Overview
The League Scheduler Tool will allow the League Manager (LM) to automatically schedule an entire season worth of games for a particular league at one time. This tool may be used after:
The Season has been created
The Leagues (Levels) have been created
All teams within the League to be scheduled have been registered
After the LM schedules the league, they can use the "Search & Email" tool to notify all players that their season schedule is published Online.
Using the League Scheduler
To launch the League Scheduler tool, go to the Programs menu and press "Tools". On the left hand side, you will see "Programs" listed, click on this and then select "League Scheduler".
For a shortcut, simply type "League Scheduler in the Universal Search Box and click the label after it is dropped down.
Select the Location and Season under the "League Information" header.
Select the League that you want to schedule then Click "Next Step" (Note: If your league has an odd number of teams, the tool will ask you if you want the system to "Use double headers"? If you click the box, DaySMart Rec will create the bye's and double headers for you.
Select the "Resource" onto which you want to schedule the games. If you need more than one resource click on the add button after your first resource selection is shown, then click "Next Step".
On the League Scheduler "Day Options" editor check the Day(s) of Week that league's games are played then enter the date of the first game.
Time Options:
Enter the default game length. If you choose to use the time for the "game slot" as opposed to the "game clock running time", you can leave the "pause time between games" as "0".
Enter the default start time for the resource(s) every week. This may need to be entered in military time to differentiate the morning from the afternoon/evening games.
The system will automatically calculate the number of game slots depending on the number of teams divided by 2 (2 teams per game slot).
If there is an odd number of teams, the number of game slots will be rounded up to the next whole number.
Resolve Conflicts: If the calendar has conflicts during the scheduling window you have chosen during any week, you can check the "Resolve Conflict" box to have the system automatically move the games to the next available time slot.
When finished, click "Next Step" which will reveal the League "Matrix" that is a PROPOSED week by week schedule for all teams in your league.
8. The League Matrix will give you a week by week view of games created by the Scheduling Algorithm. You can manipulate the order of games within any week but if you move a game from one week to another you may inadvertently schedule a double (or triple) header. Schedule slots with a green "ok" status box next to them denotes that the slot has no conflict with an existing scheduled event on the calendar.
9. You may modify the game date, time, home & away teams & location...after changing the data click the "update" button to get DaySmart Recreation to recognize your changes.
10 .Control Buttons:
Delete: If any games have a checkbox marked next to it, they will be deleted from the scheduler.
Switch: If any TWO games are marked with the checkbox, they will be switched in the matrix.
Update: All changes made to the scheduler will be updated (dates, time, opponents, etc).
Reset: Any unsaved changes, will be reverted back.
Post to calendar: Post all games to the calendar (but is not visible to players)
Publish Online: Publishes the league's schedule to all rostered players. NOTE: This is clicked by default but often times you may want to post the schedule and hold on publishing it until you are finished with all of your edits. For example, if you have multiple leagues playing on the same day, it may be best to do all of the league schedules first as unpublished in case you need to move some games around afterwards. Once you are done, there is a way to publish all of your games with one click.
11. More Options:
In the More Options box, you have the ability to highlight specific teams to find them within the league scheduler. This can be helpful if you have a team that has special requests or if you need to make sure certain teams don't play each other.
Add Custom games: If you want to add more games than what you have set at the Level page, you can create some custom games.
12. Special Note:
If you ever navigate away from the scheduler after you have started scheduling, your session will be saved and noted on the initial League Scheduler page. This is saved for 2 weeks and then will expire if it remains untouched for that entire term. Continuing the session will reset this timer.
13. Sanity checking is imperative when using the league scheduler. Here are a couple tips in making this process go smoother:
Periodically while making your changes to the scheduler and definitely before posting the schedules, scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out the different matrices. It is important that nothing looks strange. For example, you need to ensure everyone has the correct number of games, that one team doesn't have 3 doubleheaders while others have an unusual amount of bye's. If you have leagues that play on off nights, the day of the week matrix is important to keep an eye out for. Also be careful giving multiple 6am games to the same team (unless of course they ask for it).
14. Once you have finished with all of your edits and you are ready to post your schedule, check the box to "Post to Calendar". You can decide whether you also want to check the box to "Publish Online" or wait until later to do this.
15. Once you have posted the schedule, a new page will appear with the league schedule on it.