TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 1. Table of contents

Transcription

1 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 1 Table of contents 1 Introduction Concept How does our MeetManagement system works? How is this MeetManagement manual written Cable connection with MF or FT (optional) Use of a Serial Connection with MacFinish II or MF III (optional) Use of a Serial Connection with FieldTerminals (optional) Installation of the Program MeetManagement Software Installation of NAF (National Athletic Federation) athlete database file(s) Producing a Meet File Starting up the Program Importing the NAF Athlete File (e.g. SHIN.1) Importing Event Specifications Entering general meet information and preferences General meet information Preferences settings Serial port settings FieldTerminal settings Events Adding new events List of events Entering participants Adding athlete records to the athlete database (automatic) Finding athlete records in the athlete database Entering heats and lanes (only for running events) Getting results Results received from the MacFinish photo-finish system Results received from the FieldTerminal network Manually entering performances Manually entering performances in chronological order Manually entering performances in best-first order Printing results Combined events Note with reference to Youth Combined events Export of (text) results to (any) word-processor Export to NAF Saving and opening a meet Print results Press report Meet statistics Deleting all events Deleting all performances Stadium scoreboard control Setting the stadium control parameters Buttons to control the stadium scoreboard live Manual (operator) control of the stadium scoreboard (data display) Sending data to the scoreboard output table Sending data from the scoreboard output table to the scoreboard Most occurring errors during the usage of the MM-program...38

2 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 2 1 INTRODUCTION As an introduction we would like to enumerate the various advantages, which can be offered by using the athletics Meet Manager. When talking about the short-term advantages, we primarily think of: 1. Less work for the control of athlete identification through the use of the National Athletics Federation s (NAF) athlete file. 2. Less errors when processing the results thanks to the usage of the NAF-athlete file. 3. Elimination of double or triple times the same work when entering data through automatic transfer of MacFinish II race results. 4. Making the sport more attractive by faster communication of information towards the public, speaker, scoreboards, TV, photo-finish operators and judges. 5. A more fluent course of the meet by means of a systematic approach. 6. Recent and reliable best-performances of athletes: Top-ten or Top-fifty lists can quickly be published in athletic magazines. Clubs can apply this to compose the heats faster and more efficiently and to electronically draw up Lexicaths for federations and/or teams. 7. Fast print-out of the result on paper which is even more neat, precise and uniform. In this manual we take it for granted that you are well experienced with the usage and operation of a PC running Windows 98 or Windows XP. If you are not, we would recommend you to read through the computer manuals to get a grip of the matter and/or to follow a computer course with your local computer dealer. DO NOT FORGET THE FOLLOWING THINGS, TROUGHOUT THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE: 1) Set your computer to decimal point under Control Panels (-> numbers). 2) To edit (alter) a record (athlete, event,...), you can also double click the selected record. 3) To select numerous records (for example to delete), select the row of the first record, press the Shift-button of the keyboard and keep it pressed. Then select the row of the last record by means of the mouse. 4) To make a new menu-selection, be sure that you first COMPLETE the current menu-function, by use the OK button or the Enter key on the keyboard, sometimes even multiple times. In other words, you have to see the screen, with the TimeTronics name (=logo), before you can make a new menu-selection. Abbreviations NAF: National Athletic Federation FT: Field Terminal MF: MacFinish MM: MeetManager PC: Personal Computer NR: No Result DIS: Disqualified DNF: Did Not Finish DNS: Did Not Start DNP: Did Not Participate EDM: Electronic Distance Measurement (electronic laser system)

