Meet Manager from Active Hy-Tek is the software that runs swim meets, here we will use it to: -

Transcription

1 How to setup a meet in Meet Manager Meet Manager from Active Hy-Tek is the software that runs swim meets, here we will use it to: - Setup events for the Swim Meet Setup Qualifying times Setup Multiple Sessions Export the events in readiness for collecting entries online. Importing entries Seeding the meet Preparing a program for the Officials Preparing a program for the Parents Preparing Lane Timekeeping sheets My Swim Results PO Box 31 West Perth WA 6872 Unit 14 / 1329 Hay Street West Perth WA 6005 Ph: support@myswimresults.com.au In this document, we assume that you already have HyTek Meet Manager installed on your machine. Some sections of this document are not appropriate for all meets. (i.e. it would be pretty rare to have qualifying times for a club night) so just skip over a section if it is not appropriate. Steps involved with preparing Meet Manager to organise a swim meet Step 1 Design a Meet Program (not covered in this guide) 1 Step 2 Create a Meet Manager Database Step 3 Import the list of Events from Meet Manager into Online Entries Step 4 Monitor entries Step 5 Entries close Import entries into Meet Manager database Step 6 Seed the program Step 7 Create an Estimated Timeline and Meet Program (various formats for different roles) Step 8 Use Meet Manager to Run the meet Use the contents page to find the sections that are relevant to what you want to do. 1 Consult coaches and any previous meets in order to help build up a listing of events and how the results need to be reported (i.e. Certain age groupings)

2 Contents How to setup a meet in Meet Manager... 1 Meet Manager and Online Entries Workflow... 4 Creating a new Swim Meet... 5 Open a previously created meet... 8 Setup Events to the Swim Meet... 8 Editing events Renumbering events Setup Sessions Setup Qualifying Times Setting a maximum number of Events that a swimmer can participate in at the meet Setting a minimum age for the meet Exporting events in readiness for Online Entries Backup your work Online Entries Sanctioned meets Club Nights Calendar Exporting Entries from My Swim Results Importing an interim entries file to check timeline in Meet Manager Importing the Final Entries file MC Athletes Advanced / Optional steps Run an Entries report Fixed lane assignments Seeding the meet Review the Seeding of the meet Session / Estimated Time-Line report Creating the Meet Program Event Sponsors Spectator program Officials program Lane Timekeeper sheets

3 Producing a program that can be edited to include additional advertising Backup the Meet Manager Database Restore a Meet Manager Database Running the Meet Preparing the Dolphin timing system Ready to start a race Recording Scratching s Recording DQ s Printing Results Reseeding an event Manually adjust the swimmer s allocations Reseed event in meet manager Appendix A - Troubleshooting Appendix B Using specific seed times from Team Manager rather than those allocated by Online Entries Appendix C Backup Appendix D - Meet Mobile Appendix E - Exporting Meet Results to a Team Manager file Appendix F Updating Meet Manager Appendix G Live results in Meet Manager with My Swim Results Appendix H Interclub with Fixed Lane assignments Appendix I Importing an Excel listing of Swimmers Appendix J Dolphin Timing with Splits Frequently Asked Questions

4 Meet Manager and Online Entries Workflow Step 1 - Design a Meet Program Meet Manager Online Entries Step 2 Create a Meet Manager Database Step 3 Import the list of events into Online Entries Time-line checking Step 4 Monitor Entries Step 5 - Import Entries into Meet Manager Entries close Step 6 Seed the meet Step 7 Create the Meet Program and Estimated Timeline Step 8 Run the Meet 4

5 Creating a new Swim Meet Hopefully by the time you get to this stage, a listing of the events has already been organised and it is just a matter of setting up the database in readiness. Some thought as to what age groupings for the results has hopefully occurred as well. This will help in setting up some of the features for the events. (i.e. you want all the swimmers to swim together based on ability and report the results based on age groups) To start a new swim meet it is best to start by creating a new swim meet database. Note: It is possible to take a previous meet with all the same events and just purge all the entries and results out of it in readiness for a new meet but you will need to be confident: - You are not destroying your previous meet completely Your file system naming conventions and structures are adhered to In this document, we will be starting from scratch so to create a new Meet Database: choose File -> New/Open Use the folder structure to try and keep all the files relevant to the swim meet all-together. For example: create a folder structure so that all the meets for a particular season are together. Don t be afraid to add another level to your structure so that each swim meet has its own folder where you can store other documents relevant to the meet. C:\swmeets6\ is the default area why not put subfolders in there for each season Create a new folder especially for your next meet. 5

6 Now that you have your folder setup give a meaningful name to the meet database Press the open button to create the meet database (yes that is a bit weird think of it as Opening a new database rather than an existing database). The Meet setup screen will appear for you to put in the basic information about the meet. Things like:- a name for the meet start and end dates age-up date (when the age is calculated for the meet) o Typically, this is the same as the date of the meet however some club point score systems require it to be set it up so that it calculates the age as at a particular date. When you want entries to close (Entry Deadline) 6

7 Note: Some settings such as Class, Meet Style, ID Format, Host LSC, Base Country, DQ Codes and even facility name, address and Course (if you only have 1 pool you run your meets in) will always be the same from meet to meet unless you have something very specific you are trying to do. Press Ok to save the basic meet information. The window will disappear and generally the next thing to do is to click on Events to setup the list of events. Note: Meet Manager may popup Meet Mobile Publishing or ask if you want to back-up the meet you get used to closing these windows as they just get in the way at this point. Use the X in the top right of their specific window to close them. 7

8 This will not be the last time this screen appears, so you will get used to closing it whenever you open a meet. Open a previously created meet Using the File -> Open menu option from the main screen allows you to find a previously created database in the folder structure. Setup Events to the Swim Meet Hopefully by this point you have some idea of what events need to be run if not then stop and talk to coaches or club officials to find out what they want to run. Try and get them to be as clear as possible as sometimes they might say something but it may have different interpretations. For this example - we are going to run a simple junior (12 and under) club night with 50 s of everything, a 100 IM, 100 Freestyle finishing with some relays. Just to add a little complication - we also have awards for only the 50s from first to fifth in the age groups of: - 7 and under 8 and 9 years 10 and 11 years 12 years To begin - Click on the Events menu option along the top to open up the list of events. Initially this will be empty. Press the Add button to start adding events to the program. 8

9 In the above example, we have made the first event a Mixed 12 & Under 50 Freestyle. This would be fine but, when we run the meet, we also want to be able to report the results in a number of different age groups. So what we are going to do with his event is enable Multi-age Group so that the system will report the results for this event broken down into the age groups so that we can award the 1 st to 5 th swimmers. To setup the reporting to break the results into the age groups, tick the tick-box beside the Multi-age Group. Pressing the small square button beside Multi-age Group will open the screen to setup the age groups to report on. 9

10 A new window will appear and allow you to put an age group that you want to use to report on each row. Notes: make sure that all age groups are accounted for on this window o the age group for this example is 0 to 12 doesn t necessarily need to be in order but it helps for Open age groups use the High age of 109 (or leave it blank) Once all the age groups are accounted for the Ok button will allow the window to close as the age groups will be accepted. Note: Multi-age Groups on mixed events will break the reporting up into separate Boys and Girls as well as the individual age groups. The event type for the event is typically Standard or Multi-Class however if you want to run a novelty event which results need to be ignored when uploading to My Swim Results then you may want to set those Novelty events to have a different Event type to the others such as Time Trial whilst it might not sound right when you export the results to TM there is an option to only export a combination of Standard, Time Trial or Swim off events. This would mean that you can easily exclude the novelty events from the results. 10

11 Pressing OK on the Add New Event window will save the settings for event 1 and automatically move to event 2 to enter. (If you have Alt Gender ticked and the gender set to either boys or girls then it will also switch to the next gender ready for the next event.) Note: A nice feature is that it remembers all of the settings (including the multi-age groups) so you just need to make changes to what the previous event had. In our example, we actually don t need to report the various age groups when we get to the 100m events so we can just disable Multi-Age Group for the 100 Medley and 100 Freestyle. Once we have pressed the Ok button on the last event that we want to enter, it will continue on to the Next event on the assumption that there are more events pressing the Cancel button to cancel entering further events will return to the listing of events. Note: The listing of events doesn t update until the Add New Event window is closed. 11

12 Tip: For Multi-Class events set the age group to be different to that used by the able-bodied events. I.e. if abled bodied events are 12 & Under use 7 to 12 years for multi-class events. If able-bodied events are Open use 0 to 99 Years for multi-class events. This helps separate the events when qual times are applied to the able-bodied events. Editing events Sometimes changes need to be made to the events, this can be done by double clicking on an event to make a change. In the above example, we have changed the 50 Butterfly to be 9 to 12 years. 12

13 Note: As Multi-age group is enabled for this event we will also need to change the reporting age groups. The system will report this error when pressing ok or a button to move to the next event. At the bottom of the window there are 2 arrows for Left and Right these are useful to move to the next or previous events they also save the changes that you made. Tip: Note: It is also useful if you need to add a new event with the same Multi-Age groupings as an existing event to simply double click on that event first and then just close the edit screen. Now when you open the Add new Event window the settings from the previously opened event will already be copied into the window. Using the left and right arrows to move between events moves the blue event selection bar on window underneath however any changes made to the list will be visible until the edit screen is closed. To close out of the event listing screen use the X in the corner of the window or the icon highlighted below. Renumbering events Whilst on the Events Listing windows, it is possible to renumber the events or insert events. This can be done manually by editing individual events. When editing the event number care must be taken not to duplicate event numbers. The Re-Number menu option allows you to make some space in the program by increasing or decreasing the event numbers of a range of events. This is useful when inserting new events into the program. In the above example we are asking the system to Increase the events numbers by 2 for all events between event number 3 and 5. This will mean that 2 additional events could be inserted into the program. 13

