Tutorial -- Evaluation

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Tutorial -- Evaluation

Evaluation -- Setup the MiniMax League
If you have worked your way through the EXPLORATION section of this tutorial, you know quite a bit about the program already. If you did not work your way through it, please do so now. Working through the EXPLORATION section will really get you oriented to the program menus and features.

For this tutorial I will assume that you want to store the league data files in the same directory as the program. In this section of the tutorial we will go through the setup of a fictitious bowling league to illustrate the process you will go through with your league data. We will set up the MINIMAX LEAGUE. It consists of two teams with two players on each team. The season will consist of two weeks of competition. They will use individual handicapping. We'll discuss some of the other options as we go through the setup.

IMPORTANT: If you want more in depth information on any of the screens you see, press the F1 key on your keyboard when screen is displayed on your computer and you will be able to read the help for that screen.

Evaluation -- Creating New Data Files
To begin the setup of a new league, we first have to open a set of new files for the league. Select New from the File menu. Enter MiniMax in the File Name text box on the dialog box and click on OK. A dialog box will then appear asking you to fill out information on the General League Setup Parameters. Select one of the bowling league types by clicking on the option button for that type and then fill in the text boxes with the following information.

2 teams on the league
2 players on each team's roster
2 players on each team that play each week
0 substitute players at this time
2 weeks of league competition this season
1 is the week number you will start with

Click on OK and the new data files for the MiniMax league are created. Depending on the size of the league you create and the speed of your computer this could take a little while to finish. When the files are created you are returned to the Main Program window. Take a few moments to inspect this window. You'll notice that the league name is NEW and the Data File name is MINIMAX. The week is 0 of 2 and the session is 1 of 1. The spreadsheet list two teams as TEAM 1 and TEAM 2. It is full of zeros. When the data files were created, two dummy teams were set up with vacancies and many options have been set to their default values. We now have to change these default selections to the selections we want for the MiniMax league.

Evaluation -- Scoring Options
Select Scoring Options from the Setup menu. We are going to accept all the default values for scoring. Take a few minutes to review the form and the default values we are accepting such as a 3 game series, individual handicapping with a scratch score of 180, a handicap percentage of 80%, and a maximum handicap of 100. These defaults assume that you are taking this tutorial after having viewed the Example League supplied with the program. If you had a different set of league data files open before you began to create the MiniMax league files, the values from that league will be the defaults that you will view.

There are many options on this screen. When you setup the program for your league it is important that you understand how these need to be set for your league. You may want to press function key F1 and read about each of the options. You will then want to consult with your league officers or your competition site on how these options should be set for your league.

When you are through reviewing the form, click on OK.

Evaluation -- Split Season Options
Select Split Season Options from the Setup menu. Again we are going to accept the form without making any changes. However this is the form that you would use to indicate that your league has one or more splits during the season. If you had splits you would indicate the week number that each split would start. You would also specify if the stats and classifications should be reset at the start of each split. You can also specify whether stats will be reset for teams, players or both teams and players.

When you are through reviewing the form, click on OK.

Evaluation -- Award Options
Select Award Options from the Setup menu. Fill in the text boxes with the following information.

2 top awards in each category will be listed
3 games must be played to qualify for an award

200      or more scratch game statistics will be tracked for each player
500      or more scratch series statistics will be tracked for each player
600      or more scratch series statistics will be tracked for each player

Do not change the categories from male and female.

Do not check any of the check boxes. Click on OK.

Evaluation -- Teams and Subs
Select Award Options from the Setup menu. A dialog box will appear with the following warning:

"Changes made using the form displayed next can only be undone by re-loading the data from the disk files."

The reason for this warning is that the dialog box that will be displayed next is a powerful tool for changing the league. Changes that are made are saved to the data files. If you cancel the dialog box, the changes you make will not be undone. Changes made with most other dialog boxes can be undone by simply canceling the dialog box. This is not the case with this form. To undo the changes you would have to restore a backup of the current data files stored on your computer. Click on OK and the Team and Player setup spreadsheet will appear.

Change the name of TEAM 1 to Top Cats and TEAM 2 to Hound Dogs.

Change the name of player 1 from *VACANCY 101 to Peter C. Set his sex to Male. Enter his phone number as 555-2376. Change his starting average to 156. The value in the Recalc column will be 3. You can keep it at 3 but this is the number of games that Peter will have to complete before his average is recalculated and used in place of his starting average. The Calc Start cell will say "No". You would check this to "Yes" for a new player who does not have an starting average. If "Yes" is entered the program will calculate the starting average to be the average after the first week of competition.

You will see that the text box with the word "PHONE" in it is editable. If you would prefer to enter some data other than a phone number here, such as a sanction number, you can change the word "PHONE" to "SANCTION NO." or "NICK NAME" or whatever you would like. Up to 12 characters are used for the label and for the value entered for that label. The label you enter in the text box would apply to all players. You cannot have PHONE for some players and NICK NAME for others.

