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Season | The season in which the draw is to be created. A season is a way of designating a competition to a time period which ultimately ends up in a finals series and winner. There can be several seasons setup for each calendar year, by default the two seasons for each year are created. A Shoulder Season i.e. 2010/2011 which is any competition running from within the dates July 1 and June 30. And a Calendar Season i.e. 2010 which is any season running within the dates January 1 to December 31. | ||
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Grade | The grade for which the draw is to be created. The grade designates a group of competing teams (can also be referred to as league, division, competition within different sports). Only Multiple grades or a single grade can be selected. When selecting multiple grades (they can consist of grades with teams allocated for the current season will be displayed | Fixture Template | This is the fixture template to be used for creating the draw and will be filled with all different teams) a fixture is created for each grade for the settings defined. In Multi grade mode the Manually edit/enter matches option is disabled and you will not be able to change Draw Seeds in this process. Draw seeds and other settings can be setup via the Team Settings tab in the Grade Management screen. Only grades with teams allocated for the current season will be displayed |
Regular Season Fixture Template | This is the fixture template to be used for creating the draw and will be filled with all fixture templates of the chosen Draw Type. If your organisation has their own fixtures template they can submit a request to have it uploaded for them after which it will appear in this list. See "Draw Creator - Concepts - Fixtures TypesTemplates" | Match Type | The default match type for |
| Finals Fixture Template | If finals rounds are created select an appropriate template from the dropdown box. The most common templates should already exist but if you require a different one a custom finals template can be up-loaded for you organisation. | ||
Match Type | The default match type for matches within this draw. On the Round Settings page you will have the opportunity to change the match type for a given round of matches and when the draw has been created you will be able to change the match type for a given match via the Edit Match screen. See "Draw Creator - Concepts - Match Types" | ||
Draw start date and time | This is the date the draw creator will use for the start of the fixture. The time of the matches may be adjusted in either of the two scenarios: | Number of rounds | This is the number of rounds you would like to create for When using "Fixture Slot" mode the time for the match is set according to the first available fixture slot as defined in the Grade Management screen (Season tab) or the default as configured in the Venue Selection page screen |
Number of rounds | |||
Start from Round | If you would like to start the round numbering from a number greater than 1 enter the value here. | ||
Time between rounds | This is the amount of time in days, hours, minutes to leave between rounds in the fixture. Usually this value is left at 7 days which indicates that once a week a round of matches are played. However for some tournaments or events matches may be played once or several times a day. This value is used to create the round dates and times which you'll be able to change in the Round Dates page. | ||
Number of playing days per match | This field only applies to multi-day sports such as cricket and will indicate how many match days are required for each match | ||
Venue allocation method | This is the number of rounds you would like to create for this draw. The maximum number of rounds that can be created is 30 but if you require more then contact support. For knockout draw types the number of rounds entry is disabled and set automatically. | ||
Number of finals rounds | This indicates the number of finals rounds required. The number of matches per finals round and the round number identifier will depend on the number of rounds you enter as below: | ||
Number of Finals Rounds | Finals Round Names | Num Finals Matches per round | |
1 | GF | 1 | |
2 | SF,GF | 2,1 | |
3 | SF,PF,GF | 2,1,1 | |
4 | EF,SF,PF,GF | 4,2,2,1 | Note: | If you choose 2 finals rounds then there will be 2 x SF matches created (SEMI-FINALS) and 1 x GF matches created (FINAL).