3 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 3 2 CONCEPT 2.1 HOW DOES OUR MEETMANAGEMENT SYSTEM WORKS? A) Installation of the system (only once) 1) Installation of the MeetManagement software on your MeetManager PC. 2) Installation of the photo-finish system (optional), Field Terminals (Optional), Laser Distance Measurement system (EDM, = optional), WindSpeed (measurement = optional), FieldScoreboard (optional), and cable connections between all systems. 3) Creating a database with the names, birth dates, category, gender, team or country name, athlete ID (bib number) etc for all athletes. The best thing would be that you have this for ALL of your athletes of your country, so that you can use this same datafile EACH (national) meet. As an alternative, you could make a new file for each new meet, perhaps even with different ID-numbers. This would give you of course muc more work, and most likely also more typing errors! 4) Creating a database with the names, specifications etc of ALL possible athletic indoor and outdoor events, for each individual (age) category and gender. You can of course start with the standard file that we deliver with this software, which is based on the IAAF list of athletic events and their specifications. Later you can modify this datafile, with extra or modified (national) events, conform to your national athlete categories and the national rules. The best thing would be that each national FEDERATION would create this file, verify it, and distribute it to all possible users in its country. The same is true for the creation of a nationwide file with all athlete information (see above NR 3). B) Using the system, for each (national or international) meet 1) Entering meet specifications before the start of the meet (date and name of the meet, list of events, etc. = preparation). 2) Entering the competitors of the running events, at least fifteen minutes before the start of the running event or sooner. 3) Automatically receiving the results of running events from the photo-finish computer (MacFinish II or MacFinish III) 4) Entering the competitors of the field events, at least fifteen minutes before the start of each event, or sooner. 5) Automatically receiving the results of field events from the Field Terminal or manually entering these results immediately after the event on the keyboard of the MM-computer. 6) Printing out a partial or complete result on paper during and/or after the meet. 7) Fast export of all performances on floppy disk and mailing to NAF, by regular post or HOW IS THIS MEETMANAGEMENT MANUAL WRITTEN We have written this users manual in a chronological order, in other words, we first describe what you have to do first, and then what all the following things are that you should or could do. This because for this kind of program / application it would clearly create a lot of problems if you first try to find a way to enter results, then type in different event descriptions, without the availability of all athlete information, meet information, etc. Therefore please take your time to read trough this complete manual, at least once, and later of course you can use all different functions / buttons in a way and order that you need them.

4 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 4 3 CABLE CONNECTION WITH MF OR FT (OPTIONAL) 3.1 USE OF A SERIAL CONNECTION WITH MACFINISH II OR MF III (OPTIONAL) Interface box The computer covering the Meet Manager program is linked to the computer covering the MacFinish program by means of a serial cable between both serial ports. See product numbers P244 and P245. Should both computers be located too far from each other, then an extension lead may help you out: 3.2 USE OF A SERIAL CONNECTION WITH FIELDTERMINALS (OPTIONAL) A serial cable (Product number P244) is used between the PC-serial port, and the FieldTerminal-interface box. The connection between the FT interface and the different FT s itself on the athletic track, can be done by separate (MacFinish type, 5 pins) cable reels and one cable splitter for each FT, or Fixed cabling under the ground + the MacFinish connection boxes and one cable for each FT. A 12p connector from the interface box to a connection box OR reel on the track. The FieldTerminal is connected with a 5p connector to a reel or connection box. SCSI or Ethernet Interface Box 12pins Example of a larger configuration see next page WARNING: Be sure you have the required number of serial ports on your MeetManagement PC!! For example for the connections to: Photofinish, Field Terminals, Stadium scoreboards,...

5 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 5 4 INSTALLATION OF THE PROGRAM 4.1 MEETMANAGEMENT SOFTWARE The Meet Manager program for PC is delivered on CD. Insert the CD and open it onto your PC desktop. Locate the zipped (=compressed) file with the latest MM software, and copy this file to your computer. When you double-click this file, you start the de-compressing of the program, and it will ask you where you want to store the program on your harddisk. The resulting file will be similar to; When you open this folder you will find; To start the program, double-click the icon: 4.2 INSTALLATION OF NAF (NATIONAL ATHLETIC FEDERATION) ATHLETE DATABASE FILE(S) You will need from the NAF a (.TXT-type) datafile, in the correct format, containing all athlete names etc, or you have to type in later all these names, birth dates, categories, team names, etc yourself. The example file Athletes importfile contains a demo athletes file, which is used in Belgium. If not already done, copy this file onto your harddisk, for demo or test purposes.

6 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 6 5 PRODUCING A MEET FILE 5.1 STARTING UP THE PROGRAM Double click the MM program icon to start up the Meet Manager program: Click New... in the following window that appears (to create a brand-new datafile). You can now type in the name of the required data file (for example; MMDatafile ) and save it by clicking Save :

7 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 7 Note: Following window will automatically appear on your screen (in fact this is the main screen that should be visible on your screen if you want to leave the program or execute whatever new MENU operation): 5.2 IMPORTING THE NAF ATHLETE FILE (E.G. SHIN.1) To import the NAF athlete file, select List sorted numerical or List sorted alphabetic under the Athletes menu. Subsequent window appears on your screen. You will notice that there is no athlete data available yet. Click the Import file button to read the NAF athletes file. You are asked whether or not you are sure to read the athletes file. Click OK. Locate and select the Athletes importfile and click Open. Next you will receive the message that the computer is importing the athlete file. As soon as the entire file is read, the following message appears; All athletes have been read. 5.3 IMPORTING EVENT SPECIFICATIONS To import the file covering event specifications, select Event specification s under the Events menu. The password to alter event specifications is secret; just click OK :

8 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 8 A window will appear, but no event specifications are available yet. Click on the Import button, and then select the event specifications file, for example Eventspec020103, and click Open : After all events have been read, a window appears in which all possible events are shown. Use the scroll bar on the right-hand side of the window to run through the file. Click OK to leave this window. 5.4 ENTERING GENERAL MEET INFORMATION AND PREFERENCES You can now start entering your first meet. Under the General menu, select Meet information and Settings General meet information Here you fill in all indispensable data such as date, choose between indoor or outdoor, type the location or place, name of event, extra info, meet code (use NAF coding!!). The meet number (code with one or two characters plus a number (e.g.: I12 )) is predetermined by the NAF, meaning that you cannot fill in a random number on your own initiative!!