14 Important: Once you have opened online entries then adding, changing, swapping or renumbering events will also need to be replicated in Online Entries which can be complicated. These changes are best done before online entries have been opened. Setup Sessions Any meet can have 1 or more sessions depending on the requirements. Meet Manager use these sessions to help in planning the meet and some reports - such as estimating a timeline with a session report depend on the session being setup. Larger meets may have multiple sessions which may separate Junior from Senior or the various days for the meet. It is really dependant on how you want to treat the meet. It is best done once all of the events have been entered into the meet. Whilst the session can be used to change the order of the events, it is still preferred that the event numbers follow the numeric sequence to make it easy for everyone at the meet. Note: For some organisations, there is a limit to how many swim meets a club can submit in a month to the database. Setting up multiple Sessions run on different days may be an easy way around this. Effectively setting up the meet database to have a couple of club night results in it. My Swim Results can be set to accept entries for each session independently by ticking a tick-box on the website when you upload the events (see section on uploading club night events). Whilst on the Events Listing window click on the Session to open up a new window to allow you to setup the Sessions for the meet. The top section displays a list of the sessions that have already been setup in the bottom half of the screen will show the events for the meet (left) and the events entered into the selected session. At the moment there are no sessions setup so add the first session by clicking on the Add icon. For the majority of single day meets there will only be 1 session for the whole day. 14

15 Give the session a Name. Commonly it is the day of the week or includes a date to make it easier. Set the day number typically Day 1. Change the start time to when you expect the meet to start (not the warmup start time). Set an Interval time this is the amount of time to allocate between heats. Values of 35 seconds are common. Additional time for backstroke can be added it typically is left at 15 seconds. Suggestion: Start with a 40 second interval between heats and reduce it depending on an agreement between the officials and the meet director. Some people like to set the Diving Time per Dive to zero. Meet manager can be used for Diving competitions which is where this value would be useful but typically for pool competitions it will be ignored. Even though you set the Course of the pool in the initial setup of the meet it needs to be replicated here. Pressing OK will add the new session in the top half of the screen however the window will just move to entering the next session. Pressing Cancel will close the window without saving the next session. 15

16 Now we need to add some events to the session. If you double click on the events, they can be moved over individually. This is useful if the event numbering is not straightforward. If the event numbering is straight forward and there is only 1 session then the Move All menu option will simply move all of the events into that session. Events will be highlighted yellow on the left to show that they have been associated with a session. This makes finding events that have been omitted simple. The event order can be manipulated here by simply dragging the events up and down in the list for the session but it preferable that the events are in a numeric order. Championship events might include Breaks in the program for medal presentations. The length for the break (in minutes) and a description can be included here which is useful for the Session report. Note: Online Entries doesn t take breaks into account when calculating the length of the session. The Session duration can be edited online to reduce the length of the session to account for these breaks. Once all the events have been added to sessions, then the window can be closed. 16

17 Setup Qualifying Times To add qualifying times to a meet or to certain events, this can be done from the listing of events by clicking on the Standards menu option at the top. Standards is short for Time Standards which can be certain levels based on a time in this case we are going to setup a Qualifying Time Standard which means that swimmers need to have previously gone faster than the Qualifying Time for the event in order to be allowed to enter the event. There is also the ability for Break Times which means that if a swimmer is faster than the Break Time for the event then they will NOT be allowed to enter the event. Tip: If the time standard is a common standard used for a number of different things (such as a AA time standard) then these are often available to download so that they can simply be imported into the meet database. To start with, there are no Tags at the bottom of the screen. Use the New tag icon to add a Tag to the meet. Typically, QT for Qualifying Time is sufficient. 17

18 Pressing Okay will close the window and return to the previous window however now you can enable the Tag to be used for Entry Qualification by ticking the tick-box. By leaving the tag as Equal to or faster means that a swimmer needs to achieve the qualifying time before being allowed to enter the meet. Changing it to Slower Than will mean that only swimmers who are yet to achieve the qualifying time will be allowed to enter the event. We should now be ready to enter the times for each event which will be used as Qualifying times. Ensure that the course is correct for the qualifying times to enter and then begin by selecting the first event s qualifying time field and typing in the time. Tip: In the above example we have typed in which the system will automatically add the time formatting to make the qualifying time 1:00.00 or 1 minute. Repeat for each of the events that require a qualifying time. Any event that doesn t require a qualifying time can be left blank. 18

19 Alert: The time standards use the age group, stroke and distance so if there is an Open MC (Multi- Class) event for the 50 Freestyle (shouldn t have a qual time) and an able bodied open 50 freestyle event (with a qual time) you will notice that the database will get confused and put a qual time against the MC event. This is a known bug with Meet Manager and the work around is to change the age group for the MC events to be different such as 0 to 99 years. This is enough for the system to differentiate between the events and keep the qualifying times separate. Additional time standards can be added which are not used for Qualifying Times. These can be included in the program so that it becomes and handy resource for spectators and coaches. E.g. State qualifying times can be included and printed in the program so that it is quick reference. Note: Note: For Short Course meets - they often allow long course times to be used at Qualifying times. Whilst it is not important for Online entries (as it will handle it by default) for those using Team Manager it may be a requirement to duplicate the Qualifying Times for each event into the Long Course Qualifying Times. Use the options at the top of the window to switch to Long Course and then duplicate the qualifying times. 2 For Long Course meets - a new trend / experiment is to include a separate set of short course qualifying times to allow swimmers to enter a Long Course meet using a short course time. Use the course indicator at the top of the window to switch to Short Course before entering the separate set of Qual Times to use be able to use Short Course times in a long course meet. 2 Check with My Swim Results to see if the Meet Sanitizer is available this tool sets up a Meet database with a number of common settings and can also duplicate the LC qualifying times to be SC times. 19

20 Setting a maximum number of Events that a swimmer can participate in at the meet. A traditional method for limiting the length of a meet is to limit the number of entries that a swimmer can make in a meet. This can be done in meet manger or online when in the settings for the meet. To do this in Meet Manager use the Set-up -> Entry / Scoring Preferences window. Click on the Entries / Entry Limits tab at the top. Under the Entry Limits set the number of entries that an athlete can have. 20

21 Setting a minimum age for the meet A minimum age can be set on each event however it is also possible to set a minimum age for the whole meet for entries. To do this we set the Minimum age for Open events found on the Set-up -> Entry / Scoring Preferences window. Click on the Entries / Entry Limits tab at the top. Here we have actually set the minimum age for the meet to 5 and also set the date which results can be used since at the beginning of the previous year. So even though the events that we previously setup allow from 0 to 12 years. This minimum age will effectively mean that all the events are 5 to 12 years. Note: Leaving the date when entry times can be used since blank - will mean that My Swim Results will default to the 1 st of January of the previous year for online entries however for those using Team Manager for entries it will mean that any time can be used. 21

22 Exporting events in readiness for Online Entries Now that all of the events are setup in Meet Manager for the meet, we are ready to extract the list of events into a format that Online Entries can use to setup the meet. This format is also used by Hytek Team Manager which can be useful in preparing teams, etc. Use the File menu -> Export -> Events for TM. A summary page will appear, check the dates and if there are any surcharges that apply. 22

23 Note: if you set an event fee or surcharge for the meet, then this cost will flow through to online entries. By default - My Swim Results will add a commission onto the price to cover the cost associated with credit card transactions online. If the summary is okay, press Yes to continue. Some options on this screen may not be enabled depending on the setup of the meet. The events to extract are typically Standard Events but if you have changed the event type to Time Trial or Swim-off then the event will not be included in the extract unless the associated tick-box is enabled. Press Ok. 23

24 Choose where the file can be saved so you can find it again. The file is typically called Meet Events followed by the name of the meet. If there is already a file created with the same filename, then the number on the end of the file name will increment so the newest file will have the largest number on the end. This file can be used with Online Entries to begin to accept online entries. Backup your work Sometimes this is overlooked however it is still important that you make a backup of the database. This backup will be useful if you want to check the length of a session by importing the entries file into the database. You will need to restore back to an empty database before loading the final entries file. In Meet Manager, close all other windows and then choose File -> Backup. Check where the backup will be put before pressing the Okay button. Ensure that you will be able to find the backup again once you have made the backup. Tip: save the backup in the folder structure that you created earlier for the meet. This way it is all kept together. 24

25 Click on Ok. The system will then begin to back up the database before the following screen is displayed. Important: Remember the location of your backup. Click on Ok. Note: It is important to note that if a disaster happens such as the Hard Drive dies in the laptop, or the laptop is stolen all information stored on the hard drive is also lost. Utilising services such as Dropbox does mean that the files are preserved somewhere and can be easily returned to service. 25

26 Online Entries Online entries through My Swim Results can be setup either for club nights, interclub nights, sanctioned meets, state qualifying, state championships and national meets. Club Night online entries is available to club registrars or authorised users which will allow these users to upload the exported listing of events (previous section) to setup online entries. Majority of meets are setup through the calendar by state association staff however club night entries are actually setup via the club logins via the Entry Wizard tab -> Import Club Night Events. Sanctioned meets Qualifying meets, various sanctioned and championship meets are generally listed on the calendar well in advance of having entries opened. Generally, between 6 to 8 weeks before the meet starts the Event Listing extracted from Meet Manager can be attached to the Calendar item for the meet. This is used to setup the listing of events and can start the process of enabling Online Entries. My Swim Results does have a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for Online Entries which is normally agreed to by the hosting organisation before entries are opened. This goes into better detail about the expectations and requirements for Online Entries. Please refer to this document for further information and liaise with My Swim Results to enable online entries. The host will receive updates as to how entries are going. State Association users are able to download the entries file at any time. Club Nights By default, online entries for club nights: - Limited to members just for the club (feature: invitation only) Verification required (feature: verification) The system can be used to try and limit the length of each session to try and prevent a meet from being over-subscribed. This option is always on and can be configured by simply setting both the number of lanes allocated to the meet and the length of the session. For swim meets, the default value for the max duration is 8.5 hours which can be changed online to a more appropriate timeframe for a club night if there is a requirement to limit entries. The club will receive updates as to how entries are going. Any Club logins are able to download the entries file at any time. 26