Make changes for the following players.

*VACANCY 102 -- name is Cathy P, sex is Female, the phone number to 555-3346, and the starting average to 135. The Top Cats team setup is now done.

*VACANCY 201 -- name is Jake K, sex is male, phone is 555-2274, starting average is 122

*VACANCY 202 -- name is Paula K, sex is female, phone is 555-2274, starting average is 118. The Hound Dogs team setup is now done.

Click on OK and you are done with this spread sheet. Notice that the team names in the spreadsheet on the main program screen have been changed.

Evaluation -- Customized Special Awards
This menu option will not be available unless you indicate that you want to setup customized special awards when you setup the award options above. You will want to read the help file section on these customized awards to determine if you might want to use them for your league.

Evaluation -- Classifications
Select Classifications from the Setup menu. We will not setup any classifications for the Minmax league but take a moment to inspect the form and consider how you might use it for your league. Classifications would allow awards to be separated based on the player's ability (classification).

Click on OK and we are done with Classifications.

Evaluation -- Lanes and Schedule
Select Lanes and Schedule from the Setup menu. Take a moment to inspect this form and the spreadsheet.

Change the lane numbers from 101 and 102 to 7 and 8.

Type over the TBD's in the spreadsheet and enter the following schedule.

Week Lane 7 Lane 8
1 1 2
2 2 1

If our league had an even number of teams between 4 and 34 the schedule would have been filled out automatically for us by reading in a schedule from the file SCHEDULE.DAT in the program folder. You can see from the buttons at the bottom of the form that we could also insert a position week, add a week to the schedule, drop a week from the schedule, or reload the reference schedule from the disk.

Click on OK and you are done with the schedule.

Evaluation -- Officer and League Names
Select Officer and League Names from the Setup menu.

Enter MiniMax as the league name. Use the drop down list boxes to set Peter C as the president, Jake K as the vice president, Cathy P as the treasurer, and Paula K as the secretary.

Click on OK and were done with the names.

Evaluation -- Extra Statistics
Select Extra Statistics from the Setup menu.

We will not setup any extra statistics for the Minimax league but take a moment to review the form and consider how you might use it for your league. Note that entering an extra stat with an abbreviation of FEES will allow you to specify the weekly playing fee paid by each player.

Click on OK and we're done with the extra statistics.

Evaluation -- Team Prizes
Select Team Prizes from the Setup menu.

You can use this screen to setup how prize money will be awarded to teams at the end of the season. Prize money can be awarded based on position in the standings or points earned. Prizes can be awarded for each session. If you use the program to track the weekly fees collected, the amount collected can be automatically filled in for you with a click of the button. It's quick and easy to setup your prize money and you'll find a report on the Reports menu that will quickly give you the break down of the prizes for each team.

Evaluation -- Brackets
Since Brackets are an optional feature of the program, you may never use this menu selection for your league. For the purposes of this tutorial, please Select Brackets from the Setup menu.

The first time you make this selection or if you have not setup any brackets for your league, the program will ask you want to create your first bracket. If you answer yes, the setup screen will appear. For this tutorial simply accept all the default values on the setup screen for Bracket #1. Change the Bracket Type from "Team" to "Individual (No Subs)". We have to do this because we need a minimum of 3 participants to setup a bracket. Since there are only two teams in the MiniMax league we cannot setup a team bracket. We do have 4 players so we can setup a bracket for them. Click on the "Quick Load" button. The program will ask you how many seeds will be entered in the first round. Enter 4 because all 4 players on the MiniMax league will participate. The program will "seed" the first round of the bracket with the four players. Click on the OK button and you will be asked if you want to seed the first round now. This means that the program will adjust the seeding of the first round for you based on "Bracket Seeding" option. Since you accepted the default for this option, round 1 will be seeded with the Player with the highest value for High Series Handicap in the first match for round 1 and the Player with the lowest value for High Series Handicap in the last match for round 1.

With the bracket seeded, the program will now begin processing the results for the bracket as you enter the weekly results. Since the bracket we setup is for High Series Handicap and there are two rounds for the bracket, it will take two weeks to complete the bracket with two series.

Evaluation -- Save Data and Ready to use!
Congratulations. You have now completed the setup of the MiniMax league and your ready to enter the scores for the first week of competition. Select Save from the File menu. At this point you can exit the program. When you load the program the next time the MiniMax files will be automatically opened and you could begin entering scores.

Your league will obviously be more complicated than the MiniMax league but you will go through the same basic steps to setup and specify your league. If you need more help with any of the dialog boxes or with entering scores, please read the appropriate sections in this help file. If you encounter a problem that you can't solve by reading this help file, please contact the author.

Good luck! Keep in touch and let me know how the program is working (or not working) for you. Thanks for choosing The League Assistant for your league.