9 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page Preferences settings Here you choose which are the preferential settings for your timing method for all races; electronic (photofinish) timing or manual timing. Furthermore you can choose a specific location for your import and export files (for event participants and results, see later). You can also select if you have unique numbers in your athlete importfile (select Day ) or overlapping number for each category/gender (select Year ). If you select Year then the program will make all overlapping athlete-id s unique, by adding a ten-thousand figure in front of the athlete-id ( ), for example the male Junior athlete 1972 will become ID and the female Junior athlete 1972 will become ID Most customers will always use Day Serial port settings Please pay attention: the selected port(s) should be available for the program! Be aware of internal modems which could also occupy some serial port(s)! You will get an alarm if the selected serial port is not available. The first two serial ports (MacFinish and FieldTerminal ports)) are used to (optionally) input race and/or field results. The bottom three serial ports (Race results, Field results, and Stadium scoreboard) are used to (optionally) live output the results FieldTerminal settings In this window you can modify the type of (optional) fieldscoreboard and/or laser-measurement device that you may have connected to one or more FieldTerminal(s).

10 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page EVENTS Adding new events The next step is to allot events to our meet. Select list of all events under the Events menu: Subsequent window appears on your screen. You will notice that there are no events available yet. Click the button with the empty page icon to create a new event..

11 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 11 In fact, you should first complete the data in the green frame. After having completed a field, go to the next one via the Return key, Tab key or by means of the mouse. Do not use the Enter key; the entire window will then be closed (after having saved the data). Event number: Is automatically increased by one unit at each new event. Time scheduled: (Optional) To be manually entered. Two characters (hour) + two characters (min). Category: Click the empty field next to category. Subsequently the following frame appears in which you click the correct category for that event: (for example Jun for Juniors):

12 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 12 Automatically the selected category appears in the -so far- empty field. Gender: Click the correct selection button, Men or Women. Event name: Click Choose event. Next, a window appears rendering a global survey of all the events, which are eligible for the selected category. Now you should only click the required event (click only once!!): Click the OK button to enforce your selection. Automatically your selection appears in the proceeding window next to Choose event. Extra info: (Optional) here you can complete the necessary extra EVENT-information that you would like to be printed on paper, for example Semi-final, B-final,... Record info: (Optional) will be printed in the header of each page. Event title: (Optional) here you can change the title of the event, as you want the event to appear on the stadium scoreboard, on paper, etc. Next, click the Save button (floppy disk icon) or the Enter -key on your keyboard. Again the Information and Control window appears, but the event number is automatically increased by one unit. Repeat the same working method for ALL of the events of your athletic meet. To end the entering of events, click the do not save button (crossed-out floppy disk icon) List of events When selecting list of events under the Events menu, a window covering all events of that meet will appear on your screen. An example:

13 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 13 Note: In case of combined events, the various events are coloured green. The combined event itself is coloured red. You can further sort this list according to event number, hour, and event name or according to category. To do so, click the appropriate arrows just underneath the list: It is also possible to alter this list, delete events, and add events or to print the list. To do so, click the appropriate buttons underneath the window. Erase all selected events Add event save change print To modify an event, click the event in question once and press the Change button. You will return to the information and control window from which you can further introduce changes to the event in question. A different way is to double click the event record. That way, you can return to the information and control window as well. 5.6 ENTERING PARTICIPANTS Our list of events is ready. A following and logical step is adding participants to these events. Suppose we want to enter the participants of event nr. 23; the 800m B-final for junior men. We double-click this event in the list of events. Next we enter the information and control window of this event. Click Participants... : Subsequent window appear in which the absence of competitors in this event is mentioned:

14 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 14 Usage: How to use the athlete-id if you have selected Year type of athlete numbers. a) For all athletes participating in their own category: Just type the chest number The program itself will automatically add the ten-thousands. Example; chest number > > men benjamins, pupils,miniemen > men cadets,schol > men juniors, seniors and veterans > women benjamins, pupils,miniemen > women cadets,schol > women juniors, seniors and veterans b) For a competitor from a different category (for example a cadet running with the juniors/seniors/masters): Fill in the complete number (including the ten-thousands). TIP: After having typed the chest number, first press the Return or the Tab key. That way, you can first check the athlete s name or club and if necessary (in case of an erroneously completed number) again enter the correct chest number. If the athletes name and team data are correct, you can finish the participant input (= save) by pressing the Enter key and proceed with the next participant registration. To end the input of participants, click the do not save button (crossed-out floppy disk icon).

