Author: Matthew Evins

Prep has a set of statuses that describe how far a team has progressed in the prep process.  The table below explains the statuses.

unsubmitted	a team has has not submitted their forms yet
submitted	a team has submitted their forms
resubmit	prep has reviewed a team’s form but requests the team make some changes (only used with Prep Precheck)
pre-checked	prep has reviewed a team’s forms and they are in-order (only used with Prep Precheck)
ready	prep has accepted the team’s forms – this allows the scoring appraisers to score the team
dropped	prep believes the team is no longer competing

How these status are used depends on prep process used by the tournament (more here).

If the tournament has a Prep Pre-check deadline:

• the team advances the team from unsubmitted to submitted by submitting their forms prior to the deadline
• prep can use resubmit to ask the team for changes
• prep advances the forms to pre-checked if no changes are suggested
• ready is NOT used until the day of the tournament when the final onsite prep is done

If the tournament is using no Prep Pre-check deadline or the team misses the deadline:

• the team can still submit their forms but prep is unlikely to review them prior to their presentation
• prep will advance the team to ready after final onsite prep is completed

The status dropped is used if the team does not show up for final prep the day of the tournament.

Getting Team Challenge online forms reviewed prior to the day of the tournament is call Prep Pre-check.

The advantages of encouraging Prep Pre-check include:

• teams get feedback on deficiencies in their forms in advance of the tournament when they have more time to make adjustments in an environment where they can more easily change their forms in the Resource Area
• appraisers have less to accomplish during the on-site prep time just prior to the team presentation

Accessing a team’s online forms is done 1 of 2 ways:

1. for tournament officials, the dashboard has a Track Prep button.  This will lead to a page that lists the prep status of each team competing at the tournament (see below)
2. officials, head appraisers, challenge masters and prep appraisers can prep teams from the page used to monitor a specific room the day of the tournament (see below)

Either approach works for Prep Pre-check.  #2 is the path prep appraisers will use during the tournament.

#1 – Track Prep Handling Prep

The screen shot below shows the tournament official interface to prep.  You access this from the Tournaments=>dashboard (click on Track Prep button). This tournament is a few days before its Prep Pre-check Deadline.  Many teams have not submitted yet; some have.  A couple have dropped from the tournament.  There is a column for TC prep status (tc status) and a column for IC prep status (ic status).  Clicking on the icon in the appropriate column will take you to page to prep that team for TC or IC.  More on that here.

#2 – Prep Appraiser Handling Prep

Prep by the Prep Appraiser is accomplished from Tournaments=>dashboard (click AccessMobile Scoring button). This is the page used for tracking the progress of the Prep Appraiser’s room through out the tournament. The leftmost column is used to prep a team. Click the icon to start the process. More on the prep process here.

The message with a yellow background indicates that the Mobile Client is in Test Mode.  Normally, scoring appraisers cannot enter scores until the team is has a ready status.  Test Mode overrides this so the appraisers can score.  This is a common state when teams are being prepped before the tournament.  While the pre-prep is taking place, scoring appraisers are learning how the Mobile Client works.

The prep process is conducted from the page shown in the screen shot below.

• change a team’s prep status by selecting the correct status in the Change Prep Status dropdown and then clicking the Change Status button
• you can view any of the online forms by clicking the icon to the right of the form
• to see any issues with the online forms click the Show Issues checkbox
• click the Send Team Message button to send a message to the team
  A dialog box will pop-up to capture the message.  The message will be logged in the Team Messages area.  Those listed as Team Managers for the team will receive an email from the Resource Area with your message.
• click the Log Appraiser Message button to make notes for the appraisers
  A dialog box will pop-up to capture the message.  No email is sent, but the appraisers can see the messages in their Mobile Client.

Unlock is discussed below.

If changes need to be made to online forms during the prep period that occurs just prior to a team performing, this could be difficult for the team.  Do they:

• have a device to make the change?
• can they get to the internet (and thus the Resource Area) from wherever prep is held?
• do they have the credentials to log into the Team Manager’s Resource Area account?
• can they navigate the Resource Area to make the changes?

The Unlock button will change the Prep Team page from simply viewing online forms to being able to edit them.  The icons will change to icons that open up online forms for editing.  A message will also be placed in the Appraiser Messages log indicating that the prep appraiser entered edit mode.

The Unlock button is a preference for the tournament.  If it is not present, your tournament has not chosen this preference (more here).