27 Club night entries are actually setup via the club logins via the Entry Wizard tab -> Import Club Night Events. Public sanctioned meets are typically setup to an existing entry on the calendar. Opens a list of any recent club nights that you have previously uploaded and allows you to upload more. The Browse button allows you to select the file of events that you exported from Meet Manager using the File -> Export -> Events for TM menu option. 27

28 Note: the Browse button may be different with different internet browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome) but they will all achieve the same task. There is a tick-box for Separate entries for each session this allows you to setup a single database for a couple of different club nights. Each club night would be a session in the same database and ticking this tick-box will create multiple calendar entries each for a different session. Entries for each session can then be handled separately but all be imported into the same meet manager database. Note: This can be useful if there is a limit to the number of club nights that are submitted per month however there are some drawbacks. Need to consider: - o o Results for each session will be submitted to My Swim Results once all the sessions are complete which may not suit members who want to use the times sooner. Personal bests and Club Records on My Swim Results will be updated once all the sessions are complete and the results doesn t take into consideration that there might be a week or more between meets. (The results will be treated as if it was a single meet.) Clicking on the name of the meet will take you directly to the Export Entries page for the club night. Please note that the meet will automatically appear in the export entries list once there are some entries confirmed for the meet. See next section for more details on exporting the entries file and importing it into Meet Manager. 28

29 The pencil icon allows you to visit a screen to allow you to edit the meet details. E.g. change the entries due date or add some comments for the meet. The icon pops up a window which gives the direct links for Entries and Confirmed Entries which can then be published elsewhere for members to easily find. Use Copy and Paste to get the links into newsletters, s or websites to distribute. links directly to the calendar item for the meet. Also see: Appendix B Using specific seed times rather than those allocated by Online Entries o Some point score systems used by clubs need the Seed times to be from a particular set of meets (typically club nights only) which are stored in a specific Team Manager database. 29

30 Calendar The My Swim Results Calendar does change depending if you are logged into the system. Typically, the calendar will display all sanctioned meets but it can also include club nights and interclub nights. Varying levels of access will also have a number of different reports that are available, such as: - How much time before entries close Entry Wizard o Starting point for online entries for an individual Relay Entries o Starting point for a club administrator or coach to select relay teams. Confirmed Entries o Lists confirmed entrants by club into the swim meet. o Club and coaches can also extract a list of their club s entries into formats such as TM Entry files Excel Listing of entries PDF Report showing a club s entries by event, including the: - o entry time a space for writing the final time target times for each race previous splits which make up the entry time suggested Target Splits all the club s competitors direct from the website Eligibility reports o Particularly useful for swim meets with qualifying times. o Can be listed by Swimmer or by Event Event Listing o Can also change the events details or event name Depending on the level of access that each login has these options may not all be available. Tip: A grouping of icons along the right hand side of the screen can provide coaches and club logins some hidden gems. For club nights, the coaching and club logins associated with the club are allowed to edit the details for the calendar item. This means that you will be able to click on the pencil icon to be able to edit the details of the meet. Most settings are pretty basic such as dates for the meet or close of entries. Note: If no time is specified on the Entries Due (aka Entries Closure date) then it will be the end of the nominated day. (yes it takes into account the time zone but doesn t consider daylight saving) The Entries Wizard section will control some of the configuration for the online entries system for a particular meet. It does have the option of sending the visitors off to a 3 rd party website for online 30

31 entries but in this document we will concentrate on setting up using online entries built into My Swim Results. For the most part the system will setup defaults after determining what sort of meet it is however for certain meets further investigation might be required. The number of lanes for the pool is used in the calculation of the timeline and subsequently any remaining lanes if the system is left to automatically close events when it reaches a certain timeline. Some meets have a limit on the number of individual events that a swimmer can enter. Tick-boxes for:- Allow No Time entries o Normally available to allow swimmers without times to enter the meet o If an event has qualifying time then the event will require that the swimmer have an entry time Allow Club Trials o Meets in the database normally are official meets which can be used for entry times. If there is a requirement to remove the club nights from the entries, then this could be disabled but normally this is left ticked. Allow Manual Times as entry times o Not normally required o If competitors are required to nominate an entry time but doesn t have a time in the database then they are prompted to nominate an entry times and where then achieved the time 31

32 Allow SC times for the LC Meet o Normally disabled Allow LC Times for a SC Meet o Normally allowed Allow Entry Wizard to accept entries o Authorises My Swim Results to accept entries for the meet. New Members can be setup so that they become prospective members of the club through online entries. There is also an Advanced section which can be expanded which can control the: Minimum age for the meet When the age is calculated Which membership types are allowed for the meet Which addresses used to send the daily statistics about the meet Transfer Unattached period length o Note the unattached period uses the Entries Closure date and not the starting date for the meet Enabling the invitation only will limit the entries to only those clubs or individuals nominated. Club nights are by default limited to the club only. Entries require verification is useful if entries are free and will require the person entering the competitors into a meet to know their birthday. The Session name and Max Duration o By altering the Max duration will mean that the system will keep the entries to that duration by enabling limited registrations to only remaining lane-space once the timeline is reached. o Default length for each session is 8.5 hours 32

33 Exporting Entries from My Swim Results There is a couple of different methods that you can get to extract the entries. (An alternative is to get to the entries via the calendar.) In this example, we will go via the Entries Wizard tab on the main page of My Swim Results. With access to Entry Wizard tab, click on Entries Extract A listing of the meets that are available to your login is produced. Where you can choose the specific meet to view further information. (you can also extract the entries from this screen) Once an event is chosen, more details about the meet can be displayed. 33

34 Along the top there are a number of options that you can use. Set all entries to be SC (or LC) times sets the system to avoid any conversion factors that Meet Manager might apply. Confirmed Entries Only will only pickup those entries who have completed the entries process. Some clubs are lenient when it comes to entries and will bring in members entries even if they haven t completed the process. Normally this is done when introducing the system to members and there are no fees that the system needs to collect. Separate Membership types will look at the membership class (Competitive, Prospective, Non- Competitive, Club Only or Open Water) and setup separate clubs for each so that if your club allows swimmers who are not currently registered as Competitive Swimmers to participate these will appear in Meet Manager under a separate club which can be easily removed before submitting the results for just the competitive members to the relevant authority. 34

35 allows you to head back to edit the meet details. E.g. change the entries due date or add some comments for the meet. pops up a window which gives the direct links for Entries and Confirmed Entries which can then be published elsewhere for members to easily find. Use Copy and Paste to get the links into newsletters, s or websites to distribute. links directly to the calendar item for the meet. opens a window showing a financial summary for the meet. (i.e. How much money has been collected, paid out or retained as commission. Also available is some statistics for the meet. The number of Competitors, clubs and entries should match what Meet Manager imports into the database. Each session will also be listed showing the number of swimmers, entries and an estimated duration. By default, there is a quick summary of the event for each event showing the various ages of the swimmers that are participating. There will also be an option to drop down a list of clubs or add a Manual Entry. If a club is selected, then the list of the entrants from that club will be displayed. Each entry will have an icon allowing the entry to be edited if needs be. Note: The online entries system automatically checks for entry times overnight and also when the Entries age extracted using the Meet Mgr Entries button (1 check per hour). Exporting the entries file before entries close will cause the system to call the entries file an Interim Entries file. The only reason it is an Interim entries file is because entries are still open and that it is still possible for someone to come to the website and add new entries. The interim entries file is useful if the host wishes to check the timeline or do some preliminary work on the database. (e.g. investigate the timeline for the meet and any possible event amalgamations in advance of closing entries.) 35

36 Importing an interim entries file to check timeline in Meet Manager This guide uses HyTek Meet Manager to produce a session / timeline report on an entry file to confirm that entries for the meet don t cause the meet to be too long. The process will guide you through importing the entry file into an empty swim meet that only has the events setup in it. It would have been the same database that produced the events file for online entries. Once entries close a Final Entries file can be supplied which will need to be imported into the database that doesn t already have entries imported into it so ensure that a backup is available which doesn t have any entries in it so that the final entries file can be properly imported. Note: If online entries are still open then the system only generates Interim entry files. The only difference between the entry files data is in the name of the file however an Interim entry file would indicate that as entries are still open it so would still be possible for new entries to be organised online. It is quite normal to set a time on the entries close date field online (not possible in Meet Manager) so that entries close at a specific time of the day. By default - entries close at the end of the day nominated in Meet Manager. Download the entries file from the My Swim Results website by 1) visiting the Entry Wizard tab on the main screen. 2) Click on Entries Extract to view a list of the meets available to you. 3) Click on the name of the meet to see information specific about the meet 4) Click on Meet Mgr Entries button and save the file that it response with. a. Tip: Use the folder structure that you previously setup to store the file or just save it somewhere you can find it again. 36

37 Step 1: Confirm the Session is setup and ready with events The database would already have the events ready to go, just ensure that the session(s) are also setup. This may have already been organised prior to online entries opening but sessions are required if we want to check the Time-line. Click on the Events menu item. Refer to the previous section on setting up sessions to ensure that all the events have been allocated to a session. Tip: Once all the events are linked with a session they should all be highlighted. You may return here to include small breaks in the program for medal ceremony s or refreshments as required. Use the icon to return to the previous window. Use again to return back to the beginning. 37

38 Step 2: Backup the Meet Manager Database As entries are open, it will be important to return the database back to an empty state so that the final entries file can be imported into an empty database. By backing up the database at this point you ensure that the database can be restored back to an empty database in readiness for the next time you want to import the entries. Please refer to a previous section for more information about backing up the database. From the Meet Manager main screen choose File -> Backup. Choose a location for saving the backup file. Tip: Note: Use the folder structure setup previously so that the backup is kept together with the database. It is important to note that if a disaster happens such as the Hard Drive dies in the laptop, or the laptop is stolen all information stored on the hard drive is also lost. Utilising services such as Dropbox does mean that the files are preserved somewhere and can be easily returned to service. 38