15 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page Adding athlete records to the athlete database (automatic) When entering a new participant, you sometimes type in an erroneous or non-existing athlete number. Then you will get the following message: This athlete-id does not exist. Create new athlete record? If you persist to enter this athlete-id, click the OK button (or hit the Enter key on the keyboard). You can enter this athlete s data in the next window. Then click the save button.

16 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page Finding athlete records in the athlete database When entering the participants, you can search for an athlete in the NAF athlete file. Suppose you are not sure of the IDnumber of athlete WUYTS KAREL. Click the Find button: A window appears in which you enter the name of the team or country (4 characters) and the name of the athlete (or part of it). Then click the Find button: You will obtain a list covering all possible athletes, which can meet this description: Select the athlete by clicking its record ONCE and by pressing the OK button. The complete athlete data will be filled in, and you can now modify the other data of the participants record; - heat nr + lane/hip nr. for the running events - order nr. for the field events.

17 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page Entering heats and lanes (only for running events) This can be done very quickly and simply via practical +1 and -1 buttons to determine each athlete s heat and lane. Each time, the lane number is automatically increased so that (apart from having to click the heat +1 button once in a while) you only need to type in the athletes chest numbers and press the Return (control correct name) + Enter buttons. A change in the heat composition (even at the very last moment) must always and immediately be entered in the Meet- Management computer. After having entered all competitors, heats and lanes for the event in question, click the Save button: You will get for example the following survey: You can always print this survey per event and pass it along with the officials at the track. Please verify your printer s adjustments so that this survey can be printed on one page. If you return to the Control and information window (click OK), the blue frame will tell you more about this event in question. In the example below, the blue frame informs you that - there is one heat of the 100 m covering a total of 8 athletes - there will be wind speed measurement - and the operator has already checked (homologated) the results (at 19h34). - Therefore the printout is OK which also means that it is already printed. For example for javelin, the weight of the javelin for that category is mentioned as well.

18 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 18 Now follow the same procedure for all other events. TIP: We would also like to mention that in the information and control window, you can rapidly switch to the data of another event by clicking subsequent buttons: Show last event Show 1rst event Show previous event Show following event Similarly, for many other screens (for example the participants entry), you can switch to the next, previous, first or last participant with similar buttons. You will also notice that the lay-out of the event surveys will differ from event to event.

19 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 19 Above you can see an example of a Triple jump event and here below an example of High jump. The various pages can and should be printed and handed over to the officials (sometimes in duplicate; 1x for the performance and 1x for the wind speed measurement). In turn the officials can complete the good and bad attempts on this sheet and return it to the meet administration after the event, or live type the results into the FieldTerminal(s).

20 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page GETTING RESULTS You can get the results into the MM-program; - Automatic, for the race events; by a serial link with the MacFinish photofinish system. - Automatic, for the field events; by a serial link with the FieldTerminal network. - Manual, for any event; by typing the results from the keyboard. Under results in your list of events, you will encounter 4 possible terms for the status of each event; Waiting Available Checked means that the list of competitors in question has been (entirely or not) entered, but that no results are available yet. From the moment that one or more heats have been entered, these can be automatically evoked by the photo-finish program. means that all results of this event were automatically send by the MacFinish photo-finish system or a FieldTerminal for further control in the meet management program. means that you have completely checked the result of this event. To attach this status to the event, click the checked button in the information and control window. Correction is used if: - The result of a race event has just been corrected and sends again by the photo-finish operator. You will see this status automatically. - You were notified that there was an error in the event results, or somebody was disqualified. Click the button Correction in the information and control window of that particular event and correct the results. In both cases, verify these new results, click the Checked button again, and print the corrected results. Note that a future printout with a word-processor will indicate that the results were corrected.

21 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page Results received from the MacFinish photo-finish system As soon as a serial connection with the MacFinish photo-finish is accomplished, processed results can easily be sent from the photo-finish program to the meet management program. Please read the MacFinish users manual for details of this function. Of course, the photo-finish operator needs to have the (optional) keycode (license-code) to use such a serial connection between both systems. If the photo-finish operator conveys the results of the last heat of a race event to the meet management system, the MM operator will notice the available status under results in the list of events window. To take a look at these results, double click the event in question, which is marked available. Now press the Results button in the information and control window. Immediately the list of performances (and possible wind speed measurement) appears for that event, recorded by the photo-finish operator. Look at the example below, recorded during an outdoor meet in Belgium. In this phase, obviously only major errors can be traced, such as for example an athlete who was registered, yet was not given any result via the photo-finish. This may happen if the athlete is situated outside the visible picture area and is forgotten because of that. The actual, detailed control should be done later by the main judge by means of a comparison between the results on the event sheets and the official sheet of the photo-finish.

