Practice Schedule Tutorial

Description

This tutorial demonstrates how to create practices for the teams in a league. In this example, two practices are scheduled per week for each team in the league. Each division will practice on different days during the week, and the practices will be scheduled over a 12 week period. Sound OK? Let's get started.

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 "Practice 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 practices should be played and then we can schedule. We want each of the teams to have two practices per week. We also want each team to practice at 4:00 PM. Since there are multiple teams sharing the same field, we would run into conflicts if we had all teams practice at 4pm - unless we have the teams sharing fields practice on different days. So, we will have the Division 1 teams practice at 4pm Monday and Wednesday, and the Division 2 teams practice at 4pm Tuesday and Thursday. Follow the steps below to set this up:

  1. Double-click the Team 0 in the Project Tree to display the Create/Edit Team dialog.

  2. Click the Start Times tab to display the Start Times page.

  3. On the Start Times page, click the Mon day tab.

  4. Click the Add Start Times button to display the Enter Start Time dialog and follow these steps:

    1. Click the Wednesday button so it is depressed like the Mon day button.

    2. Select 4:00 PM from the Start Time combo.

    3. Click the Practice Game Time option.

    4. Click OK to close the Enter Start Time dialog.

  5. You should now see '[Practice Games] 04:00 PM' displayed in the Start Times list, and the Monday and Wednesday tabs should be red indicating we have marked available time on those days. If we had any days 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.

  6. Click OK to save the changes to the Team 0' s start times.

Now that Team 0's start times have been configured, we can set up the rest of Division 1's start times. What we will do is have teams 1-4 use Team 0's start times. To set this up, follow these steps:

  1. Double-click the Team 1 in the Project Tree to display the Create/Edit Team dialog.
  2. Click the Start Times tab to display the Start Times page.
  3. On the Use this Start Time combobox, select 'Team 0' and click OK
  4. Repeat the above 3 steps for Teams 2-4.

Division 1 team start times are now all set up. Now we need to set up the start times for Division 2 teams. This will be done exactly the same as above, but instead of Monday and Wednesday practice times, Division 2 will have Tuesday and Thursday practice times. To set this up, follow these steps:

  1. Double-click the Team 5 in the Project Tree to display the Create/Edit Team dialog.

  2. Click the Start Times tab to display the Start Times page.

  3. On the Start Times page, click the Tuesday tab.

  4. Click the Add Start Times button to display the Enter Start Time dialog and follow these steps:

    1. Click the Thursday button so it is depressed like the Tuesday button.

    2. Select 4:00 PM from the Start Time combo.

    3. Click the Practice Game Time option.

    4. Click OK to close the Enter Start Time dialog.

  5. Like before, you should now see '[Practice Games] 04:00 PM' displayed in the Start Times list, but this time the Tuesday and Thursday tabs should be red indicating we have marked available time on those days. Like before, If we had any days we didn't want games to be played, we would create an exception by clicking the Add Exception button.

  6. Click OK to save the changes to the Team 5' s start times.

Now that Team 5's start times have been configured, we can set up the rest of Division 2's start times. Like before, we will have teams 6-9 use Team 5's start times. To set this up, follow these steps:

  1. Double-click the Team 6 in the Project Tree to display the Create/Edit Team dialog.
  2. Click the Start Times tab to display the Start Times page.
  3. On the Use this Start Time combobox, select 'Team 5' and click OK
  4. Repeat the above 3 steps for Teams 6-9.

Scheduling

Great! Everything is now ready for us to create the practices. We will be creating a 12 week practice schedule where all teams practice twice a week. The first practice will be Monday January 5th 2003, and the last practice will be Thursday March 25th 2003. 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 Schedule from the list and click OK. The Create Schedule dialog will be displayed.

  3. Select the Practice Schedule option and click the Next button. The Practice Name page will be displayed.

  4. Enter 'Winter Practices' in the Name edit box and click the Next button. The Teams page will be displayed.

  5. This is where we choose which teams in the league to create practices for, and when to create them. Click the First Practice Date button to display the Select Date dialog. Choose January 5th 2003, and click OK.

  6. Now click the Last Practice Date button, and select March 25th 2003 on the Select Date dialog. Click OK to save the date.
  7. Leave the Practice Duration set to 60 minutes, but check the Number of practices per team a week checkbox and enter '2' into the edit box. We could just leave this unchecked and the scheduler will schedule a practice for a team wherever there is available time during the first and last practice dates.
  8. Double check to make sure all the teams are selected in the list and click Next. The Schedule Now page will be displayed.

  9. All that is left to do now is click the Schedule Now button to have the Team Sports Scheduling System automatically schedule the practices. So, click the Schedule Now button and in a few seconds all the practices will be scheduled.

  10. Click the Finish button to save the schedule.

Viewing the Schedule

Terrific! You have just created the practice 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.

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.

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/tsss/faq.htm if you have questions or need assistance.