39 Step 3 Import the Entries file My Swim Results can supply an entries file for the meet to be imported into the original database that the list of events was created from. Save the file somewhere, like the desktop, so that you can find it again. In Meet Manager choose: File -> Import -> Entries. Choose the entries file to import Once the Open button is pressed the entries file will be unpacked. 39

40 Select the file and press the Open button. Press okay to check the import settings. Press the Ok button for the import to begin. 40

41 Hopefully everything behaves and the imported number of Teams, Athletes and entries should match the statistics that My Swim Results provide with the entries file. Press the Ok button. The Entries are now imported into the database, ready to be seeded. Step 4 Seed the Meet (recommended for checking timeline) Whilst the session report in the next step doesn t necessarily require this step we have found that the unseeded meet can produce a difference in the timeline / session report with a report done from a seeded meet. Not sure why there is a difference but there is no harm in seeding the meet before running the report. Seeding the meet sets up the entries and organises them into the event so that the meet program can be organised. Use the Seeding menu. Select the sessions or events that you want to Seed. Tip: Use the Select All menu option to select all the listed events. 41

42 Press the Start Seeding menu item to organise the entries into the various heats for the events. Once complete the following will be displayed. Press Ok. 42

43 Once seeded you will notice that the number of heats would have been allocated and the event status changed. Use again to return back to the beginning. Now that the event is seeded you can produce a meet program. Report -> Meet Program. Select all events for the program and press the Create Report menu option. 43

44 Step 4 Check the Session / Time-Line report Now that the entries are imported into the database, it can produce a session report / timeline report for the meet. Choose Reports -> Sessions. Choose Select All to select all of the sessions and then press the Create Report menu item. A report with then be produced which will estimate what time each event will start at. Tip: Go back to the Interval setting on each session in Step 1 to adjust the amount of time between heats. (A short time between heats rushes the officials but a long time between heats can make for a long / slow day.) Suggestion: Start with a 40 second interval between heats and reduce it depending on an agreement between the officials and the meet director. 44

45 Step 5: Restore the meet back to an empty database. The final entries file should be imported into a meet manager database with only the events setup in it. As we have just imported a whole heap of entries into the database it is easiest to restore the database back to the version that is in the backup that was taken in Step 2. Ensure that you know where the backup was put before beginning. Choose File -> Restore Generally, you will want to replace the database that is currently open with the version from the step 2 backup. Press Ok Navigate to the location of the backup. In this case C:\swmeets6 and choose the backup file. Press Open 45

46 The above is a warning to say that the backup will replace the currently open database. Looking at the red text saying Click OK to replace <meet database> with <meet database> if both databases are the same then it is a good check press Ok to continue. Press Yes. The database has been restored. Press OK. The list of athletes and teams should now be empty ready for when the final entries file is created. 46

47 Alternative to restoring the empty database. Note: An alternative to restoring the database maybe to Purge the Teams from the database by simply using the File -> Purge -> Remove Data Selectively option. Note: this will also remove any manual entries that you may have already done. This allows you to pick which data to remove from the database. In this case we are looking to remove all of the Team, Athlete and Entry information. By simply clicking the Teams option the additional tick-boxes will also be enabled. Pressing Ok will start the process and it will return you to the Meet Setting screen just in case you need to make a change. You can just close the window. 47

48 Importing the Final Entries file This guide is applicable once meet entries close and they now need to be imported into the HyTek Meet Manager database that was originally used to export the list of Events for Online Entries. Once entries close a Final Entries file can be supplied which will need to be imported into the database that doesn t already have entries imported into it so ensure that a backup is available which doesn t have any entries in it so that the final entries file can be properly imported. Note: If online entries are still open then the system only generates Interim entry files. The only difference between the entry files data is in the name of the file however an Interim entry file would indicate that as entries are still open it would still be possible for new entries to be organised online. It is quite normal to set a time on the entries close date field online (not possible in Meet Manager) so that entries close at a specific time of the day. Step 1: Confirm the Athletes are not already imported into the database and sessions are setup A quick check here can save you some time later trying to work out what went wrong. By opening up the Athlete list it will show that the database doesn t have any Athletes in the database so there is no risk of having entries included who may have already scratched. Also check that the Session(s) are setup in dataset. Refer to a previous section about setting up a Session and linking events to that session. Step 2: Backup the Meet Manager Database Ensuring that you have a backup of the meet prior to entries can be useful. We always hope that nothing will go wrong but always plan for something strange to happen. Please refer to a previous section for more information about backing up the database. From the Meet Manager main screen choose File -> Backup. Choose a location for saving the backup file. Tip: Note: Use the folder structure setup previously so that the backup is kept together with the database. It is important to note that if a disaster happens such as the Hard Drive dies in the laptop, or the laptop is stolen all information stored on the hard drive is also lost. Utilising services such as Dropbox does mean that the files are preserved somewhere and can be easily returned to service. 48

49 Step 3 Import the Entries file My Swim Results can supply an entries file for the meet to be imported into same database that the list of events was created from. The file has previously been saved somewhere like the folder structure for the meet or the machines desktop so that you can find it again. In Meet Manager choose: File -> Import -> Entries. Choose the entries file to import Once the Open button is pressed the entries file will be unpacked. 49

50 Select the file and press the Open button. Press okay to check the import settings. If you have qualifying times in the meet tick the tick-box to enforce qualifying times. Online Entries would have taken the qualifying times into account but this is piece of mind. If there are problems with the import an exception report will be produced. 50

51 Press the Ok button for the import to begin. Hopefully everything behaves and the imported number of Teams, Athletes and entries should match the statistics that My Swim Results provide with the entries file. Press the Ok button. The Entries are now imported into the database, ready to be seeded. If there are exceptions, then a report will be produced which details what went wrong. Typically, this occurs when you are trying to import the entries into a different database that Online Entries was setup for. Note: Additional Entries files can also be imported into the meet database as well as any manual entries. 51

52 MC Athletes For those swimmers listed as an MC swimmer Online entries automatically includes their classification on the swimmers name. (e.g. John Smith S9 SB8 SM9 ). For the MC Point Score to be correctly calculated the swimmers classifications need to be recorded properly on the Athlete. Using the Athlete menu, it will give you a full list of the swimmers. You can quickly sort the athletes into MC swimmers and abled bodied by clicking on the Status column. The MC swimmers will be listed as Disabled. Double-clicking on each name will open the Athlete details for a swimmer. Copy the swimmers classifications into the designated classifications field. Tip: Note: Ask My Swim Results about the Swim Meet Sanitizer. This program applies a number of standard settings to a meet manager database specific to a meet and also has the ability to pre-load the swimmer classifications into the Meet Manager database for you. Newer versions of Meet Manager (Version 7) have started to automatically add the MC classifications into the program which can mean that the program will have a double-up of the classifications. It may become policy to remove the classifications off the last name into the correct classification fields so that Meet Manager can take care of publishing the classifications for the program. 52

53 Advanced / Optional steps Run an Entries report To confirm how many entries have been taken so that you can confirm how much entries money should have been collected use the Report -> Teams report. Include the Athlete / Entry Count so that it will be easy to calculate how many entries are included. Fixed lane assignments Some meets are setup such that each club will always participate in the same lanes. Now that the teams are available they can be allocated to their lane. Use the Setup -> Seeding preferences menu option. Double click on the club to assign them to the next available lane. Also enabled Strict Assignment All Heats and Use Lane Assignments Above. Note: When seeding with Fixed Lane assignments return to the Setup -> Meet Setup and change the type of meet to a Dual meet before seeding 53

54 Once seeded, the meet style can be returned back to a Standard type to avoid potential problems. Seeding the meet Seeding the meet sets up the entries and organises swimmers into heats and lanes within the event so that the meet program can be organised. Use the Seeding menu. Select the sessions or events that you want to Seed. Tip: Use the Select All menu option to select all the listed events. Press the Start Seeding menu item to organise the entries into the various heats for the events. Once complete the following will be displayed. 54

55 Press Ok. Once seeded you will notice that the number of heats would have been allocated and the event status changed. Use again to return back to the beginning. Now that the event is seeded you can produce a meet program. Report -> Meet Program. Select all events for the program and press the Create Report menu option. Important: Once the Meet Program has been printed then re-seeding the meet will mean that all of the printed programs will now be out of date as the system would have allocated the swimmers into different heats and lanes. 55

56 Review the Seeding of the meet This optional setup involves having a look at the lane assignments for the swimmers particularly those without an Entry Time. The seeding process works best for those swimmers with an entry time and generally swims the kids of similar ability together to give them the best opportunity for a good race. Some competitors may not have swum an event for a while whilst others may be swimming an event for the first time swimmers in either of these categories will be assigned an NT but will find themselves swimming together which is not really the best outcome for the seeding. As a rule of thumb, swimmers without a time will need to be shuffled around a little in order to find them a more appropriate race. By having a browse through the program for the first couple of heats of each event specifically looking at the swimmers ages and genders may reveal that some changes may be required just to slot the swimmers into better races. In the above example there is 1 swimmer who is twice the age of most of the swimmers in that race but hasn t swum the event for a while and so has an NT. A little further investigation may also reveal that this particular swimmer is more than capable of being the fastest swimmer for the whole event so this would be a good candidate to move the swimmer before the final program is produced. Obviously for Championship events this is not necessary as the meet will require that the swimmers already have an entry time. However, for club nights it would still be more preferable to swim the younger swimmers on their first attempt in a different race to older swimmers. Once a change has been identified, then it is a matter of deciding how to best deal with the change. As a rule of thumb if the swimmer is an older swimmer then they probably have swum the time in the past and the easiest way forward is to enter their Career Best time. This has an advantage in that the event can be reseeded and will result in a better heat for them. It also means that if the event is reseeded on the day the reseeding will again be based on their updated entry time. 56

