Advanced Scoring Settings

For more complex races or for custom scoring methods you may need to define Advanced Scoring Settings, there are 3 types of advanced scoring settings. 

Special Results - Results are fields associated with a time, which can be pulled/calculated from Raw Data or calculated from Splits / other data. Results may be required for certain event types such as variable lap races.

Rankings - Checking the configuration of rankings, for example overall/gender/age group rank.

Team Scores - Optionally, defining team scores. A team score will, for example, sum up the times of best three athletes of each club and create a ranking over the team time.

Note: By default, an event file already has overall/gender/age group rankings. You need to work on the rankings only if you want them to be calculated in a different way or if you want to calculate additional rankings.

Special Results

Special Results are defined with the following settings.

First, choose an ID and a name for the result. The times of the results can be accessed by either the ID or the name of the result, see Time Fields.

Make sure to choose your IDs wisely so that they are intuitive:

  • For example save lap 1 in result 21, lap 2 in result 22, lap 3 in result 23, and so on – instead of lap 1 in result 27.
  • Make sure to leave gaps in your IDs, maybe you would like to add something in between later.
  • Use the low ID numbers for important results - these will be more visible in the Participants Window.
  • Convention is that the result with ID 1 is the most important result, usually a Finish Time.

Next, you can optionally select a Time Format that defines how the times will be displayed, for example h:mm:ss. This time rounding will take priority over the Contest Settings, if you do not define a time format, the format from the Contest Settings will be used. Usually you would define the time format per contest and enter a time format for a result only if that result needs different formatting.
If you have results like number of laps or points, which are a numerical value instead of a time, you can use the time format: s

The same applies to the Time Rounding. If the result shall be rounded other than defined in the contest setting, select a rounding option.

General Result Settings

Subtract start time (T0) - the start time (T0) will be subtracted from the passing time and the result (race time) will then be stored in the results. Only activate this if your timing system is using GPS Time / Time of Day. 

Ignore chip reads before start time (T0): This option is important for results using Timing Points which are not set to Raw Data Mode (Static Timing). All reads of people warming up or standing on the timing mat before the start will be ignored.

The following settings are applied accordingly to each specific Contest. 

Minimum Lap Time: Minimum Lap Time defines a minimum time to be used for laps. This also applies for the Start rule to define the maximum Start time and when Number of Laps is 1, defines the minimum time for the Finish rule.

Number of Laps: Defines the number of laps expected for the Contest, this value will be used for the Finish rule. Also used for the field [Contest.Laps] and if greater than 0 will enable the use of Raw Data Lap Rules.

Raw Data Results Calculations

Raw data calculations can calculate a range of results automatically. When a timing point is selected a column Calculation will turn into a drop down box and you select among different Rules, which are described in the sub-sections.

A race with start and finish on the same timing system can be as easy as this:

Note again that in Raw Data Mode, you can change at any time the result settings or settings like Minimum Lap Time, Number of Laps, Finish Time Limit, Start Times, etc. The rules will be reapplied what may result in a different time value in the result. When using Raw Mode, you only need to make sure from the beginning to connect each timing system to the correct Timing Point.

Formula Results

Formula Results do not save a time, but instead they calculate a time from other results or other data in your event file. Formula results are used for many use cases, for example calculating sector times, calculating points, adding times and penalties, etc.

If you do not select a timing point for a result in Main Window->Results, the formula can be entered in the Calculation column. Any Expression that returns a number can be used here. Note that if the expression returns nothing (null) or a string, the result will be not filled (null) which is different from time 0:00:00.

To make it easier to set up formula results, a wizard can be accessed through the hand icon :

This wizard offers the following options:

Time Difference

Via Time Difference you can simply calculate the difference between two times, for example start and finish time (returns the net time) or sector times (e.g. time needed from km 10 to km 20). When you close the window by clicking OK, a formula like T2-T1 will be created. Tx represents the result with ID x.

Similarly, you can use TRx instead of Tx which returns the rounded time value. Thus, TR2-TR1 calculates the difference between the rounded time value in result 1 and 2.

Note that the operators (plus, minus, etc.) can only be evaluated if both operands exist. For example, the formula T2-T1 can only be calculated if the participant has a time in both result 1 and result 2. If one of the times is missing, the participant will not have a time in the formula result either. If non-existing results shall be considered as 0, you can use the nz function.