The content of online forms needs to come from the team.  Changing checkboxes or dropdowns should be easy to do at the team’s direction.  For text responses, it might be best for the team to write on a sheet of paper what they wish to appear.

The process of getting a team ready to show their Team Challenge solution or prepare to solve their Instant Challenge is known as Prep.

Historically, prep involved the team meeting with the Prep Area Appraiser.  For Team Challenge, the team presented their paperwork (hand filled out forms) that the Prep Area Appraiser reviewed for completeness and accuracy.  Instant Challenge did not have any paperwork supplied by the team.  An appraiser lead them through the pledge that they would not divulge any information about the IC they were about to solve.

COVID-19 changed much of this as DIHQ moved to online variants of the paperwork.  Teams now complete their Tournament Data Form, Expense Report and Prep Checklist using the Resource Area (more detail on the team view here). 

Much of this prep information is designed to aid Appraisers in appraising the team’s solution.  How the information is consumed varies from tournament to tournament based on the tournament Mobile Scoring setting  (described here under Key Properties).

If Mobile Scoring is not set, teams are instructed to fill the forms out using the Resource Area, but print out copies to take to the tournament. The tournament proceeds as it did historically with the forms hopefully being easier to read.

If Mobile Scoring is set, teams fill out the forms using the Resource Area but are not instructed to print them out. In this case the appraisers will access the forms online either through the Resource Area or the Mobile Client.  

The Resource Area also supports reviewing the forms before the day of the tournament. A tournament can choose this option by setting a Prep Pre-check Deadline (set here).  With a deadline set, teams are asked to submit their Team Challenge forms by the deadline.  At this point the appraiser team will review the forms identifying any changes they would advise.  Using the Resource Area to review submission is described here.

If a tournament has no Prep Pre-check deadline OR a team does not submit prior to the deadline, the team can still submit their Team Challenge forms.  In this case, the Prep Appraiser will review them in the prep period just prior to the Team Challenge presentation.  Resource Area support for this review is described here.

Instant Challenge has no Prep Pre-check deadline.  The team can use the IC Prep Checklist to see and answer the questions on the checklist.  These will be reviewed with an appraiser in Instant Challenge on the day of the tournament prior to solving the team’s instant challenge.

The Tournament State area gives a high level view of how far a tournament has progressed through the tournament steps.

You can see:

• how many team are competing
• how many appraisers have been entered
• how many scores have been entered
• how many teams have been advanced to the next level of competition
• the current state of the tournament (see table below for an explanation of states)
• the state of the tournament that controls whether certain operations are enabled
  The current state is controlled by the radio buttons. Each is described in the table below.

State	Purpose	Mobile Client
Setup	Initial state when the tournament is being setup – includes creating the schedule of team performances and building appraiser teams	no access
Open	When the tournament is open for scoring – see locking individual rooms for finer control	full access
Suspended	Tournament is temporarily offline to Mobile Clients – this might be useful for suspending scoring overnight for a multi-day tournament.	no access
Final	The tournament is over	no access

These tournament states are useful in a couple of ways:

1. they let people know at a glance the state of the tournament.  This state is prominently displayed in the title on tournament pages.
2. they are used to limit Mobile Client access to scoring and viewing scores.  These states do not affect access via the Resource Area.

The final feature of the Tournament State area is the Reset button.  Sometimes it is useful to rollback the work you have done on a tournament.  The Reset button lets you do this in an orderly fashion based on what information has been entered.  Here is how it works:

(note that hovering over the Reset button will tell you want it will do if clicked)

Count Info	Action
teams advancing > 0	reset advancing teams
teams advancing = 0 &scores entered > 0	reset scores
scores entered = 0 &appraiser count > 0	reset appraisers
appraiser count = 0 &team scheduled > 0	reset schedule

The Tournament Choices area contains a few preferences you might want to consider for your tournament.