57 In this example there are a number of 10 years swimming against 7 year olds. We could manually shuffle these around so that the younger kids swim together and the older kids find themselves in a following heat. The easiest way to change the seeding is in the Run screen. Select an event and then press the Adjust (F8) button to bring up a window to swap swimmers around. This screen will allow you to simply drag the swimmers around to swap positions. So we will move the 7 and 8 year olds into Heat 1 and the 10 and 11 year olds in the first heat into the second heat. Once you have finished moving the swimmers around save the changes using the Save menu option at the top. Important: Once the Meet Program has been printed then any re-seeding will mean that all of the printed programs will now be out of date. 57

58 Another reason to review the seeding is to have a look at the MC swimmers who are participating. Blind swimmers (S11 S13) prefer to swim with lane ropes on either side of them. Most 8 lane pools don t have lane ropes down the gutter so moving them 1 lane in will mean that they will have a lane rope on either side of them. Session / Estimated Time-Line report Now that the entries are imported into the database, Meet Manager can produce a session report (also known as an Estimated Timeline ) for the meet. From the Meet manager main screen, choose Reports -> Sessions. Choose Select All to select all of the sessions and then press the Create Report menu item. A report with then be produced which will estimate what time each event will start at. Factors on the day can mean that the events can run earlier or later than this estimate. Tip: Go back to the Interval setting on each session to adjust the amount of time between heats. (A short time between heats rushes the officials but a long time between heats can make for a long / slow day.) Suggestion: Start with a 35 to 40 second interval between heats and reduce it depending on an agreement between the officials and the meet director. Tip: The meet can be reseeded if there are early scratches or refunds that need to be processed however once the meet program has been created (and particularly if it is printed or published) then the whole meet should NOT be re-seeded. 58

59 Creating the Meet Program Once the meet has been seeded, the system will be ready to produce a set of Meet Programs. Each variant of the program (with the exception of the Lane sheets / timekeeper sheets) is done via the Reports -> Meet Program menu option. Each report can be printed for the whole meet, an individual session or particular event. In the majority of cases before the meet, you will likely want to Select All events before Creating the report. Event Sponsors can be mentioned in the program by including their details in the comments field. A couple of different formats of meet program are used during the meet. Each format is slightly different but essentially has the same information for different roles. Officials programs, Spectator Programs and Timekeeping lane sheets are 3 common program formats. Important: Once the Meet Program has been printed - any re-seeding done to the meet will mean that all the printed programs will now be out of date as the system would have allocated the swimmers into different heats and lanes. Event Sponsors Event Sponsorship can be acknowledged by updating each Event with the name of the sponsor. This can be done several ways, however using Meet Manager we can include the sponsors name or message underneath the event name in the program. To do this in Meet manager, return to the list of events by clicking on Events from the main screen. Highlight the event that you want to setup the sponsor and then choose the Comments meu option at the top. 59

60 Enter in the comment into Comment 1 that you want to put into the Program. Press Okay. Continue to select events and enter comments. When it comes to producing the program from the reports menu make sure that the option to include Event Comments is picked to be included in the program. 60

61 Spectator program Typically, this is a 2 column continuous format which is typically printed duplex (on both sides of the paper). Note: The start time for each event can be listed in the program if the program is produced for each session. See troubleshooting section if the system is producing blank columns. Note: it is also possible to put the estimated start time for each heat on the program however the program will need to be produced for each Session. For multi-session meets - it will likely be easier to have a separate Session report showing the start time for each event. 61

62 Officials program Officials like a separate format which is normally: - single column 1 event per page Single sided Show empty lanes If your meet has multiple sessions, produce the official s program so that each session is together. Technical officials often change roles between sessions or may not always be continuing for another session. As a general rule, count the number of officials you would have and make sure you have enough printed beforehand with a couple of extras. 62

63 Lane Timekeeper sheets These are produced via the Reports - > Lane / Timer Sheets and offer a lane by lane program with a space to manually record the swimmers times just in case there are problems. This program is designed for the timekeepers behind each lane to record the times from their watches. Even when using the Dolphin timing system, it is still recommended that the timekeepers write down the times displayed on their watches as a backup. The buttons on the Dolphin Timing system are very sensitive and they often are triggered unknowingly. We have found that if a watch is stopped but then the button is pressed again accidently the watch assumes that it is to continue timing and as such the result is removed from the Dolphin timing system screen which means it doesn t get used in the final calculation of the result. 63

64 Producing a program that can be edited to include additional advertising Note that in the proceeding stages Meet Manager will produce perfectly good reports however if there are additional sponsor requirements then it may be necessary to produce a format that can be edited to include advertising amongst the events. This process is not for the faint of heart and there may be other ways to do it which you may be more comfortable with. Such as using a PDF editor to put a number of documents together to make up the spectator s program rather than editing a word document. Effectively we are asking Meet Manager to produce a Word Document which can be edited to include sponsor logo s etc. Once produced, the formatting of the Word Document can be time consuming and needs to be done with care. Choose the events that you want to print or just press the Select All menu item at the top. 64

65 Take note of the options at the bottom. In this exercise we will be producing a Microsoft Word document which can then be used to add sponsorship and other documents together to form the final program. To make it easier to manipulate the document tick the RTF Export. If additional items such as event comments, time standards, records, heat start times or qualifying times are to be included in the program then click on the Include in Meet Program tab and update it accordingly. Once satisfied press the Create Report menu item at the top of the window. Once processed the Meet Program will be displayed. In this form it is a basic meet program this document needs to be saved into a document that can be easily manipulated to include sponsors messages and any other important information. Choose to save the document. This will open a new window showing a choice of file formats to save to. Search for Microsoft Word Editable (RTF). 65

66 Then press Ok. Press Ok. The system will have an initial file name which should be altered to something a bit more recognizable before continuing. Also Save the file where you will be able to easily find it again. 66

67 Once saved the meet manager report will again be displayed you can minimize or close out of Meet Manager entirely to find the file and confirm that the export is suitable. The word document will be in a format that is reasonable easy to edit (if not then check that you used the tick-box for RTF Export towards the beginning of this step and also the Microsoft Word Editable RTF option.) Note that the formatting of the document may need to be cleaned up before continuing. For example the below snippet shows that Event 6 has slipped across 2 pages however on the first page there is no information. This would be a good example of simply cleaning up the event so that it appears on the next page in its entirety rather than splitting it across 2 pages. Use the CTRL-Enter to insert a page break before the event starts and clean-up the content. By changing the flow of the document the remainder of the document will also need to be checked to ensure that it hasn t had a flow-on effect to other areas to the document. Sponsors advertising could also be slipped into the program particularly if an event is being sponsored by a particular sponsor. Once finalised the Meet Program can be printed and / or distributed. Note: If the meet program is being distributed electronically then ensure that the version of the program is a PDF document of the word document. 67

68 Backup the Meet Manager Database Now that you have done all the preparation it would be a shame to lose it. If you need to send the database to the venue, then this is format that they would be expecting it in. This also conveniently packages up the meet database ready for transport to another machine. From the Meet Manager main screen choose File -> Backup. Choose a location for saving the backup file. Tip: Note: Use the folder structure setup previously so that the backup is kept together with the database. It is important to note that if a disaster happens such as the Hard Drive dies in the laptop, or the laptop is stolen all information stored on the hard drive is also lost. Utilising services such as Dropbox does mean that the files are preserved somewhere and can be easily returned to service. Restore a Meet Manager Database If you need to restore a database from a backup use the File menu from the main screen and choose Restore. The system has 4 options for you to choose. Carefully read each of the 4 options before selecting. Most common selections are the 2 nd (Unzip and copy a database to C:\SWMeets6) or the 4 th Option (Unzip, copy database to a selected folder and then open the database). The 4 th Option will allow you to choose the folder structure you created previously to put the database. Make the selection and press the Ok button to open a window which is asking you to select the backup that you want to restore. 68

69 Browse to the backup that you wish to restore. Note: If the database has been downloaded from My Swim Results as a Meet Manager backup the filename that you download would likely have been changed so the default open screen may not show the backup initially. Saving the backup file from My Swim Results with the suffix of swmm will solve the problem. Once you have found the file, select it and press the Open button. Depending on the choose of restore you choose earlier, a window will appear asking where you would like to put the restored database. 69

70 Make your selection and press okay. A new window will appear asking for a final confirmation of what you want to do. Press the OK button to start restoring the database. The process will not take very long and the confirmation screen will alter to say that it has completed successfully. 70

71 Running the Meet Meet Manager integrates into a number of different timing systems. The most common include:- Dolphin Timing Aries Quantum Dolphin Timing doesn t require a special HyTek license to run whereas the larger AOE / venue timing systems have specific licensing requirements. From Meet Manager s point of view, the basics are similar between the timing systems, but the interfaces are very different. In this handbook we will use the Dolphin Timing system. The Dolphin Timing system requires that:- the computer, starter and all of the individual watches are all within wireless range of one another. All these devices would be set to operate on the same channel each of the individual watches have been configured for a specific lane and watch (A, B or C depending if it is the 1 st, 2 nd or 3 rd watch on the lane). The computer has the Dolphin timing system installed on it and the USB base unit is plugged in. Note: raising the Dolphin Timing Base Unit up slightly may yield better reception and as a rule of thumb should have clear line of sight to all of the other equipment. Computer operator often needs a helper / recorder in order to keep up-to-date with everything that is going on. They should be armed with a printout of the latest program and a pen. As the meet progresses, they can record things like:- The Dolphin Timing Race File number for each heat No Shows in the pool Scratchings Which event has been printed and which are waiting for DQ slips to come in from the field. 71

72 Preparing the Dolphin timing system Before the meet officially starts, make sure that the equipment is tested. This does a couple of things, firstly it ensures that everything is working, but it also sets up the current Data Set ready to import times. Allow the timers to run for over 10 seconds as the system will automatically ignore the results if stopped before then. Refer to the Dolphin Timing hardware setup guides to ensure that: - All devices are operating on the same channel Lane Timers are configured to each lane Batteries are replaced if required. Liaise with the starter to work out who is going to reset for the next race. This can be done either at the starter or at the computer. With the Dolphin Timing base unit plugged into the computer, open Meet Manager and click on the Run menu to begin. Use the Interface -> Timing Console interface menu option to ensure that Dolphin Timing System is selected. Choose Colorado Time systems Dolphin and press Ok. (See Appendix J for using Dolphin Timing with splits option.) 72

