Round-Robin Schedule Tutorial

Description

Let's say we wanted to create a round-robin schedule for our league. Our league consists of two divisions, with five teams in each division. We also have five fields available for game play. Teams 0-4 in the first division will each have a different home field available for home games. Team 0 will use Field 0, Team 1 will use Field 1, etc. The teams 5-9 in the second division will be using the same home fields as the teams in the first division. Team 5 will use the Field 0 for home games, Team 6 will use Field 1, etc. All games will be played on Saturdays starting at 9 AM. For scheduling, we will have all the teams in Division 1 play all the teams in Division 2 once, so the season will need to run for five weeks. Now that we have that figured out, let's see how we go about setting up the project and schedule. 

Creating the Project

The first thing we need to do is to create a new project. To do that, follow these three steps:

  1. Click New from the File menu.
  2. On the New dialog, choose Scheduling Project in the list and click OK.
  3. On the Create New Project dialog, enter the project name "First Tutorial" and click Create.

That's it! the new project has been created.

Creating the League, Teams, and Fields

Now that we have a blank scheduling project, we need to create the fields, leagues, divisions, and teams. To make life easier, we will use the Quick Create dialog to initially create all the items, then we will go back through and configure the necessary values. Follow the steps below to create the data.

  1. Click Quick Create from the Edit menu.
  2. The Quick Create dialog will be displayed, and the Fields tab will be selected. In the Number of fields to create edit box, enter 5.
  3. Click the Create Now button and five fields will be created.
  4. Click the Leagues tab, and the Create League page will be displayed.
  5. In the Number of divisions to create edit box, enter 2. The divisions list will now have two entries displayed, Division 1 and Division 2.
  6. Click Division 1 in the list to select it, and then click the Change button.
  7. The Enter a Number dialog will be displayed. Enter 5 into the Number edit box, and click OK.
  8. The Division 1 entry in the list will now have a 5 in the Teams column instead of a zero. Now select Division 2 in the list and click the Change button again. Repeat step 7.
  9. Both divisions should now have a 5 in the Teams column. Click the Create Now button and the league, two divisions, and the ten teams will be created.
  10. Click the Close button.

We are now all done creating the data! We still need to set up the team home fields and specify the game start times before we can create the schedule.

Configuring the Team Home Fields

We now need to set up each of the team's home field. To do that, follow the steps below.

  1. Click the [+] sign next to the Leagues in the Project Tree to expand the leagues.
  2. Click the [+] sign next to League 0 in the tree to expand the league's details.
  3. Click the [+] sign next to the Division 1 and Division 2 entries to see all the teams.
  4. Now for each of the teams, do the following:
    1. Double-click the team name in the Project Tree to display the Create/Edit Team dialog.
    2. Click the Fields tab to display the Team Fields page.
    3. Select the Home Field option, and choose the home field in the combo box. Team 0 will use Field 0, Team 1 will use Field 1, ... Team 5 will use Field 0, Team 6 will use Field 1, etc.
    4. Click the OK button to save the changes for this team.

All the team home fields should now be properly set up. You can double check by repeating the same procedure and clicking Cancel instead of OK if things look good. Or, you can display the Property window to quickly see what home fields a team has set without editing the team. To double-check by using the Property window, do the following:

  1. Right-click on Team 0 in the Project Tree, and choose Properties from the context menu.
  2. The Properties Window will be displayed. Click the Keep Visible box located at the top left corner of the properties window (this will keep the properties window visible when we change the selection).
  3. Select each of the teams in the Project Tree and check to see if the Season Field is set to the proper value.

Setting the Start Times

Now that the home fields are set up, we just need to specify when the games should be played and then we can schedule. All of our teams will be using the same start times, so we just need to set the League 0's start times (all teams by default use the league's start times for game play). To set the league's start times, follow these steps:

  1. Double-click the League 0 in the Project Tree to display the Create/Edit League dialog.
  2. Click the Start Times tab to display the Start Times page.
  3. On the Start Times page, click the Saturday tab.
  4. Click the Add Start Times button to display the Enter Start Time dialog.
  5. Select 9:00 AM from the Start Time combo, and click the Season Game Time option. Click Add to add the Start Time, and then click Close to close the Enter Start Time dialog.
  6. You should now see '[Season Games] 09:00 AM' displayed in the Start Times list, and the Saturday tab should be red indicating we have marked available time on that day. If we had any Saturdays we didn't want games to be played, we would create an exception by clicking the Add Exception button. We could then pick which dates games shouldn't be played on the Exceptions dialog. This is useful for specifying blackout days or holidays.
  7. Click OK to save the changes to the League 0's start times.

Scheduling

Great! Everything is now ready for us to schedule. We will be creating a season schedule where all teams in the first division play all the teams in the second division one time. We need five weeks to play all the games, so our season will run from January 8, 2005 through February 5th, 2005. Follow the steps below to create this schedule.