Option 1: Use default team grounds - This is the most common way of allocating venues for matches where each team in the To create Finals matches only set this value to "0" | |||
Start from Round | If you would like to start the round numbering from a number greater than 1 enter the value here. This allows you to create partial fixtures. For instance you may create round 1-3 and then later on create rounds 4-10 and when doing so you will set the Start from Round value to 4. | ||
Time between rounds | This is the amount of time in days, hours, minutes to leave between rounds in the fixture. Usually this value is left at 7 days which indicates that once a week a round of matches are played. However for some tournaments or events matches may be played once or several times a day. This value is used to create the round dates and times which you'll be able to change in the Round Dates page. | ||
Number of playing days per match | This field only applies to multi-day sports such as cricket and will indicate how many match days are required for each match | ||
Venue allocation method | Option 1: Home and Away - This is the most common way of allocating venues for matches where each team in the grade plays at their home venue if they are the home team. These can be setup via the Team Settings page. | ||
Publish draw to public on completion | This specifies whether to publish the draw when the draw is finalised and submitted. An unpublished draw is not visible on public web sites and only visible to admin users for the organisation that created the draw. This allows it to be fine tuned before allowing people to see it. | ||
Manually enter/edit matches | If this is checked the user will be taken to the Manual Draw Edit screen before proceeding to the Review/Submit screen. The user can always go back to this screen from the Review screen before the draw is submitted even if this box is not checked. This option is not available if you have selected multiple grades. | ||
Non Playing Date Range 1,2,3 | During some competitions there is a mid-season break or non-playing period(s) which the user can specify with these date ranges. This will determine what round dates are automatically generated which can be changed in the Round Dates page. | ||
Draw Heading | The text entered here is displayed at the top of the Draw display page. This may be a good place to display a sponsors name. | ||
Draw Footer Notes | This text is displayed at the bottom of the fixture and is typically used to enter notes that teams need to be aware of in regards to the draw. |
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This page allows a refinement of some settings entered in the first page at a round level. The items that can be changed with depend if the sport is a multi-day sport like cricket
Number of Match Days | This allows for the number of match days to be set for the given round. It is only displayed for multi-day sports like cricket. This value is used to create the round dates and times which you'll be able to change in the Round Dates page. |
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Successive Dates | If the sport is a multi-day sport like cricket then this will indicate that the match days fall on successive days. This value is used to create the round dates and times which you'll be able to change in the Round Dates page. |
Match Type | Sets the match type for the given round. See "Draw Creator - Concepts - Match Types" |
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| Venue Options | When using the Home and Away Venue Allocation method and the round is a finals round an option will be displayed called "Set venue home team" which will indicate that for finals matches in this round the venue is set to be the Home team of the finals match which is always the team that finished higher on the ladder. Not checking this box will mean that the finals match is not allocated a venue. |
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The Draw Creator calculates the dates for each round of matches according to the settings entered in the first two pages. This page allows those dates to be changed. If the sport is a multi-day sport like cricket up to 4 match dates per round will be available.
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Venue Selection Page
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Available Venues | This is a list of venues that are available to your organisation |
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Venues to Use | You can select which venues you want to use for the venue allocation by adding the venues using the ADD and REMOVE buttons or double mouse clicking on a venue name in the Available Venues list. |
Allocate venues in the order listed above | This option specifies that when allocating the venues from the selected list they will be used in the order specified. Otherwise a random selection is made from the list. |
Ignore venue schedule and prior bookings | When allocating venues to matches a check is made as to whether a venue is being used at the time and another one chosen if it is not available. If none are available then no venue is allocated. However, if this option is checked then previous "bookings" for that venue are ignored. This could lead to venue clashes and should only be used where you have setup a central venue with multiple playing areas as the venue to allocate. This is useful in certain event and tournament setups. |
Modify match start times to avoid venues clashes | This option is typically used in a tournament situation where there are multiple matches from the same round played at a given venue. This will instruct the Draw Creator to change the match time for a match to a time after the round start time depending on the length of time set for the given match type. For example if you have 4 matches in a round at 2 venues then the first two matches may be set to start at 10:00AM and the next two matches may be set to start at 12:00PM if the match duration is set to 2hours for the given match type. |
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Venue Selection Page
This screen allows for settings relevant to the "Fixture Slot" Venue Allocation mode and is not displayed if the "Home and Away" mode is selected
Venue Allocation Options | Process in Grade Sort Order: Matches will be processed in date order grade by grade in order they appear in the Grade Management screen. For Instance all "A Grade" matches for the season, then all "B Grade" matches for example. Otherwise matches are selected at random (but in date order). Randomising the order means that that lower grades may get to have matches in "better" slots so as to spread these around and not have the higher grades always playing in these better slots Consider Club Preferences: This is a future enhancement and is not active at the moment |
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Default Fixture Slots | These slots will be used for any grades that have no fixture slots setup in the Grade Management Season tab |
Default Venues | For any Fixture Slot marked with "Any Venue" the venue to us will come from this list of venues |
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Seeding Page
Draw team seedings will determine 
Draw team seedings will determine which teams play each other in a given round over the entire draw. These can also be setup in the Team Settings page but a random seed will be set for all those teams that do not have one set before this page is displayed.