73 Next Step is to open the Dolphin Timing System software. The Dolphin Timing system software will start. (Some computers on a school network may not open the Software and it may need to be opened by visiting C:\CTSDolphin in Windows Explorer and double clicking on Dolphin.exe). The Dolphin Timing system software will need to remain open for the duration of the meet. Here we can see the battery levels and wireless signal strength for each timer and the starting unit. Battery icons empty Red batteries. start as full Green batteries and gradually work their way down to 73

74 Wireless signal strength is best with 4 strong bars and may fluctuate with signal strength. Raising the height of the Base Unit may improve the signal strength and reliability to each device. Get the Officials to test the starter and the timing equipment. Wait about 10 seconds before getting the timekeepers to stop their timers. As the timers are stopped, the time recorded on each timer will come through on the Dolphin software. The Traffic light symbol beside each time indicates that the watch has been stopped. Other options are:- Currently timing Has been stopped reset ready for the next race 74

75 Once they have all been tested, reset the timers by pressing the Reset Timers button in the top right does 3 things: 1. This will change the Traffic Light symbol on each watch to yellow ready for the next race. 2. Create the file to be imported into Meet Manager 3. Resets the clock on the starters unit so that they know we are ready for the next race Now that a timing file has been created we can easily identify the Data source for the meet. Return to the Meet Manager software and choose the Interfaces -> Timer -> Select Data Set This opens a window and allows you to browse through the various data sets found on the computer. Use the Previous Meet and Next Meet to locate the current meet by checking the date for the meet and there should be the test race listed. Once you have identified the meet you can close that window by pressing the Close button at the bottom. Pressing the Get Times button will now list files for the dataset. 75

76 If everything is okay, there should only be the Test Race in the system. Also have a look at the Logging option in Dolphin. By enabling logging, it will mean that the event and heat numbers need to be maintained during the meet, but it stores the results in a readable text file which can be handy to refer to. (It will log to c:\ctsdolphin\timers.txt and will just append to the existing file.) The individual timing files are effectively readable text as well. If there is a problem, check the Dolphin setup and make sure that all devices have a reliable connection, check that the equipment has been reset and that Meet Manager has the correct data source. Re-test. 76

77 Ready to start a race Important: The Dolphin Timing Software needs to remain running for the duration of the meet / session. Now that the timing system is setup, the rest of the Meet Manager Run screen becomes important. There are various sections to the run screen. Top left shows a listing of the events where you can select the event that is going to be swum. By changing events this changes a row of buttons for each heat that is available in that event. The selected heat will have a blue button and the swimmers in that particular heat will be listed below. Return to the Dolphin Timing system and record the File number for the next race. In this case write on the program against the race that is about to start that the file is This will help in keeping track of things throughout the meet. 77

78 Once the race has finished, the watches need to be reset for the next race. Depending if the decision to reset from the starter or the computer Computer Press the Reset Timers on the Dolphin timing software. Starter 1) Press the Start / Stop button on the starting unit 2) Press the Reset button on the starting unit Press Yes to confirm to reset the timers Resetting the timers does 3 things 1. This will change the Traffic Light symbol on each watch to yellow ready for the next race. 2. Create the file to be imported into Meet Manager 3. Resets the clock on the starters unit so that they know we are ready for the next race Now that the timers are reset, Meet Manager can import the timing file for the race. Make sure that the correct event and heat is selected. Note: in the above example, we have already imported results for Heats 1 and 2 (which is why they are not Grey.) and we are importing the results from Heat 3. Press the Get Times button. (Pressing the Race # button can also be used to efficiently import the race data but it assumes that everything is running smoothly.) 78

79 A list of the timing files will be displayed and you can select the right file based on the file number recorded in the program previously from the Dolphin Timing software. A download alert might occur if the database believes there is a swimmer but the timing system doesn t have a time. 79

80 In this case we know that the swimmer in lane 1 didn t swim because the recorder crossed out the swimmer in the program. We can accept the times and Lane 1 will be recorded as a NS. Note: the pink time in Lane 8 has been highlighted because it has been ignored because it is more than 0.3 seconds from the others. Meet Manager may indicate that a timing file was previously used to import results from the previous race with a warning that looks like the following window. However, it doesn t recognise that the file was previously imported for a prior race. This process of Resetting the timing and importing the timing file is repeated for each race. This routine can get interrupted by: Scratching s DQ s Changes to the program Re-printing events Printing Results random queries This is where having a second person at the computer desk recording what is going on in the pool and the Dolphin timing system is useful. Ideally, all of the heats should be green if there are no problems. The buttons can also be Red indicating that there are problems with that heat (button turns yellow when the heat is selected). In the below example, heat 12 is red By clicking on heat 12 to investigate we found that the times from the timing system were inconsistent. In this case, there are no backup times at all and only the time from the touch pad so the system has a question mark about the result. 80

81 Clicking on the Question mark will replace it to say that the time from the Touch Pad will be used. Other reasons for a query against a result is that the times recorded are not very consistent with each other i.e. the timers have all got very different times. Note: The system can also record a question mark against results that doesn t seem to be warranted. In those cases, simply clicking on the question mark removes it completely. For most meets, the computer operator leaves the heat as red and moves on without resolving the query. As long as the swimmer has a time in the final time column it is considered good enough. MSR would prefer to have these Question marks resolved before the results are finalised. Consider the below example: - A question mark has been raised against the result for the swimmer in Lane 6. The 3 backup times don t support the time from the pad (1:13.73) and are highlighted in pink. Lane 4 also has a backup timekeeper who must have been watching the wrong lane and their time was also listed as pink. In this case the officials were using Quantum as the timing system and after discussing it with the Referee decided to leave the pad time on the assumption that the swimmer had missed the wall and all 3 timekeepers had anticipated the finish rather than seen the finish. The matter was resolved in Quantum before bringing the time through however Meet Manager also noticed the problem and marked the result as something that needed to be resolved (hence the question mark.) To record the Referee s decision: - As the Referee had decided to keep the time the computer operator can simply click on the Question mark and the system will acknowledge that the time from the Pad is accepted by replacing the question mark with a K. If the Referee had decided to use the backup times, then pressing the Calc button will open up a new window listing the backup times and suggesting a time from the backup. Ensuring the Lane is ticked and pressing Accept will change the swimmers result to be that of the backup timers rather than the Touch Pads. 81

82 Once the decision is recorded, the heat button will become Green indicating that everything has returned to normal. Note: The event listing shows the number of results that have questions raised against them but this section of the screen will not update automatically. Clicking on another event or heat should be enough to cause the event listing to update. If you want to put the times back the way they were, then press Restore Pads and the original pad times will be put back and the decision cancelled so you can try again. As a rule of thumb: - Refer to the Referee when the backup times are faster, generally not when the backup times are slower For meets using the Dolphin Timing system, the timekeepers are the only source of the times so they need to be concentrating on what they are doing. Should their times be more than 0.3 seconds out from each other then the risk is that their time is automatically discounted when calculating results. Recording Scratching s Recording scratching s that might arrive from the Marshalling area is useful in keeping the meet manager database up-to-date to reduce the number of Download Alert s generated when importing the times. If there are a lot of swimmers scratching from particular events, then it is also useful in deciding to reseed an event to try and improve the quality of the racing for those still nominated for the event. Using an electronic marshalling system can quickly report back to the computer operator of scratching s taken in the field. They normally order the scratching s so that they can be processed in the order of events. These systems can also make requests that particular events be reseeded if there is enough scratching s to be able to reduce the number of heats for an event. Scratching s and recommendation to reseed need to come from marshalling only. Marshalling Officials will decide to either deck-seed if swimmers can be simply moved forward a heat, or a re-seed if they are required to move a swimmer to an uncompetitive heat to free a heat (e.g. a NT swimmer into the final heat). They must always get approval from the referee first. 82

83 Normally a Scratching will appear including the Event number, Heat and Lane with the person s name. For example, Benjamin Belward has requested to scratch from Event 3, Heat 5 Lane 4. Computer operator can easily select Event 3, Heat 5 and double click on Benjamin s name to record the scratching. Double clicking on his name will ask for confirmation of his scratching for the event. Pressing Yes will remove them from the event leaving the lane empty. If enough scratching for the same event have been received, then the event may be reseeded to help: Improve the quality of racing Reduce the timeline A quick check of the whole event by pressing the Adjust (or F8) button will show all the heats for an event and if there are enough holes then it might be time to reseed. Check with the Referee if they want to reseed and make sure that the marshalling area (and any score board timing) has enough time to respond to the changes before proceeding. 83

84 In this example, most of the heats have been affected by scratching s and 1 heat in particular has been reduced to only 4 swimmers. This is a very good candidate for reseeding particularly as it is still a couple of events away. See Reseeding an event. 84

85 Recording DQ s After a race has started, the officials may have a DQ slip which gets passed from the official to the Referee, to the Announcer and finally arrives at the computer desk to record. The DQ slip contains the Event, Heat and Lane number as well as the rule infringement for the offender. (A Referee may report that there is a DQ in the pipeline to avoid results being printed prematurely.) Select the Event and Heat on the Run screen and tick the DQ tick-box on the lane. There is also a place in the database to record the reason for the DQ however the dropdown list can be a bit awkward to use. (Having a separate printout of the DQ codes can be useful.) The code can simply be typed in or selected from the drop down list. For some unknown reason, some officials believe strongly that recording the DQ reason in the database is not needed. My Swim Results actually prefers that the database does have the reason assigned to the DQ in the database as it means that: The printed results can display the reason on the day. The swimmer can take the reason direct to their coach for an explanation rather than interfere with the running of the meet by coming down to the computer room or an official for an explanation. Once the results are published, swimmers often query why their times don t appear and the database or results file will have the explanation without having to track down the original DQ slip. Note: Need to allow 30 minutes from when the DQ was announced for any protests to be submitted before results can be finalised. 85

