Sit back and get ready to go through one of the most sophisticated scheduling system in any retail software package. If you are going to manually enter games, you must create a schedule record, but the parameters need not be added as manual entry does not consider those constraints.
A schedule with all its parameters first needs to be added to the system. This schedule can be used to generate only one set of games at a time. You can change dates and parameters and generate a new set of games, but we recommend doing that only if the schedule is a continuation of itself and not some new type of schedule.
Quick Schedule
Once the Format & Teams and parameters tabs and completed, save the schedule record. Next go to the Generate Games tab and Generate Slots and Games tab and click the Generate slots followed by the Generate Games buttons. Finally, go to the Schedule Games tab and click the Match Games to Slots button. All games on the bottom grid should then be assigned to the calendar slots in the top grid. If you are happy with the schedule, click the commit schedule button and the generated games are now live in the software...finished! Things are likely not going to be that simple. There are tones of parameters and other functions to help tweak your schedules to get them just right...that is what the rest of this help file is for.
This first section will go through adding a schedule record and describe the function of each parameter.
To add a schedule, click the New button and a blank screen will be presented. There are two tabs that contain parameter informatison for the schedule.
Schedule Name: A unique name for this schedule. Only schedules for the current season can be viewed.
Schedule Format: This option indicates whether the schedule is for preseason or regular season games, play-off/Tournament format or practice sessions. When setting up a practice schedule several different options are available and indicated below. Schedule formats impact many other areas of the system. Once games have been scheduled, the schedules format cannot be changed.
Include Games in Standings: When games are generated and subsequentially scored entered for them setting the game status to completed, if they come from a schedule that has this box checked, they will appear in the standings. This allows you to generate a preseason or grading schedule, keep track of the teams progress during this time (by checking this box they show in the standings). When the preseason is over, teams may or may not have been moved to more appropriate divisions, then a regular season schedule can be generated. Unchecking this box from the preseason schedule record will then not show games from that schedule run in the standings.
League Name: This determines what league this schedule is for. Only teams in this league will be available. Note that until a new schedule record is saved, the teams cannot be selected for the schedule.
Locking & UnLocking Schedules: This function is purely a safety precaution measure. Once you have created a schedule and generated games, deleting the schedule record and/or making changes to it could alter games. By pressing the lock all fields and data entry boxes in the schedule are locked and cannot be used.
If the schedule format is
TournamentBonspiel Format: This parameter determines what type of Tournament is to be generated. There are 11 Tournament types:
Single Elimination: When a team loses, they are eliminated. The winner is the team that wins all of their games.
Single Elimination Consolation: Teams that lose in the first round play in the consolation side of the draw. The Tournament winner is the team that wins all of their games.
Single Elimination Consolation (Winner Meet): This is the same as the previous Tournament except that the winner of the consolation draw plays the winner of the winners draw and the team that wins that series is the Tournament winner. The final series may or may not require the Consolation winner to beat the Winner of the winners draw twice.
Double Elimination: When a team loses during any round, it is dropped down into the losers draw. The winner of the losers draw meets the winner of the winners draw to determine the Tournament winner. The final series may or may not require the losers draw winner to beat the Winner of the winners draw twice. Teams are guaranteed two games.
Two Game Guarantee: Teams are guaranteed two games. Teams that lose their first game are dropped down to draw B (whether they had a bye or not). Teams that lose in the B draw are eliminated.
Two Game Guarantee (winner meet): Same as two game guarantee except the winner of the B draw meet the winner of the A draw (or winners draw) for the championship.
Triple Knockout Traditional: When teams lose they drop down into successive draws until a team loses three times in which case they are eliminated from the Tournament. There ends up being three draws. If a team wins all three draws they are the winner. If a team wins two draws, it meets the winner of the third. If three different teams win, the winner of the two losers draw meet with the winner playing the winner of the Winners draw for the championship.
Triple Knockout Playdown: This is a variation of the Traditional Triple Knockout format. After a number of rounds, the teams that are still in the Tournament play a single elimination Tournament to determine the winner.
Three Game Guarantee: Teams are guaranteed three games. Teams that lose their first game are dropped to the B draw. Teams that lose their second game are dropped to the C draw. The draws take into consideration byes, so that every team is guaranteed three games, but some teams may player more in order to maintain the integrity of the draw.
Four Game Guarantee: Teams are guaranteed four games. Teams that lose their first game are dropped to the B draw. Teams that lose their second game are dropped to the C draw and teams that lose their third game are sent to the D draw. The draws take into consideration byes, so that every team is guaranteed four games, but some teams may player more in order to maintain the integrity of the draw.
Four Game Guarantee Playdown: This is a variation of the Four Game Guarantee format. After a number of rounds, the teams that are still in the Tournament play a single elimination Tournament to determine the winner.
Number of Seeds: When generating a Tournament you can have seeded and unseeded teams. Seeded teams will play lower seeded or unseeded teams. Unseeded teams are always randomly assigned in the draw.
Number of Teams: When generating the Tournament draw, this parameter will shape how many rounds of Tournament play there are and how seeding are assigned. Typically this will match the number of teams selected (see parameter below). However, you may not know all of the teams that will be playing in the Tournament, but may still want to spend the time to set up games with locations. This software allows that. When the teams are eventually known, they can then be assigned to empty slots held for them.
Teams in Playdown: This parameter is only used for the Triple KnockOut Playdown and Four Game Guarantee Playdown Tournament formats. This parameter determines how many teams comes out of the draws are to play in the single elimination playdown. The software only allows certain values depending on how many teams are in the Tournament. The number must also be a power of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16,...). For a playdown size of 8, the software will take 2 teams from the winners draw (Draw A), 2 teams from the first losers draw (draw B) and 4 teams from Draw C. The software always uses these ratios when generating teams for the playdown.
Teams Selected for Schedule: Only after the schedule has first been saved, will the Select and Deselect buttons be enabled. Depending on the League selected, the Available Teams list will display all teams within their divisions in that league. Use the select and deselect buttons to move teams to be selected for this schedule. Teams can be selected one at a time or clicking on the Division name will select all teams in that division. Only teams selected will have games or practices scheduled. The software uses the same set of formulas to generate schedules each time. You can alter the order in which teams play each other by ordering then in the list differently. Therefore, there are up and down buttons to move selected teams up and down the list. You may have to try several times, moving teams around, to get a schedule exactly like you want. For Tournament play, the teams seed is also displayed. Moving teams up and down will adjust their seeding.
You have many options when selecting teams. Just because you select teams to appear in your schedule does not mean they will all play each other. If teams are in different divisions and conferences, on the Parameters Tab, you can decide if those teams play each other. If you have three unrelated divisions, you can select all teams and generate what would be three different schedules, one schedule for teams in each division. Why not just set up three different schedules? Well, it is faster to do it all at once. Also, you can more easily mix teams and games around the different playing locations and fieldslocations if all games are assigned at once.
It is recommended that you select all your teams first. Depending on the teams selected, the parameters tab will configure itself to allow for you to decide if you want to schedule inter-division or inter-conference games. You can always go back and add/remove teams, but be cautious as some of the fields on the parameters tab may change. Also with Tournament and play-off teams can always be added (especially if not known at the time the schedule was created), but removing teams can impact the entire draw.