22 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 22 What if the program renders multiple short beep tones (alarm)? This signifies that an incompatibility has occurred during the automatic processing of the MacFinish results. In other words, the data have not been processed correctly. (Possible causes: MacFinish passes a lane, which has not been entered / MacFinish renders a time for an athlete who has not been registered /MacFinish renders a time for an athlete who has been registered twice). If you get an alarm, or if the status of the running event remains Waiting even long after the photo-finish operator has transmitted all heat results for that event, select List of MF results under the MacFinish menu: A following window appears in which you can verify whether the photo-finish program has correctly processed a certain event or not: You notice that one event (3,1,1) could not be processed because of an error. Now double click this event. A following window appears covering the MacFinish timing results for that specific event:

23 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 23 You notice that there is an error: there were 9 participants entered for that event,but place 9 = lane 5 = athlete 216 is in the list, yet without a time result! This is only an example, other kind of (operator) errors are also possible! 1) You can ask the photo-finish operator to correct the error(s) and to send the adapted results again. Then the status of this race event becomes available. 2) You can ask for the results of this heat and personally enter the results (Place and time), as described later in chapter If you approve of this result, put the event into status checked in the information and control window, and proceed as usual Results received from the FieldTerminal network When you have one or more FieldTerminals connected to your MM-computer, (see 3.b) you will LIVE receive all the results from these terminals as soon as they are typed on the FT-numerical keypad, or measured by means of the optional EDM laser distance measurement equipment. Such a laser system can easily be connected to the rear of each corresponding FT, just like you can connect an optional WindSpeed (long- or triple-jump), or a rotating or fixed FieldScoreboard (numerical or graphical). Please read the FieldTerminal users manual for details of the use and functions of the FieldTerminal. Each FieldTerminal has a NODE-NUMBER, to identify them from the others on the same network. This number can easily be changed by the FT-keyboard if necessary. In de brown rectangle of the Information and control window, you will see the FT-number that is used (as soon as the FieldTerminal is started) for that event. Further you should click on the check box next to WindSpeed if you have connected a TimeTronics WindSpeed equipment to the FT (for long or triple jump), and optionally click on the check box next to Lasermeas. if you have connected an EDM laser distance/height measurement equipment to the FT (for jumping or throwing events). You further should enter the starting height in case it is a high jump or pole vault event, the height increment(s), and (for all kind of events), the maximum number of attempts. AFTER you have entered all these required settings, and the official(s) are ready to start working with their FieldTerminal, go to the Information and control window of the corresponding event, and press the button Start FieldTerminal.

24 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 24 A window will appear and ask you which terminal number (1...9) you would like to use for that event. Type it in and press the OK button. Also the line number is asked on which you would like to see the results on the (optional) stadium scoreboard (see chapter 6). In the List of events... window you will be able to see in a red color the list of terminal number(s), and scoreboard line numbers for all events in which you are using a FieldTerminal. When you need to modify a setting for the FieldTerminal, or when the event is completed, you can use the button Stop FieldTerminal to (temporary) abort the connection with THAT terminal. The FT-operator will be informed of that fact by a message on his LCD-display. The other terminals can continue their activity. WARNING: Do not open the Participants or Results list window of an event, which is being used by a FT, as this could give a conflict with the data which is live received from the FT. If you would try this, the system will show you an alert window, mentioning that you should close the window, or abort the FT connection Manually entering performances This is done for any event, in case the optional serial connection (also called a link ) with the MacFinish photo-finish or with the FieldTerminals is not available, or when a result has to be modified (e.g. disqualification of participant) or corrected. Suppose we have just received on paper the results from the triple jump event for men seniors. To edit or modify the results, double click this event in the list of events. Click now the Results button in the information and control window:

25 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 25 If you have no FieldTerminal, or did not receive the results from the FieldTerminal, you can enter the results from the keyboard of the MM-computer. We will describe here below two methods, which can be used. The first is based on the fact that you have already entered the participants, and therefore only have to type the results, in the order of the participant list, which was printed and given to the officials in the field. The second method will explain how you first erase all participants of that event (IF you have typed them before..), and then type the different athlete-ids together with their result, in the order of best-first. Both methods have advantages, and you can choose between them as you please. During the phase that you will be entering results by the keyboard, we would like to advise you strongly to have at least TWO persons for this job. - One person to READ the result from the officials paper(s). - One person to TYPE the result into the MM program. This way you can do this job faster, with LESS RISK for errors. Also with two persons it is much faster and safer to read and verify all results one more time, after you have entered them by the keyboard. This way an error can be notified faster, without any operational implications, and corrected immediately before they are conveyed to the press, television, national federation, IAAF, Manually entering performances in chronological order A first method to fill in performances covers a chronological follow-up of the competitors. We take it for granted that you have entered the competitors to be printed for the officials on the track. To enter each athlete s performance, double click the first athlete. In subsequent window, you can manually enter the performance of that athlete and (optionally) award the athlete a place. For each following athlete, click the right arrow (= next ) button:

26 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 26 First the entered performance is saved and then the next record is shown. After you have entered the result for the last record, click the save-button (diskette icon). NOTE: The lay-out of this window depends on the type of event! Manually entering performances in best-first order A second way to manually fill in performances (for example very handy for a race event including a wind measurement) is: First delete all athletes by selecting all participants, and using the Delete selection button, then click New results and enter the result of the wind measurement for that particular heat: Click OK. Subsequently you only need to fill in the chest number (ID) of each athlete and his / her performance. The computer automatically registers for each participant the wind speed and the places. When there is an E next to Electronically / manually, this means that there was a default electronic timing. This means that the times will be rendered up to the hundredths. When there is no E, this means that you can give in times including hundredths of a second, yet that in your list of performances these times will be displayed to one tenth of a second. Check this before you validate a race event with the Checked button! How to type the Performance (next to best performance)? For example: for 9.05 sec. you type in: or pt : Or click the buttons: did not start, did not finish, disqualified or no performance. How to type the wind speed measurement? +1.3 becomes becomes -0.9 Typing in of valid performance and wind speed

27 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 27 Only if better performances have been registered, but whereby the performance could not be officially homologated as being a record because the wind velocity (to the benefit of the athlete) exceeded 2 meters per second (at long jump and triple jump). Entering of electronic (E) or manual (M) time registration Use these registrations in case you have respectively used a photo-finish Electronic timing or Manual timing. Typing in of extra information For example: Regional or national record: RR or NR Regional champion: RC Printing results If you have entered or received ALL results of an event and when you have put the event on checked, you can print these results by clicking the button Print result of this event. If you wish to print out a result of this category, click Print result of this category. This way all results (of all the events) of this category (e.g. men juniors) are printed out. This may come in handy for a combined event if you require a separate print-out hereof.

28 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 28 Next a window appears in which you can determine the printing adjustments: Should you not have entered the specifications of the new event, following message will appear: You should first enter the most important event data such as category, sex and name of the event, before you can execute this command! This is the case for most buttons in this window. 5.8 COMBINED EVENTS When you have entered a combined event in the list of events (in this example event 23= Pentathlon for men seniors), you will notice that the sequence of the 5 individual events ( ) was automatically respected and integrated: The combined event is shown in red color, and its sub-events are indicated in green. In the following example, we have registered 6 competitors before the start of the combined event. When clicking Participants in your information and control window, you will obtain the following window:

29 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 29 Click OK and go to the information and control window of the first event of the combined event (in this example it will be the 60m hurdles = event 24). A short while before the start of the event, click the button Copy remaining participants in the 60m hurdles race window (event 24): That way, all 6 competitors that are still competing in the combined event (of course for the first event, all of them) are automatically transferred to this event (60mH). As such, you do not need to type in the competitors over and over again for each individual event. When clicking Participants, you will obtain a survey of the competitors to the first event: Next, enter the division of heats and lanes for each athlete. See : Entering of heats and lanes. You now wait for the race results, which you can automatically receive by cable from the MacFinish photo-finish, or have to type from your keyboard. Then we would like to know the result in points for this event (important and required for any combined event!). These points are CALCULATED by means of coefficients as mentioned in the blue frame within this information and control window. Now we click the (Re) Calculate points of this event button: Next click the Results button, and in your list of performances under Extra information, you notice the award of points for each athlete in accordance with the result. The example below shows the points for a 400m race;

30 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 30 Should you require an intermediate result of the combined event, click Recalculate points in the information and control window of the combined event. Following message COULD appear IF one or more athletes did not participate OR if you have not entered a result for these competitor(s): Pay attention: not all athletes have participated in all events! You should personally remove these athletes from the result. CHECK this, and if necessary, remove the athlete(s) who did not start their race, or did not participate for a field event, from the participant list of the combined event! For the next event (in our example 25= long jump) click Copy remaining competitors in the information and control window of that event. The remaining competitors are automatically transferred to the long jump event. Check this by clicking Participants, and later type the results of javelin, or receive them automatically from a FieldTerminal. Again we would like to know the score in points. Points are calculated on the best performance. If this performance was realized with a tail wind exceeding 2m/s (outdoor event of course), this performance will still be conveyed into a valid amount of points, yet only the valid performance is eligible for a possible (national or international) record in the long jump event. Click Recalculate points in the information and control window OF LONG JUMP and subsequently click Results. Under Extra info in the list of results you will obtain the award of points for this event. Via Recalculate points and Results in the combined events information and control window, we can get a survey of the intermediate result after two or more events. It is always possible that some athletes were not able to add points to their total because they did not manage to score points for the long jump or any other event. Click OK. In the blue frame within the Information and control window of the combined event you will notice that an intermediate result was calculated after two events. Follow the same procedure for all further events.