86 Printing Results Results are generally printed and published somewhere at the venue. The results are also distributed to the Medals table and Announcer. Things to consider before printing the results: Keeping track of what results have already been printed Are there any DQ slips yet to arrive Once an event has been completed, then the results can be produced. Results can be printed for events from the Run window by selecting the Reports -> Results menu option. Events will have a status of either Done or Scored with no outstanding DQ s to process can have their results published. To include the reason for the DQ in the results ensure that DQ codes is enabled in the Include in Results tab. Select the event to print and Press the Create Report menu option at the top. 86

87 Reseeding an event If it is decided to reseed an event, then the computer operator can do 1 of 2 things: 1) Deck Seed (manually shuffle swimmers around by the Marshals) to fill up heats and remove empty heats. a. This can mean that the majority of the printed program is maintained 2) Meet Manager to reseed the entire event a. Previously printed programs will become useless In either case, a new program will need to be produced for at least: - Referee Starter Marshalling Officials Check-starting (may receive these direct from the Marshals) Announcer Note: any electronic marshalling system will need to be updated before the event is opened for marshalling. 87

88 Manually adjust the swimmer s allocations Select the event and use the Adjust button to open a window showing all the heats. Literally drag the swimmers around to swap places or fill empty lanes. Dragging a swimmer over another swimmer will effectively swap their positions. Care must be taken so that their seed time would mean that the fastest swimmers are in the middle of the pool and that swimmers of similar ability are swimming together. Reseed event in meet manager From the Run window in Meet Manager, click on Seeding. Select the event that needs to be reseeded. In the below case we are reseeding event 3 only. Press the Start Seeding menu option at the top. 88

89 The re-seeding won t take very long. Now effectively all printed copies of event 3 are now all out of date and will need to be replaced for at least: - Referee Starter Marshalling Check-starting (may receive these direct from the Marshals) Announcer (Coaches may also request a copy if they are all in a coaching area on pool deck) A new program just for that event can be produced through the Reports -> Meet Program (either from Run window or Seeding window) Choose the event to re-print, ensure that it is set to Single column and 1 event per page before pressing the Create Report button at the top. Under the Include in Meet Program tab there is an 89

90 option to include Heat Start Times for the event which will not be accurate if you selected the session. This will likely need to be turned off if it has previously been enabled. Note: the printer icon can be used to print directly to the printer without previewing the program if the feature is enabled in preferences to Print Directly for reports. Most machines are set to preview before printing. Print the document and circulate as required. 90

91 Appendix A - Troubleshooting Symptom 2 column reports (such as meet programs) requested but the report is leaving the 2 nd column blank and continuing on the next page. Importing Meet entries from My Swim Results is resulting in a lot of exceptions appearing Dolphin Timing was reset but no file was created Race Time on the Dolphin timing system starts by itself. Solution 1) Close Meet manager and change the default printer for the machine through the control panel -> Devices and Printers (or equivalent). Success has been had by setting the default printer to certain software printers such as Microsoft XPS Printer or PDF Printers 2) Check that the device is set to A4. 3) Check that the report preferences (in Meet Manager) is set to A4 1) Check that the database you are importing into is the same database that originally started online entries. Races need to be at least 10 seconds long in order to have a timing file created. This is very disconcerting however it is actually because 1 of the timer buttons has been pressed which starts the clock. (you can identify the culprit by looking for a green light amongst the timers) When the starter starts the race this starts all the timers again from Zero regardless so it should take care of itself in the results but unfortunately the software Race Timer doesn t reset with all the watches. 91

92 Appendix B Using specific seed times from Team Manager rather than those allocated by Online Entries By default, Online Entries will find the best time that a swimmer has achieved for the event across the entire database. Whilst some meets can be configured to only look at results from Meets that are Qualifying, National and International (or various combinations) the system will typically look for the best time from any meet. This can be a problem for some clubs or organisations using some sort of point score system to help with picking club champions at the end of the season. These point score system often rely on the Seed Time being from a very specific set of meets. These are typically kept in a HyTek Team Manager database for the purpose of calculating the point scores. To replace the Seed Times that are given by Online Entries with those from the Team Manager database you just simply import the entries file that came from Online Entries into that Team Manager database. Then extract the entries from Team Manager and use that file instead of the online entries file to import into Meet Manager. The process of putting the entries into Team Manager replaces the seed times from Online Entries with those from the Team Manager database whilst preserving the swimmers event selections. 92

93 Appendix C Backup A simple backup solution, which is almost set and forget, is to use a DropBox or similar service. Essentially these services will copy any file that is stored in a certain structure into the cloud as a backup. If multiple machines are used, the file is also replicated across to the other machine. Important: The machine needs to connect to the internet in order to synchronise files. Whilst meet manager can change the default location for the meet databases and backups, a typical meet manager machine will still default to C:\SWMeets6 as the first place it looks for databases. A useful tip might be to relocate this folder so that it actually resides within the DropBox folder and the original location is merely a pointer to the dropbox folder. Suggestion: Get an IT professional to set this up for you. A Microsoft command-line tool called Junction can setup a symbolic link for C:\SWMeets6 so that the files can actually be stored in a Dropbox folder with the rest of the Club related documents without upsetting Meet Manager. Meet Manager will continue to think that it is saving databases in the C:\SWMeets6 folder but it is actually being stored elsewhere. The actual storage area means that DropBox can automatically backup the database into the cloud. Note: Dropbox will only copy the database file after Meet Manager is closed. Example: If your Dropbox folder can be found at C:\Users\username\Dropbox. Step 1. Step 2. Move the C:\SWMeets6 folder into your Dropbox so that it becomes C:\Users\username\Dropbox\SWMeets6. Open a command line up and use the command: junction c:\swmeets6 C:\Users\username\Dropbox\SWMeets6 to create a link so that the original folder will appear as Meet Manager would expect however the files will now be synchronised with DropBox automatically. Using this method your meet manager files can be kept with the other club documentation such as minutes, procedures and reports all safely backed up in the cloud. Note: Dropbox is a paid service however it does offer 2 GB for free to start you off. Other services also offer similar deals. Other alternatives are: - Dropbox Microsoft OneDrive Google Drive There are others if you want to investigate. If you have additional suggestions, please support@myswimresults.com.au 93

94 Appendix D - Meet Mobile Meet Mobile is a mobile app for Android and Apple which integrates into Meet Manager. A meet does need to be enabled for Meet Mobile before results will be uploaded. In the US, the software can be used for Revenue Sharing (i.e. the meet host sells the program electronically through the application and a portion of that is returned to the meet host.) however it doesn t appear that option is available in Australia. Meet Mobile can be setup by confirming their agreement. Setting up Meet Mobile is best done once all the entries are in and the program finalised. If you have already closed the window for Meet Mobile Publishing, then you can re-open it via the Setup -> Meet Mobile Publishing menu option. This needs to be done before the meet starts so that it is activated online to allow people to find the meet. Pressing the View Contract to Agree will open a new window displaying the agreement and allowing you to enter your name and then date of birth. 94

95 Once agreed to, the window will close and some setup information about what is going to be published can be organised in the Publish tab. Select what type of Team Scoring option you want to use. Choose to Do not publish team scores or no team scores in this meet if the meet is not going to use a scoring system. The 2 buttons will push the initial program up to the HyTek servers so that they can start publishing the meet information. This sets up a link for the meet to the HyTek servers so that they can start publishing the data from Meet Manager once it is enabled. Once the meet is about to start, in the Run window menu choose Meet Mobile to enable the system for the meet sessions. 95

96 Upload Session Results will force any results that are already in the database to be published in Meet Mobile. Once activated Meet Manager should change from a red Meet Mobile Disabled to green Meet Mobile Enabled. -> Once it has switched to enabled, it has a good internet connection with the publishing servers and will deliver the results as they become available. Note: As the results are delivered when they become available the Mobile App can also pick-up the results. The results are incomplete until after the event has been fully uploaded so there may be keen parents who present their mobiles as evidence that their child is entitled to medals. This is due to the fact that their device is yet to download all of the results for the event yet. The conversation can be very awkward. Important: The machine running Meet Manager on the day will need reliable access to the internet in order to push the results up the HyTek publishing servers. A mobile wireless hotspot is sufficient if the mobile has good access to the mobile network. It doesn t utilise much in terms in data usage. 96

97 Appendix E - Exporting Meet Results to a Team Manager file. Once the meet is completed results can be sent to My Swim Results. To prepare the results as a Team Manager export start by opening the meet in HyTek Meet Manager. Choose File -> Export -> Results for Swim Manager or SWIMS or NCAA or USMS Note: Versions of Meet Manager prior to version 5 have the menu option listed as Results for Team Manager or SWIMS or NCAA or USMS. A new window will appear asking what to extract or limit the extract. The default is to extract all the results. Press Ok and the export will begin. 97

98 Once the data is exported, press Ok and the program will ask you where you would like to save it. Choose a location that you can find again easily as you will want to find the exported file to upload to My Swim Results. The file has been exported ready for uploading into My Swim Results or HyTek Team Manager. 98

99 Appendix F Updating Meet Manager HyTek Meet Manager is updated to a new edition every couple of years which means that to stay current, clubs need to organise themselves a new license every few years. There is an upgrade option which is often cheaper than buying the software again. To qualify for this the license name (found in the bottom left corner of the main menu screen when the software is first opened) is required. Visit and look for Meet Manager for Swimming under products. (Note the prices listed will be in US dollars.) In additional to updating new editions of the software HyTek create updates to the latest edition to solve problems / bugs in the software. It is best to keep up-to-date with the latest version particularly if you have invested in the most recent edition of the software. These updates are provided free of charge. Note: Updates are not only bug fixes but can also include updates to the base times used to calculate Point Score systems such as the FINA point Score of Australian MCPS. Meet Manager does offer to download the update from within the application itself. This is fine however it often wants to do it when you are trying to do something and it seems to take longer than normal. While it is trying to download the update you won t be able to do anything in Meet Manager. A way around this is to use a normal web browser to download the update separately. This method is often faster and more reliable. Downloaded update from Look for the section for the right version of Meet Manager and then right-click on Update and save the file somewhere you can find it again. Note: Ensure you download the Meet Manager update. The Team Manager update is a different software tool. 99

