Providing
Race Services Since 1989
Version 9.0 Enhancement List
Available February 15, 2007
Major Enhancements
Active.com Searchable Results – Added a feature to the Overall Result report where you can do a direct send of result data to the Active.com Searchable Results engine. There is a simple setup done before the race - after that, each time you produce an Overall Results report, the file Active needs is automatically sent.
Scalable Screen Sizes. Added option to Tailor --> Options --> System to specify screen font size. This allows you to to enlarge screen sizes by a factor of either 25% or 50%.
New Timer Program - The old DOS based timer program is now history. A new Windows-based timer program is integrated directly into Race Director. The concept is still to run this program on a satellite computer, but the ease of use and readability of the new timer program is greatly improved.
Auto Save - As you exit Participant Entry and Results Entry, you now have the option of performing an auto-save. This allows for restoring the race data to any of the last 10 auto-save points.
Microsoft Outlook Security Patch work-around. Race Director now has an enhancement which bypasses the limitations imposed by Outlook when sending emails. The pop-up requiring a 5 second delay between each email send is now avoided.
Announcer screen. This new option is found off the Reports menu and replaces the DOS based announcer program developed several years ago. This screen is designed to run on a stand alone computer with current race participant data. The announcer can type in bib numbers and see participant data scroll on the screen. Optionally, this option can be directly connected to the RFID or ChampionChip system - participant data will scroll on the screen as their chip is read.
Master Participant Clean-up. Found under Update --> Master Participant --> Master Participants --> Clean up. By rule you can specify a profile for which type of master participant records you want kept on file. For example, rule profile 1 is for keeping only those who fall into at least one of these categories 1) have an address and zip code, 2) have a valid email address, 3) have a valid birth date. There are currently 6 rules defined for helping you eliminate duplicates or bad data from your master participant list.
Reports
For multi-segment races, enhanced "Skip on Results" to also work when you specify race segments by division.
Changed series report to show chip time when race is scored that way.
Added a Online Registration list to "Other Lists" found in pre-race reports. This report lists everyone entered by their online registration ID.
Added options to the Series report to 1) allow printing of the overall report without showing finish place 2) allow printing the overall report with the genders mixed together instead of separated.
Added distance to all Lap results reports.
Added an option to the Laps Results report to allow scoring by total distance instead of total laps.
Added an option to standard team results reports for scoring based on the last finisher's result instead of on the team's cumulative result.
Added a "Data Select" button to both the Age Group and Overall results report. This allows for restricting the data selected for these reports to several different key data fields (bib number, name, zip code, etc).
Added an option to the age group results report for taking page breaks when the age grouping changes.
Changed "Seconds per Pound" results report to sequence the overall report by gender. Also changed this report to make showing the participant's weight optional.
Results Processing
Accuchip RFID Chip system. Added a real-time interface that allows up to 8 connections. There is also a direct connection to Accuchip RFID on the Announcer screen.
Readlite Direct - ChampionChip - did some programming changes to reduce contention problems you can encounter when you're pulling new times in at the same time they are coming from the mats. Major improvements to the ReadLite direct times import. Expanded from 1 to 6 possible connections. Drop-down control for type of time looks to the settings you have for race segments, display participant info as the results are processed.
Added Timy timer interface.
Expanded number of decimals allowed when specifying lap distance from 1 to 3.
Expanded Lap Results import to also allow importing results from the AMB, RFID and DAG systems.
Enhanced chip start time import for races where there are wave offsets by division. When encountering a "suspicious" start time (one that is more than a given number of minutes different than the wave offset time for the division the participant is registered in), you are given a prompt allowing you to immediately switch the participant to a different division. A report can be run at the end of the import showing all suspicions start times and showing the action taken.
Added the ability to import "n th" occurrence times in the ChampionChip import. This is useful for races where the same mat is used for multiple segment points.
Added the ability to score teams by average time.
Participant Entry
Added mass delete of participants by optional data field contents.
Allow transferring range of participants even if team relay.
Added an option in Tailor --> Options --> Part Info for "Always use City / State from Zip Code master". When this is set, you will no longer get confusing questions about city / state differences for a given zip code. Instead, the city / state from the master zip code file will always be used. This will also be true on imported data. The city and state imported will be over-written with the city / state from the master zip code file.
Added a "Find" button for team relay on the Update --> Participants screen. Allows you to look up a relay team by team name or by the last name of anyone entered on the team.
Added Email Address as a field that can be tracked for team relay participants. Included is the ability to directly enter email address, the ability to import email address and the ability to use the email address for team relay participants in sending emails.
Changed "Swap" participant to work better for bandit swaps in chip races. The swap will also transfer the chip start time now.
Added "last division entered" and "last team entered" as additional data elements that can be retrieved from the master participant file.
Import / Export
Added "Bib Number" and "Participant Weight" as a fields that can be imported from Active.com via a custom question.
Enhanced both the Active.com import and the import from a file to include an option where the division assignment is based on the bib number. This is only possible in race tailored to have distinct bib number ranges by division.
Added "Total Male Finishers" and "Total Female Finishers" to the list of fields that can be exported.
Updated the GRU export to use the short descriptions from the Top Finishers screen on the top finisher age group description.
Tailoring
Redesigned the screen where Age Bands are defined to a more "user friendly" format. Changed where this setup is done from Tailor --> Options to Tailor --> Divisions.
Increased size of team name from 35 to 60 positions.
Age Band "short" descriptions. Added a new field for specifying a short "tag" description for each of your race age bands. For example - for the "Open Participants" age band, you may decide to assign a short description of "Elite". The most prominent use of the short description is in the Age Group description column on the Overall results reports. Now, instead of a top finishers age group place being shown as "**** M 30-34", you will see "1 Elite".
Added a button on Tailor --> Options --> Part Info (2) to reset the registered participant's assigned division when the race is tailored to assign division based on bib number range.
Changed the import process so that when you are importing from a file and your race is tailored to allow zero age, you no longer need to assign a column for age.
Labels / E Mail
Changed label print to allow the option of sequencing labels from left to right or from top to bottom. Avery has new "Easy Peal" labels which work in three columns - from top to bottom.
Added option to label and data export selection so that you can select multiple bib number ranges.
Added ability to select master participants for export or labels by existence of an e-mail address.
Miscellaneous
Added an option to the Update --> Zip Codes screen to apply city / state updates to all race participants based on the master zip code list.
Added a new bib re-assignment method - "Age Group / Name".
Added option of using current race participants only (no history) when synchronizing to the master participant file.