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Edit Page
Home Team | The home team for the given match |
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Away team | The away team for the given match |
Click here to edit venues | Clicking this link will allow the venues for the matches to be changed regardless of whether they were set as default home team venues or allocated automatically by the Draw Creator. If any of the Venue Allocation methods were chosen then the venues are able to be edited by default and the link is hidden. |
Venue | If this displays the text "Default home team venue" then the default venues for the home team as set up in the Team Settings page is used. If the option to edit venues is chosen then a drop down list of venues for your organisation is displayed. |
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Review/Submit Page
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chosen then a drop down list of venues for your organisation is displayed. |
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Review/Submit Page
When this page is first displayed you are given the option of reviewing the draw before submitting it. If multiple grades have been selected in the Start Page then the first grade in the list is used to generate the display. At this stage the draw(s) have not been submitted and you will need to press the Submit button to do this.
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- Select the teams that are in the grade via the "Allocate Teams to Grade" screen
- Go to the "Team Settings" page and define seed for each team. Using the "Standard Knockout Fixture" seeds can be defined so if matches go according to rank the highest ranked teams will not meet each other until the latter stage of the tournament. For example seeds 1 & 2 won;t play each other until the FINAL. Seeds 1,2,3 or 4 won't meet each other until the SEMI-FINALS and so on. See "Draw Creator - Concepts - Fixtures TypesTemplates"
- Start the Draw Creator and select "Knockout" as the Draw Type and select a fixture template from the Fixture Type drop down box (Standard Knockout will suffice for most situations)Set the Venue Allocation method to "Specify venues for all matches" (or one of the other options if you are playing matches at a teams home venue)
- Set other settings as required on the Start page
- On the venue selection page choose the venues to be played at and the allocation method required
- Submit the draw and you are done.
Byes will be added to the fixture to round up the number of teams to the highest power of 2 (16, 32, 64 etc). So that is you create a knockout fixture with 28 teams then 4 byes will be added and therefore 4 teams will have a bye through to the 2nd round.
Note: The teams in the matches after round 1 of a knockout fixture are set to "TBA" as of, or course, the teams in the matches after round 1 depend on who wins those matches. The system will automatically enter the winning teams into the next round of matches after the result has been entered and made official.
When the draw is submitted and accessible via the public pages knockout fixture types will display extra options for viewing the page as below: 
The Tournament View option will lay the page out as below while the detail view displays the page more like a standard draw. 
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Another common tournament or competition structure is where teams are grouped into "Pools" within a grade in such a way as they are ranked within their pool when displaying ladders as below. 
When creating a draw the matches created will have teams playing each other within their own pool. The system can also facilitate matches between teams in different pools which can be created via the Edit Draw screen or via the use of the Manual Enter Matches feature of the Draw Creator.
Usually at the end of the Pool or Group phase of the competition finals are played between the top ranked teams in each pool.
To create a draw for this competition:
- Go to the Grade Edit screen for your grade and select the "Separate Ladder Pools" option for the Grade Structure field in the Season Settings section of the screen
- Select the teams that are in the grade via the "Allocate Teams to Grade" screen
- Go to the "Team Settings" page and allocate each team to a Pool. If you want pools to be randomly allocated then leave it blank and the Draw Creator will set a Pool at random for those that do not have one. Also set the default home venue, start time or seed for teams if required.
- Start the Draw Creator and select "Round Robin" as the Draw Type and select a fixture template from the Fixture Type drop down box (Standard Round Robin will suffice for most situations)
- Set the number of finals rounds according to how many playoff rounds there will be.
- Set other settings as required on the Start page and progress through the Draw Creator as required
- Submit the draw and you are done.
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A really powerful feature of the Draw Creator is its ability to create draws for multiple grades at the same time. For instance if you have a competition structure that plays the same number of rounds on the same dates across multiple grades, even if there is a differing number of teams allocated to those grades then you can create draws for them all at one time. 