100 Download the zip file and save it somewhere do not need to unpack it. File -> Install Update Selected No. 100

101 Selected the Update file from the Download area. Pressed Ok. 101

102 Press okay. Security warning asking me to approve the running of the application. Press Ok (May get this error newer versions have actually fixed this error.) 102

103 Press Ok Opening Meet Mgr says that it is now up-to-date. (I m always a bit wary because of the error message.) 103

104 Appendix G Live results in Meet Manager with My Swim Results A Network License of Meet Manager does have the ability to upload meet results to a website which is often handy to publish to allow remote people to access the results and follow the meet. Also see the section setting up Meet Mobile. Before the meet organise with My Swim Results (or another provider) to have a working folder setup for the meet. They will then provide details such as:- Site Address: Username: Password: Working Directory: URL: liveresults.myswimresults.com.au WA HBFStadium2016 UWAWestCoastSC Important: Each swim meet should have its own working directory. Meet Manager doesn t record the above details inside the database with the rest of the results. It does however remember the previous working directory details which means that it is very easy to overwrite the results of another meet and make the links make no sense. Care needs to be taken to ensure that the Working Directory is correct for each meet particularly if there are multiple meets happening at the same time. This needs to be configured on the machine running the meet (preferably before racing starts): In Meet manager visit the Run -> Web menu. In Meet Manager the screens should look similar to below:- 104

105 The Password and Working Directory need to be carefully entered as these are case sensitive fields and simply putting a lowercase character where it should be an Uppercase character will prove to be a problem. The settings for the service should be Passive FTP. This should allow for the widest possible network configurations. Note: Setting it to Active FTP may still pass the Test Web Site Connection button however when it comes to uploading data it may struggle. Once the Mode is checked return to the Log-in tab and then press at least the first 3 buttons on the page to:- check that there is a valid connection to the live results server Upload the event listing for the meet Upload default results pages indicating that the results are still pending. Press F11 after each heat and F12 after each event is finalised. During the meet, pressing F12 will upload the completed event however if there are some that have been missed return to the Web menu item and press the Upload Results for All Completed Rounds to quickly catch-up the results. Note: If you are going to use another provider, still let My Swim Results know and they can configure their website to publish the meet results as they come through. 105

106 Appendix H Interclub with Fixed Lane assignments For some competitions, it is a requirement that each club swims in a dedicated lane. This can be organised through meet manager once entries have been imported but before the meet is seeded. The meet type needs to be set to 2 Team Dual or 3+ Team Dual in the Setup -> Meet Setup menu. Since the entries have been loaded the Teams will be in the database and can be assigned lanes in the Setup -> Seeding Preferences and choose the Dual Meets setup. Drag or double click on the Teams on the left to assign them to lanes on the right. Once assigned, Seed the meet as normal and the system will allocate the Teams to the allocated lane. Note: Tip: If you are going to use a scoring system, then set the meet back to a standard type before running the meet so that the scoring system works as expected. For these sorts of meets, it may also be advantageous to import all club members for each club so that if clubs change their minds about who is swimming each race then at least the swimmers will be in the database already and won t have to be re-entered. To get a listing of members from My Swim Results look at the Membership Extract options and select competitive members and output as a Hytek Roster file. This resulting download can then be imported into Meet Manager using File -> Import -> Roster. Something else to consider is My Swim Results Excel Entries to produce a suitable entries file. 106

107 Appendix I Importing an Excel listing of Swimmers Meet Manager was not designed to import an excel document containing swimmers names. To get around this My Swim Results produced a conversion tool which reads an excel document and produces a Roster file which is compatible with both HyTek Meet Manager and Team Manager. This conversion tool hopefully means that countless hours is saved in setting up a swim meet and better data accuracy. In order to use the conversion tool, prepare the spreadsheet out of another database or lists. Note: the conversion tool will look at each worksheet that it is provided so it is best to remove any working sheets before submitting to the conversion tool. Once you have the list of swimmers, make sure that the column headers (first row in each worksheet) contains these as the field names:- Surname Given Birthday Gender Class Year (may be omitted) Team Name or Club Name or House or Faction Team Abbrev - (system will auto-generate if omitted) With a subscription to My Swim Results you will be able to visit the conversion tool at where there is more information about additional fields and an example format spreadsheet. Use the file browse button to search for the file that you have saved (preferably in the latest Excel format) so that it can be uploaded to the conversion tool. Note: The conversion tool doesn t store the file and doesn t remember the contents of the file once it is converted. Pressing the convert button will submit the file for conversion. Please note that sometimes it can be very quick in its response. The page will then ask you to save a file this is the results from the conversion which can then be easily imported into Meet Manager or Team manager as a Athlete Roster. 107

108 Appendix J Dolphin Timing with Splits It is possible for the system to record splits at the finish end of the pool. If you are going to use the system to record splits then the system needs to setup to include:- Each Event in Meet Manager need to be set to not have touchpads at both ends otherwise meet manager will expect times from the timekeepers at every turn. Meet Manager Timing interface set to Colorado Time Systems Dolphin with Splits. Computer operator has the additional responsibility of telling the system how many splits are expected for each race. o o o Important: Make sure that you reset the timers for the previous heat before changing the number of splits for the next race. Effectively each split will be recorded every 2 lengths of the pool. Examples: 200m race in a 50m pool will mean that the swimmers return to the timekeepers 2 times (1 turn and 1 finish) i.e.. 2 splits 200m race in a 25m pool will mean that the swimmers return to the timekeepers 4 times (3 turns and 1 finish) i.e.. 4 splits the timekeepers will need to press side buttons on the Dolphin timers when the swimmer touches the wall at their end. o If a timekeeper forgets to take a split then pressing the reset button is better than pressing a side button as it will move them to the next split (as indicated in the watch top right corner). Important: Timekeepers need to ensure that their watch has the right split number on it. If their watch thinks that they still have a split to do no finish time will be recorded for that watch. Timekeepers need to concentrate on the race and be familiar with the dolphin timing gear in order to attempt this. 108

109 Frequently Asked Questions Our local pool only provides lanes 5 to 8 for our club night, can we get the Meet Manager to only Seed swimmers into those lanes? In Meet Manager - change the Seeding preferences via Setup -> Seeding Preferences and click on the Standard Lanes tab then press the button to view the lane preferences. As your pool will effectively be a 4 lane pool (with lanes numbered 5 to 8) change the 4 Lanes so that the preferences are:- Preferences: 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 4 Lanes You want to have the fastest swimmers (1 st preference) in the middle lanes working your way out to the slower swimmers (4 th preference) in the outer lanes. Save the new settings and check that the events are all set to having 4 lanes. The seeding process will now limit the program to using lanes 5, 6, 7 and

110 I want to have qualifying times for each age group but swim the finals as just Open how do I do that? Online entries will still need the qualifying times setup for each age group so initially the meet can be setup with Multi-age turned on and all the age groups setup. This will mean that the standard can be configured with each of the age groups qualifying times. Online entries can then be setup from this database. Once entries are closed and imported into the database, the multi-age can be turned off for the events so that they return to an Open age group. How do I setup Meet Manager to use the same DQ codes as our officials? Meet Manager comes standard with a couple of different DQ Codes files. Most notably is the FINA DQ Codes. However, each federation can have their own specific DQ Codes which is why the system also includes a set for the United States and the ASA. There is the option to create your own set be used, which is effectively a text file stored in C:\Hy-Sport\SwMM6\dqcodesCustom.txt. If everyone could use the same set of DQ codes within a federation this would make it easier. Machines used to record the DQ and those used to create the results files need to have the same customised DQ listing on it, particularly if the DQ reason is being printed with the results. The Custom DQ Codes is a text file which is readily editable using any text editor. The format is effectively a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file with double quotes as a text qualifier which Microsoft Excel can open and edit however when it saves it back it tends to leave out the double quotes. There are 3 columns for each infringement. Column 1 is a 2-character alpha-numeric code which can be used to quickly enter the DQ Reason into the results. The first character is a digit between 1 and 7 depending on the stroke or category of the infringement. First digit Stroke 1 All Butterfly events 2 All Backstroke events 3 All Breaststroke events 4 All Freestyle events 5 Medley events (but also includes the above for each leg) 6 Relay events 7 All events Column 2 is the DQ Reason that will be displayed in the results to explain the infraction. Column 3 is a category of DQ code which is what Meet Manager uses to try and limit the DQ options for each event. This column will have fly, back, breast, free, IM, Relay or Misc. Note: Saving the file using Excel may not always add the double quotes around each of the text items. Excel will also prefer to save the file as a CSV file 110

111 Distributing such a DQ Codes file is simply a matter of over-writing the existing C:\Hy- Sport\SwMM6\dqcodesCustom.txt file with the new DQ Code list. The Meet Manager setup for the meet then just needs to be told which set of DQ codes to use in the Setup -> Meet Setup option. Alternatively download the updated FINA Code file which has been prepared to replace the FINA DQ codes with those used in Australia. The downloaded compressed folder contains a file which just needs to replace the c:\hy-sport\swmm6\dqcodesfina.txt file then just select FINA DQ Codes. dqcodesfina.txt Note: Meet Manager 7 (update Dh or better) already includes this file so there is no need to update it. It is referred as the FINA DQ Codes on the Meet Setup menu option under DQ Codes. How do I update Meet Manager quickly? Meet manager can download its own updates when they are made available however the download takes a long time and it doesn t allow you to do anything until it s finished. A faster method is to visit the website and visit the Support -> Download Centre section. Choose Meet Manager and there will be a link for downloading the latest update. Save the file somewhere you can remember and when Meet Manager asks if you want to download the update choose No, point it towards the file that you downloaded and get it to install from there. 111