31 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page Note with reference to Youth Combined events For youth combined-events, the organizers can freely compose the combined-events themselves. Therefore the program is not capable of doing this automatically. The MM program however will generate the correct amount of events, yet for these events you will have to make the correct choice of events by yourself. For this, use the Choose event button. 5.9 EXPORT OF (TEXT) RESULTS TO (ANY) WORD-PROCESSOR As soon as an event has been given the Checked status (click Checked in the information and control window), the results of this event will be automatically sent to a result text file, named: WPdoc.txt. The result text file WPdoc can be opened or imported via a random text-processing program. In the text-processing program you can provide the results with a nice lay-out and with a header or footer. Use the tab fuction of your Word processor to neatly sort everything in columns. Reading the WPdoc file in a text processor can be done during or after a meet, and as many times as you like. After four or five checked events for example, you can return to your text-processing program, read the new results (from the WPdoc file on your harddisk) and print out a few pages of the final result. It is very important to press the button Delete WPdoc immediately after having switched back to the MM program. This is to avoid that, when reading Wpdoc later again, the old data would turn up in your text processor for the second time EXPORT TO NAF To produce a file on floppy disk for the NAF, on which all results of your meet are covered, all events should be marked checked in the Results column of the list of events. To export all (text-formatted) data, select Export Results to TXT file under the File menu. For some countries the MMprogram also includes a menu function to export binary coded data, with more details. - Export Results to TXT file now automatically makes a.txt type of file on your harddisk. - This file is called: WPdoc. You can use this (text) file also to make an HTML-file, to put the results on the Internet, on your website. - Now copy this file on a DOS formatted floppy and have it sent to the NAF. Please use a special extra protecting envelope, or even easier, the file to the NAF SAVING AND OPENING A MEET After the meet, create a folder on your harddisk and name it Archive Meet Files. Then save the entire meet data in this folder.

32 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 32 To do so, select Save meet under the File menu. Select the folder Archive meet files), give the meet a name and click Save : Should you wish to open an old meet again (in above example the evening meet 06 July 1997), select Open meet under the File menu, and select the corresponding meet file: PAY ATTENTION! The program will first give a warning because the program will DELETE the actual data in memory (events & performances), because only one meet at a time can be loaded into memory! Should you no longer need the actual data, you can have them erased out. In that case, click OK. In your file window box, now select the meet that you wish to load PRINT RESULTS Via Print result under your File menu, you can easily print out the entire result of the meet PRESS REPORT Via Press Report under the File menu you also print out the result of the meet, be it only for the first three places of each event! = Podium places or medals report MEET STATISTICS Via Meet Statistics under the General menu, you will get a handy survey of the amount of events, amount of performances, amount of athletes and amount of clubs having participated in the meet. That way you can also verify how many seniors, juniors and veterans participated per club DELETING ALL EVENTS Under the General menu, select Erase all events :

33 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 33 Do this each time you want to prepare a new meet. An alert window with the following message appears on your screen: Are you sure you want to delete all events? Verify that you first have saved your meet data (see chapter 5.11). If you do want to delete the events and matching performances, click OK in the alert window. If you click Cancel, nothing will be erased; see picture. NOTE: You now dispose of a data file in which there are no more events or performances. Still the complete, most recent athlete file (name, chest number, club, etc.) and the file covering all possible athletic events, which can be organized (event specifications) according to the NAF regulations, remain saved in the current datafile. That is why we again start entering the general meet specifications, followed by the events, which are being held on that day. The working method that you must follow is the working method as described starting in chapter DELETING ALL PERFORMANCES Only to be executed in case you only wish to delete all performances. The list of events remains saved. For example: you still dispose of the meet file of last year covering the same events as scheduled for this year. Fully in accordance with Deleting all events a warning is given; Are you sure you want to delete all performances? Click the OK or Cancel button.