The preferences do the following:

• Email Reply: When the Resource Area sends an email to team managers or appraisers, the person you choose will be who the email is from. Email can be sent with links to the Mobile Client or for Raw Scores. This person would get any replies. The default person is the Affiliate Director, but it can be changed to the Regional Director or one of the people running the Score Room. The Resource Area will use the email it has on file for the person chosen.
• TC HA can change scores: Different tournaments have different rules about whether a Head Appraiser can change scores in the Resource Area.  This preference lets you control this for Team Challenge.
• IC HA can change scores: Different tournaments have different rules about whether a Head Appraiser can change scores in the Resource Area.  This preference lets you control this for Instant Challenge.
• ATO using Scoring Program: If your tournament is using Mobile Scoring, this feature is obsolete. At a few tournaments, an ATO might be running the DI Scoring Program.  If your tournament does this, check the box so the Resource Area will let that person gain access to the Resource Area from the DI Scoring Program.
• Schedule TC Teams and Schedule IC Teams: If your tournament is in-person, each team must have a TC and IC performance time.  For virtual tournaments, teams don’t compete in person so they do not need a performance time typically.  In the virtual case if you want to associate a time with a team for some reason such as showing the solution videos at this time, check that you want to schedule a time.
• Prep Edit Forms: If your tournament is in-person and using online forms, your Prep Appraiser will do the final check of a team’s online forms using the Resource Area.  If a team needs to make changes, this might be difficult if the team has a hard time accessing the Resource Area during the Prep process.  If checked, a Prep Appraiser has the ability to change a team’s online forms (at the guidance of the team).  By default this preference is off.
• Online Stickies: Stickies are notes to the team that give positive feedback from the appraisers. The name originates from the historical use of Sticky Notes (ie Post-Its) to provide this feedback. Appraisers jot down their thoughts on these notes that are attached to a page of paper and presented to the team with their raw scores. With the advent of Mobile Scoring, the mobile client added a means of creating online sticky notes. These would be emailed to the team along with the team’s raw scores. Some tournaments still prefer the paper version of Sticky Notes. The Online Stickies preference lets a tournament decide if they wish to use online or paper stickies. If online is chosen, the mobile client will support creating online sticky notes and the Resource Area will email them to the team with the raw scores. If the preference is disabled, the mobile client does not support creating sticky notes. The paper sticky notes would be presented to the team when the Head Appraiser discusses the raw scores.
• Use Scheduler: The Resource Area has 2 methods for entering the team schedule: using the scheduler or using a .CSV file.  This checkbox controls the method used for this tournament.  The choice controls the scheduling features accessed from Tournament=>schedule.  The default is to use the new scheduler.

The Rooms area lists all the TC and IC rooms at your tournament.

In addition to some useful information about the room, the table includes 2 controls:

• Locked on/off control
  When in the locked state, Mobile Clients connected to this room cannot enter scores or deductions.  They can still browse scores and enter notes.
• Reset control
  Clicking this button will erase all the scores for this room.

The Key Properties area lets you edit key properties of your tournament.

Many of the properties simply give the name kind, format, date and location of the tournament. There are a few properties that are less obvious. 

• Mobile Scoring: Check if the tournament will use Mobile Scoring 
• Mobile Client Test Mode: Normally appraisers can only use the Mobile Client when the Tournament is in the Open state.  Appraisers might like to play with the Mobile Client as a training exercise before the tournament is fully setup.  You can use this checkbox to turn enable the Mobile Client for testing purposes.  The expectation is that any scoring will be expunged before the tournament is actually opened.
• Prep Pre-check Deadline: Specifying a date before the tournament date enables Prep Pre-check.  If Prep Pre-check is enabled, teams can submit their online forms for review by the appraisers prior to the tournament.  A minute before the date chosen is the deadline for submission.

The IC Tracking States area lets you control the IC steps tracked at your tournament. For more on IC Tracking, click here.

If you enable a step, it will show up as a step when Tracking IC.  If you don’t enable a step, it won’t show up as part of Tracking IC.

The general idea is that:

• Unknown indicates the team has not yet been seen For their IC
• Checked-in indicates they have checked in for their IC
• Holding indicates the team is in holding
• In IC Room indicates the team in currently in an IC room
• Chill-out indicates the team is currently in Chill-Out
• Done indicates the team has checkout of IC

If none of the IC steps is checked, the Resource Area assumes your tournament is not using this feature.

While it might seem nice to use all the steps, consider the work of advancing all the teams through the steps you have chosen.  For a big tournament it might make sense to know a team is in Holding or Chill-out.  For smaller tournaments tracking at this level may not be necessary. For more on the best steps to use at your tournament, click here

Tournaments have a number of properties that control the behavior of the Resource Area and the Mobile Client.  To adjust these properties:

1. select Tournaments=>dashboard
2. select the tournament you wish to work on
3. click the Edit Tournament button from the tournament’s dashboard

You will see a screen similar to the shot below.  See the links below for a description of the properties:

• Tournament State
• Key Properties
• Schedule State
• Rooms
• IC Tracking States
• Tournament Choices