1 INTRODUCTION

1.1	Programs
1.1.1	Background
1.2	Main Features
1.2.1	What The Programs Will Not Do
1.3	How Should the Program Be Used
1.4	Points Conventions
1.5	Non Occurring Events

1.1Programs

This manual documents a range of software programs to produce results for athletic meetings in the U.k. All programs deal with between 3 and 8 teams per match for a maximum of six rounds during one season plus promotion and final matches. The main aim of all programs is to provide a full set of printed match results as quickly as possible after the completion of the last event. The process to do this removes the last minute rush by recorders and allows match results to be produced in a consistent manner regardless of the number of teams or league. The name of the programs available are listed below, with their supporting team manager programs are listed in Appendix F

Junior Athletes (WinJA) is intended for use in the National Junior League where male and female athletes compete in one team in up to 34 A/B-string events and 4 relays.

Knockout Athletes (WinKA) is intended for use at BAL and NoE Cup and Plate competitions when senior men and womens compete in a single string knockout competition, having up to 36 individual events and four relays.

Senior Athletes (WinSA) is intended for use in the NoE, Midland and Welsh senior leagues in the U.K. where senior male and female athletes compete in one team in up to 34 A/B-string events and 4 relays.

Senior Women (WinSW) is intended for use in the UKWAL and Southern Womens League (Div 1) where teams compete in up to 18 A/B-string events and two relays.

Senior Men (WinSM) are intended for use in the BAL, Midland mens, Southern Mens and Scottish mens leagues where teams compete in up to 18 A/B-string events and two relays.

Regional Women (WinRW) is intended for use in the Scottish Womens league, Midland Womens League and the Southern Womens League. league matches having up to 44 A/B-string events and five relays.

Regional Athletes (WinRA)
is intended for use at the Welsh Junior league and the Central and Southern Scotland League where male and female athletes compete in up to 109 A/B events and 10 relays.

Young Athletes (WinYA) is intended to cover the English Young Athlete League where male and female athletes compete in one team in three age groups in up to 72 A/B-string events and 9 relays.

1.1.1Background

Background to SM
The first program developed was Senior Men, SM version 1.0 was devised by the author in 1992 as a result of difficulties observed and experienced as an athlete in a travelling British League team. The prime experience being the wait for final match results at the end of the meeting. Looking at other leagues the situation was frequently worse with teams often leaving without knowing the final match result. Results were often not received until several days later where there was considerable variation in the reproductive quality.

SM was devised with the main intention of removing this delay and creating a standard for match results production. The process to do this optimises the format of final match results for all leagues/divisions and removes the last minute rush to produce a final set of results.

Background to SW
Development of Seniore Women, SW, has been parallel to that of SM from version 1.0. SW was originally withheld due to on going changes in league structure and events throughtout the 1990's. SW was made available from 2001 for UKWAL and the NWL from 2003.

Background to SA
The Senior Athletes, SA, program was developed to meet the needs of the change to joint men and womens teams in the northern league from 2004. From 2008 the program supports the Midland senior men and women League

Background to JA
The Junior Athletes, JA, program was developed to meet the needs of the change to mixed gender teams in the National Junior League from 2006. As a result Junior Men (JM, WinJM), Junior Women (JW, WinJW) are obsolete from 2005 and no longer available.

Background to Knockout Men/Women (KM/KW)
These programs ran as pilots in 1994 primarily for the NoE, where usage has increased over seasons. BAL coverage was included at the start along with all the features of the senior programs where appropriate in 1997. KM and KW were adapted in 2007 for the new BAL cup competion.

Background to Knockout Athletes (KA)
This program was developed in 2003 to replace KM/KW where mens and womens teams score as one team. In 2004 has replaced KM/KW for the North of England and BAL. All the features of KM/KW are present.

Background to Young Athletes (WinYA)
This program was developed to meet the needs of the change for mixed boys and girls teams in 2003.

Background to YB/YG/RW
Development of YB, YG and RW began in 1994. All piloted in 1995, but due to ongoing event developments in the leagues were not made available. All offered nearly all the features of the senior programs with the appropriate age group where required. YB and YG are no longer available due to the merging of the boys and grils league in 2004 and have been replaced by YA. As a result Young Boys (YB, WinYB), Young Girls (YG, WinYG) are obsolete from 2004 and no longer available.

Background to Team Manager programs
Team Manager programs were created in 2003. These are intented to reduce and hopefully eliminate the delay in entering team declarations by having a club/team manager enter their team prior to arriving at the venue, via email, or USB on the day. There is an equivalent Team Manager program for all match programs. These will be modified or enhanced to meet the requirements of users.

1.2Main Features

Consistent format of final and guest results.
Full match scoring sheets.
Automatic printing of event results immediately after entry.
Automatic printing of updated of match positions.
Automatic printing of announcers draw order lists.
Automatic on screen indication of an event that is due to start.
Automatic retrieval of match information after a power failure.
Automatic selection of points.
Automatic selection of timetable(s).
Telephone/Fax result lists for athletic magazines or other media.
File generation for use with E-mail and word-processing.
Configurable timetables.
Configurable draw orders.
Configurable media standards.
Large division support (9/16/25 teams).
Full team declarations lists.
Result cards for post match scrutiny.
Dual and triple match support.
Promotion matches options.
Recalling of any meeting at a later date.
On line help.

1.2.1What The Programs Will Not Do

The Program will not do the following:

Support new or changes to league and/or division names and structures.
Support large divisions of other than 9, 16 or 25 team, (3, 4 or 5 teams / match), where identified.
Support events other than the standard number of events.
Automatically detect new records.

1.3How And Who Should Use The Program

All programs are intended to run for one or more matches at one venue on one computer at the same time by one person. Although, a second or third person and computer(s) can record and score other matches. In all cases the second or third matches are regarded as separate in terms of points scoring.

1.4Points Conventions

Points awarded to athletes for actual event places are called event points, the exceptions being:

The Southern Womens League the U17 300MH B string.

Points awarded to a team in addition (or subtraction from) event points are called "non-event points" and are treated the same as event points in any event points calculation.

Points awarded to a team for its placing based on event points (including addition and subtraction of non event points) after the completion of any number of events are called league points.

All league programs score teams on league points throughout the season, the exceptions being:

All cup/plate/knockout programs.
Southern Womens League.

1.5Non Occurring Events

In order for any of the programs to deal with all events it is intended to, events that do not occur in some leagues still appear on menus and lists. These events and are treated the same as events that do occur. To prevent any of the programs treating a non occurring event as if it was occurring, the current match timetable should be set to 9.00am for the non occurring event(s). The non occurring events do not change the number of result pages printed.

Some league change an event depending on the round, eg 5000M in round 1 becomes 3000M in round 2. Such changes are automatically made when the round is selected. However the standards lists are not modified accordingly. The result of this is that all performances are likely to better the related standards and will therefore be printed or not as the case may be.