Table

Using a Table you can look up values in a table. The table has 4 indexes (in most cases you will need only one) which you can select through the fields Index1 to Index4. Assume, you would like to calculate points as follows: first place: 100 points, second pace: 50 points, third place: 30 points, other: 0 points. In that case the table can look like this:



Index 1 represents the rank and the other indexes are not used. Thus, select Rank1 as index 1 in the formula wizard and enter 0 for the other indexes:



If the value to be calculated also depends on other values, for example gender and contest, you can use additional indexes accordingly.

Note that you should only use a table, if you cannot calculate the points with a closed formula. For example, if would like to double the value of result 1, you can simply define the individual formula 2*T1 instead of setting up a table which converts 1 to 2, 2 to 4, 3 to 6 and so on.

Aggregation

There are several options to aggregate times, i.e. to calculate the sum, average, minimum, maximum or determine the number of times entered or the last or first time.

For the first aggregation option, simply select which results are to be considered (of the results ... through...) and how to aggregate these results. Note that First and Last return the first/last existing result (ordered by the ID). When selecting e.g. Minimum (ID), the ID of the result holding the minimum value will be returned (instead of the minimum time).
Also note that the aggregation function will always return a value, i.e. the formula TSum(1;4) is equivalent to nz(T1)+nz(T2)+nz(T3)+nz(T4). In contrast, T1+T2+T3+T4 will be calculated only if the participant has a time in all four results.

When using the second aggregation option, you can additionally reduce the results that are considered. If you enter of the best results 1 through 4, then only the best four times will be considered (assume you have a series with 6 races and you would like to sum the best four results). If you would like to consider the highest values as best values (e.g. points), you can enable the option Descending.

Individual Formula

If none of these concepts fits the requirements for your formula, you can also define an Individual Formula using an expression like this:

T1-2*T2+iif([Sex]="f";10;5)

Circular References

When setting up a complex race you can quickly make a tiny mistake and accidentally create a Circular Reference. For example, the definitions T1:=T2+1 and T2:=T1+1 create a circular reference. If T2 has been updated, T1 needs to be updated. In return, T2 needs to be updated and then T1 needs to be update again. This will create an endless loop so that the system would never stop working unless it detects the circular reference.

The SportsEventServer detects even long complex circular references and then refuses the calculation since something must be wrong in your definition. If your event has circular references, these will be listed in Overview->Technical Information. If something in your event file does not work the way as expected, it is a good idea to check for circular references here.

Rankings

Using a Ranking, ranks for all or some participants according to any kind of metrics can be calculated. These ranks can then be used in lists, certificates or in any other part of the software.

Our event templates have the three most common rankings already set up by default: an overall ranking, a gender ranking and an age group ranking. You can edit these or set up additional rankings to calculate for example a city championship. Read the sub-article below to find out how to set up your own rankings.

For each ranking these rank fields will be calculated.

Ranking Settings

Rankings are set up under Main Window->Rankings.

General

In order to set up a new ranking, fill out the empty line at the end of the table. Enter a new ID for the ranking and enter a name, for example AwardsRank.

Filter

The filter determines which participants will be considered in the ranking. The normal filter for your final ranks would be [Finished] AND [Status]=0, i.e. all participants which have a time in the finish result and have not been disqualified or pulled out of the race will be ranked. However, you can use any field or expression as a filter.

For example, if you want to calculate a split time ranking after the half marathon distance of a marathon, the filter could be something like this:

 Time21.Positive

Here it is assumed that the half marathon time is saved in result 21.

Another example is a special score where only those finishers are added to the ranking who have AYN2 checked. In this case, the filter would look like this:

[Finished] AND [AYN2]

Finally, it is quite common to not cumulate awards for the overall and age group winners. To exclude the male and female top 3 finishers from the age group awards, you can create an extra rank and filter it like this

[GenderRank]>3

Since GenderRank already filters by [Finished] AND [Status]=0 we can simply filter by the value of the rank. 

Groupings

Usually, the participants are divided into several groups. For example, gender ranking breaks the participants on the one hand into men and women, and on the other into the various contests. This means that all women in a 10 km race are in one group and all men in a half marathon are in another. If a group has n participants, the participants are ranked from 1st to nth. Another group is ranked from 1st to mth if m participants are in it.

Think about which characteristics participants must have in common to be part of the same group.
Examples:

  • In the overall ranking, the participants have to be registered in the same contest.
  • In the gender ranking, participants have to have the same gender and have to be registered for the same contest.
  • In the age group ranking, participants additionally have to be of the same age group.

