Save’. A dark gray shaded entry will appear. It is dark gray indicating that no Schedule Types have yet been assigned. Without assigning a Schedule Type, the slot cannot be used in generating schedules (you may want that!). When you first click ‘New’, the end date will initially be grayed and data entry not allowed. This is because the default frequency is ‘One Time’. If you change this to any other frequency, the field will be enabled for entry. The Rank field is an indication of the pecking order when deciding what Calendar Schedule Slots to use when scheduling games. The lower the number the higher the position. This field also appears on the Officials Available Time Slots, but does not have any current functionality attached. If and when this software automatically assigns officials, this field will be used in a similar manner as its counterpart on the Playing Locations screen.
On the Playing Locations Screen, there is a pulldown for fieldlocation. You can view Calendar Schedule Slots for only a single fieldlocation at a time. Change the Field Location to view different schedules. When you add a schedule slot, it is added to the Field Location displayed. Officials Available Time Slots are always added to the official currently displayed.
Updating Schedule Slots
To display and update a schedule slot, you first must select a day from the 2 or 3-month calendar. When you click on a date, the entries for that day are displayed. The daily calendar will look like the sample below:
The calendar entries displayed were not necessarily entered on that date. For example, an entry entered on the first Thursday in September that recurs once a week until the end of December, will show up on the calendar every Thursday from September to December. To edit an entry, it must be displayed in the daily calendar. Clicking the entry will display its details. You can then make any changes. When you click save, if the entry has more than once occurrence you will see the following dialogue.
You can update just the single occurrence, all occurrences starting with the current date and continuing with all dates in the future and of course all occurrences generated by this entry. If you save just the single occurrence, the original entry is left unchanged and the system marks the date of the single occurrence with a delete marker. A new entry on the single occurrence date is added. If all occurrences into the future are updated, the current entry has its end date changed to the day prior to the new occurrences date. The new entry carries with it all deleted history from the original entry. If you wish not to carry any history, you should simply update the original entries end date, and add a new entry.
Deleting Schedule Slots
Deleting schedule slots is a special case of updating an entry. You delete by first displaying the entry exactly the same way that you would display an entry to update it. Once the entry is displayed, click the ‘Delete’ button. When you click the ‘Delete’ button, if the entry has more than once occurrence, you will see a similar confirmation message as you would updating an entry with multiple occurrences.
If you delete just the current occurrence, the original entry is left intact and that date is marked internally as deleted. If all future occurrences are deleted, the end date of the original entry is updated to the day prior to the date being deleted. If all occurrences are deleted, the original record is deleted.
Overlapping Slots
Because you can insert recurring entries into the software, some of you entries may overlap. You will never be able to schedule overlapping games, but overlapping of availability will show doubles on the availability reports. If there are overlapping entries on a day, next to the overlapped entry will be a blue indicator of the overlapped time. Clicking on the blue overlapping indicator will show the hidden calendar slots.
Important: While games are scheduled based on these calendar slots, deleting or changing calendar entries in no way affects games already created.