  1. From the New option from the File menu. The New dialog will be displayed.
  2. On the New dialog, choose  Round Robin Schedule from the list and click OK. The Create Schedule dialog will be displayed.
  3. Select the Season Schedule option and click the Next button. The Season Name page will be displayed.
  4. Enter 'My First Schedule' in the Name edit box and click the Next button. The Game Sets page will be displayed.
  5. This is where we specify the team pairings. Click the New button to create a new game set. The Create Game Set dialog will be displayed.
  6. Enter into the Description field 'Division 1 vs Division 2' and leave the 1 in The selected teams will play the selected opponents this many times edit box. Select all the Division 1 teams in the Select Teams list, and then select all the Division 2 teams in the Select Opponents list. Click OK to have the game set created.
  7. You should now see the game set listed in the Created Game Sets list on the Game Sets page. You can select the game set in the list, and the created games will be displayed in the bottom list. Click the Next button to continue to the Schedule Officials page.
  8. Since we won't be scheduling any officials with this season schedule, click the Next button to continue on to the Season Settings page.
  9. Here all we need to do is specify the season start and end dates. Click the Date button for the Season Start Date and the Select Date dialog will be displayed.
  10. Select January 8, 2005 on the dialog and click OK.
  11. Now click the Date button for the Season End Date and the Select Date dialog will be displayed once again.
  12. Select February 5, 2005 on the dialog and click OK.
  13. Notice there are many different constraints you can set for scheduling. Since each of our teams have a home field, it makes sense to alternate the home/away frequency. To have the scheduler alternate the home and away games, check the Balance Home/Away frequency, maximum streak: checkbox, and enter a 2 (the lowest number available). Since we only have one start time created on Saturdays (9:00), we don't need to worry about setting the Balance game start times for each team option. Click the Next button do display the Season Schedule Now page.
  14. All that is left to do now is click the Schedule Now button to have the Round Robin Scheduler automatically schedule the season. If you didn't want to have the schedule automatically generated, you could just click the Finish button. You could then edit each of the games and reschedule them as desired. I'm not much for manual scheduling, so click the Schedule Now button. Before long all the games should be scheduled.
  15. Click the Finish button to save the schedule.

Viewing the Schedule

Fantastic, you have just created the perfect schedule and now you want to take a look at it. The Day and Report View were designed just for that. To see which days of the month have scheduled games, and to only see the scheduled games on a specific day, use the Day View. If you want to see all the games between different dates, use the Report View.

My favorite method to quickly see the home/away game play for each team is to run the Home Away.TRT custom report. You can do that by choosing the Run Report option from the Tools menu, and then choosing the Home Away.TRT report on the Select Report page. A faster way to run the same report is to select the Home Away.TRT report from the Reports combo box on the Reports Toolbar. Then just click the Run Report button on the Reports Toolbar to run the selected report.

Printing Reports

Now let's print the team schedules. This can be done with the Print Wizard. Follow the steps below to print the team schedules.

  1. Select the Print Wizard option from the File menu. The Print Wizard dialog will be displayed.
  2. Select the Schedules option and click Next to display the Choose Schedule Type page.
  3. On the Choose Schedule Type, select the Team Schedule option. Click Next to display the Print Team Schedule page.
  4. First we will print out all the team schedules for those teams in Division 1, which this page is already set up to do. Click the Next button to display the Customize page.
  5. Choose the columns you would like to have printed (or leave the defaults checked), and click the Next button to display the Output page.
  6. The Output page allows you to print the schedules to your printer, the screen, or export them to a text or web file. For now, just choose the Print Preview option and click the Run Report button. The Print Preview window will be displayed.
  7. Use the buttons at the top of the screen to go to the next and previous pages in the printout.
  8. When finished looking, press the Close button. You could also press the Print button and have the report printed on your printer.
  9. Now we need to print out the team schedules for the Division 2 teams, so click the Back button to return to the Customize page, then press the Back button again to return to the Print Team Schedule page.
  10. Select Division 2 in the Divisions combo box, and repeat the steps 4-8.

Generating the Website

Now that you have printouts in hand, you remember you are living in the 21st century and the world has gone digital. Everybody is on the Internet, so you think 'Hey, I should put these schedules on the Internet!'. Good thinking, and lucky for you it has never been easier to create a website for your league, teams, fields, and schedules! Follow the step below to have the Round Robin Scheduler automatically generate a completely customizable website for your project.

  1. Select Generate Website from the Tools menu.

That's it! To view the project website, choose Project Website from the View menu. To see the different options available for the website, choose Options from the Tools menu and click the Web tab.

Uploading the Website to the Internet

The website has now been generated, so the last thing to do is upload it to your web server. You may need to talk to your Internet Service Provider or Network Administrator for help here. The Team Sports Scheduling System makes use of Microsoft's Web Publishing Wizard which is bundled with many different products from Microsoft including some versions of Internet Explorer. If the Web Publishing Wizard isn't installed on your computer, you will need to manually copy the project website to the web server. Talk to your Internet Service Provider for information on how to do that. You may also be able to download the Web Publishing Wizard from different Internet sites including Microsoft.

Choose the Upload Website option on the Tools menu to display Microsoft's Web Publishing Wizard if it is installed on your computer. Follow the directions to upload the project website.

More Information

There are a ton of other features in this program that weren't mentioned during the tutorial. Please don't be afraid to play with the program and experiment with the different features available to you. The best way to learn a program is to explore it on your own. I urge you to do this.

A number of Sample scheduling projects have been included with this program. These samples demonstrate some of the more advanced features available to you while scheduling your league. If the schedules you need to generate are a bit more complex than the example this tutorial walked you through, chances are the samples can give you some good pointers.

Also, be sure to look at the How do I section for step by step procedures for a number of common tasks. Be sure to check this help file and the Frequently Asked Questions page at http://www.galactix.com/rrs/faq.htm if you have questions or need assistance.

 

 


Note: Some features described in this help file are only available in the Team Sports Scheduling System.