In the Grouping 1-4 columns, simply select those fields that participants must have in common to form a group. You can select up to four fields.

Sorting

So far you have determined which participants form a group but not yet who takes which place in a group. Orders helps you with that.

  • You can pick up to four fields in the Orders columns. Usually the decimal time of the participant serves to sort the participants.
    If the sorting should not be ascending but descending, activate the corresponding checkbox next to the order field. This is often the case in a lap race where ranks are given by, first, the number of laps (descending) and then the time needed (ascending).

Ties

It could happen that the fields picked under Orders are not decisive, for example if two participants have the same rounded time. In this case, you have three options:

  1. If there is no clear decision, the participants are sorted randomly.
  2. Add fields to the sorting, e.g. the year of birth (sorted descending). In this case, younger participants are ranked higher than older ones.
  3. Activate the check box in the column with the icon (Ties Possible). In this case, the same rank can be awarded multiple times.

AutoRank

AutoRank / AutoRankP are unique fields which will automatically calculate the rank for a specific set of participants, they can only be used directly in Output lists. 

AutoRank primarily takes into consideration any groupings which are applied to the output list (filters are also considered as a grouping) and then sorts them in according to any subsequent ordering, at this time AutoRank can only sort from smallest to largest. If using filter with ignore, when ignore is chosen then this grouping will be completely ignored. For example, if an output is set to filter by Age Group and then <Ignore> is selected then all age groups will now be ranked together according to the next highest level of grouping. 

When the Selector is being used then the final sorting will use either {Selector}.Decimal or [SelectorDecimalTime] according to whether you are using the Splits or Results Selector.

Below are two examples of how the AutoRank can be used efficiently.

Final Results 

Final results are often displayed with Overall, Gender and AgeGroup Results, this would normally require 3 separate output lists to be shown online. By using the AutoRank this can be achieved with a single output list where the viewer can select what they want to see. 

A final results output list could be setup as per below, where the final sorting is based on the finish result. 

The AutoRank will now Group by Contest, MaleFemale and AgeGroup1, and sort by Status and then DecimalTime. In this case AgeGroup1 has been set to ignore for the Preselection Group Filter and will first Group results / AutoRank by Gender, if ignore is selected for MaleFemale then it will show results / Autorank overall by Contest. 

Live Results

To show a live leaderboard during a race we want to see participants ranked according to their position in the race either at the most recent split or a chosen split when using the Result Selector. When the Results Selector is enabled then the Selector Time is by default used by the AutoRank to sort participants, if using the <Last Result Herein> then it will also sort by the last result and then by time. 

A Live result output list could be setup as per below where the output is then sorted by the AutoRank. 

The AutoRank will now group by Contest and MaleFemale and then sort by SelectorTime. The output list is sorted first by SelectorTimeSet, this ensures that those who have a time and are ranked appear at the top of the list, but those who do not yet have a time at the selected split are still shown (which is useful for the start of the race). Participants are then sorted in the output list by the AutoRank, a final sorting by bib is then included for participants who do not yet have an AutoRank.

Team Scores

A Team Score groups several participants (e.g. from one club) to a team and calculates values such as the sum or the average of their times, and ranks the team compared to other teams. These values can then be shown on lists, certificates or in any other part of the software.

The final result of a team score may look like this result list:


By default, a new event file has two pre-configured team scores (see Main Window->Team Scores):

  • Team score 1 (named "Team Score") builds teams of three per club and sums up their finish times.
  • Team score 2 (named "Team Results m/f") builds teams of three men or three women per club, sums up their finish times and scores male and female teams separately.

In the Output Window, you will find two lists ("Team Results", "Team Results m/f") which show the results of the two team scores.

In most cases either of these team scores can be used with no or minor modifications. For example, you may want to change the number of participants per team from 3 to 5.

However, if you plan on creating special team scores, you will need to dive deeper into the settings. These are described in the sub-sections.

Team Score Settings

Team Scores can be defined in Main Window->Team Scores. Note that you can create several team scores if needed.

When setting up a Team Score there are several aspects which should be considered, these impact primarily the formation of a team, and how the teams result should be calculated and subsequently ranked. 

A special Team Score mode exists for Team Lap Races where only one team member may be participating at any given time, but each team member receives their own transponder for identification.