34 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 34 6 STADIUM SCOREBOARD CONTROL First of all, we would like to explain what you could show on the stadium scoreboard with our MM-program. We have created a NEW and UNIQUE concept, where it is possible to split up a stadium TEXT scoreboard into two parts. The top part we will name the DATA display, where the bottom part we will call the FIELD display. On the picture below you see an example, where the data-display is shown in blue color, and the field-display is shown in green color. The idea is that the data-display can be used for an AUTOMATIC or MANUAL display of participants and/or results of ANY event, where the field display can be used for a live display of the actual participant and his live result for one or more field events. In other words, the field display area can be a (temporary) replacement for motorized rotating fieldscoreboard(s). If you would like to synchronize the display of results on the data-display with for example a podium/medals ceremony, you put the data-display in manual mode and you will need an operator to send the data at the desired moment. In automatic mode, the data-display will act as a sort of slide-show, without the need of an operator, which will CONTINOUSLY show all data. Each screen will be shown during a presettable period, and the most recent data will be shown with the highest priority. The field display contains all possible interesting live data of the field-events, including attempt number, height of the horizontal bar, athlete name and team, and even the live placing of competitors DURING the event. One extra very interesting thing is that we have created a computer program that can SIMULATE the stadium scoreboard. This program is an option to the actual TimeTronics MeetManagement program, and when the computer on which it is running serially receives the scoreboard data, it will show this data in presettable colors, and large scaled characters on a computer window. The intention is to send this computer screen in PAL (television) format to one or more (unlimited) number of television or monitor sets around your (indoor) stadium, to inform the public, athletes and coaches of all this information in case you do not have an expensive stadium scoreboard!!! In the past you would need an extra external box (SVGA to PAL video converter), but since a few years many computer video cards have this PAL output feature standard available. The example above shows a result list of the 800meter Men-B-final, together with a live display of pole vault (PV), high jump (HJ), and triple jump (TJ). For the vertical events you can also see the attempt number, as a first bad attempt is

35 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 35 shown as R=X and the second good attempt will be shown as R=X0. The line number that is used for each field event (in this example 11,12 and 13) is requested by the program when you start a FieldTerminal (see 5.7.2). 6.1 SETTING THE STADIUM CONTROL PARAMETERS By means of the menu-selection Scoreboards/Stadion scoreboard settings you can open a window to control all stadium scoreboard settings. The following settings are visible and used to control the stadium scoreboard; - SBType: Select the correct type and brand of stadium scoreboard. The corresponding serial communication protocol will be used to send the correct data to the scoreboard. If your type/brand of stadium scoreboard is not (yet) in the list, ask your supplier for the communication protocol that is used, and send it by to TimeTronics. As soon as we have received the complete communication protocol, we can give you a price offer for the programming of a new software driver for your scoreboard. - Nmb. of lines: Select the total number of TEXTlines for the stadium scoreboard. - Nmb. chars/line: Select the number of TEXTcharacters that the scoreboard has for each line. - Nmb.lines data display: Select the number of lines for the data-display area, read description of data-display in the beginning of this chapter. - Data display period (sec): The period in seconds how long each new screen is shown in the dta-display area in case you have put the data-display in Automatic mode, see here below. - Automatic (Slide-show): You can put the data-display in automatic mode, so that each new screen will be shown CONTINUOUSLY for a presettable number of seconds. As soon as all new screens have been shown, it will show the first screen again. The method used is the following; the system will count how many times each screen is already shown. The screen with the lowest count will be shown first, which also mean that the MOST RECENT data is shown immediately, and the oldest data (which is already shown many times) is not shown any more. Only when there was no

36 TimeTronics Sports Timing Systems MeetManager Users Manual 2004 page 36 new data any more for a certain period, the older data will be shown again, so that you have a continuous use of the scoreboard. - Nmb. lines FieldEvents: The number of TEXTlines that you would like to use for a display of field-event data. Will be equal to (Nmb.lines - Nmb.linesdatadisplay). Field display period (sec): The period in seconds how long a result will be shown on the Field-scoreboards AND on the lines of the field-display of the stadium scoreboard. After this period, the field scoreboards will show the next participant. 6.2 BUTTONS TO CONTROL THE STADIUM SCOREBOARD LIVE For each textline you have a Send and a Clear button (see picture below). This makes it possible to clear one or more lines of the scoreboard, for example if you would like to show only the first three results (medals ceremony), or if you would like to quickly send a keyboard-typed message on the scoreboard. Simply put the computer cursor at the desired location on the scoreboard display rectangle, type a text (for example Congratulations Mr.... with your new WORLD Record, and press the Send button of that line. The buttons Send all and Clear All can be used for a control of all lines at once. The check boxes in the window below can be used IN THE FUTURE (=not yet activated) for a flexible control of the contents of the data-display. In case your (future) scoreboard would not have 40 chars but less, you will be able to limit the text that is send to the board correspondingly.