In multiple grade mode the Draw Creator will disable some screens such as the Seeding screen so that these will need to be setup before creating the draw via the Team Settings page.
To create draws for multiple grades:
- Select the teams that are in each of the grade via the "Allocate Teams to Grade" screen
- Go to the "Team Settings" page and enter the Draw Seed for each team if you want to set one (otherwise it will be allocated at random. Also set the default home venue and default start time for teams that require it.
- Start the Draw Creator and click on the "Select Multiple Grades" link next to the grade drop down box and the page display will be changed to that above
- Select the grades you wish to create draws for by holding down the CTRL key while clicking on the grade names.
- Set other settings as required on the Start page and progress through the Draw Creator as required (you will not be taken to the Seeding page or Edit page)
- On the Review/Submit page on the first listed grade is displayed so you can get an idea of what the draw will look like for all grades.
- Submit the draw and you are done.the Venue Allocation method to "Specify venues for all matches" (or one of the other options if you are playing matches at a teams home venue)
- Set other settings as required on the Start page
- On the venue selection page choose the venues to be played at and the allocation method required
- Submit the draw and you are done.
Byes will be added to the fixture to round up the number of teams to the highest power of 2 (16, 32, 64 etc). So that is you create a knockout fixture with 28 teams then 4 byes will be added and therefore 4 teams will have a bye through to the 2nd round.
Note: The teams in the matches after round 1 of a knockout fixture are set to "TBA" as of, or course, the teams in the matches after round 1 depend on who wins those matches. The system will automatically enter the winning teams into the next round of matches after the result has been entered and made official.
When the draw is submitted and accessible via the public pages knockout fixture types will display extra options for viewing the page as below:
The Tournament View option will lay the page out as below while the detail view displays the page more like a standard draw.
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Another common tournament or competition structure is where teams are grouped into "Pools" within a grade in such a way as they are ranked within their pool when displaying ladders as below.
When creating a draw the matches created will have teams playing each other within their own pool. The system can also facilitate matches between teams in different pools which can be created via the Edit Draw screen or via the use of the Manual Enter Matches feature of the Draw Creator.
Usually at the end of the Pool or Group phase of the competition finals are played between the top ranked teams in each pool.
To create a draw for this competition:
- Go to the Grade Edit screen for your grade and select the "Separate Ladder Pools" option for the Grade Structure field in the Season Settings section of the screen
- Select the teams that are in the grade via the "Allocate Teams to Grade" screen
- Go to the "Team Settings" page and allocate each team to a Pool. If you want pools to be randomly allocated then leave it blank and the Draw Creator will set a Pool at random for those that do not have one. Also set the default home venue, start time or seed for teams if required.
- Start the Draw Creator and select "Round Robin" as the Draw Type and select a fixture template from the Fixture Type drop down box (Standard Round Robin will suffice for most situations)
- Set the number of finals rounds according to how many playoff rounds there will be.
- Set other settings as required on the Start page and progress through the Draw Creator as required
- Submit the draw and you are done.
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A really powerful feature of the Draw Creator is its ability to create draws for multiple grades at the same time. For instance if you have a competition structure that plays the same number of rounds on the same dates across multiple grades, even if there is a differing number of teams allocated to those grades then you can create draws for them all at one time
In multiple grade mode the Draw Creator will disable some screens such as the Seeding screen so that these will need to be setup before creating the draw via the Team Settings page.
To create draws for multiple grades simply select multiple grades from the left hand list box and use the arrows to select them into the right hand list box
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When this happens a message will be displayed at the bottom of the screen as follows:
You will then be required to change the Team (Display) Name and Team Media Name in the Team Settings page so that the teams from the same organisation have different names. Otherwise on saving this screen you will see will see the error message below:
In the example below there are two teams in this grade entered from Hampton and the user has named them "Hampton Blue" and "Hampton Black". The name can be whatever you like as long as they are different.
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This is similar to topic one Standard weekly fixture (round robin)or Standard tournament (knockout) but it is where you want to use your own custom fixture template to create the draw. Simply contact Support requesting the uploading of your template and then the next time you create a draw it will be listed in the Fixture Type list as either a Round Robin or Knockout type.