Competition Setup

Competitions must be created by using an Excel File. The Excel file contains a list of Skaters and Events in the competition.

While Microsoft Excel is not required to install and run Tempus, MS Office is recommended for setting up the initial import file. Third-Party applications can be used, such as OpenOffice, as long as a valid Excel file is created.

Excel Template

The excel template used to set up a competition can be downloaded from the File Browser screen.

The order of columns can be changed and columns that are not needed can be deleted. The header row must not be changed and empty rows must not be inserted between the header row and data rows.

Events Tab

Each round is identified as an event. Each event has details that must be included in each row under the column headers. All columns are required.

Most text fields have drop-downs which can be used to fill the field with valid values. Configuration files come preconfigured for USS Selection competitions and Regional competitions and should not need to be changed in most cases.

Column	Type	Description
Number	Number	The event number. These should be a sequence of monotonically-increasing numbers starting from 1 (1,2,3,4,5,…)
Division	Text	The name of the division. This must match at least one division in the Skaters tab
Sex	Text	The sex associated with the division
Distance	Number	The distance of the event. This is used to correlate rounds to a given distance.
Round	Text	The round of the distance. This is used to correlate rounds to a given distance.
Format	Text	The format of the event
Qualification Table	Text	The name of the qualification table. This must match a qualification table in the configuration files.
On the Line	Text	Number of skaters on the line. This must match a qualification table in the configuration files.
Rules	Text	The named ruleset to use for the event. This must match a ruleset in the configuration files.

Skaters Tab

Each row will contain data on each skater that is entered in the competition. This tab will have multiple column headings. Columns A-K contains the data that is shared with the FinishLynx timing software. You can leave columns A to F blank if you are using manual timers.

Column	Type	Required	Description
Skater #	Number	Yes	Helmet number assigned to the skater
Sex	Text	Yes	Identified sex of the skater
First Name	Text	Yes	First name of the skater
Last Name	Text	Yes	Last name of the skater
Affiliation	Text	Yes	A 3-letter acronym for either country or club when this is displayed on a scoreboard. For regional competitions, this is used for club names
Status	Text	No	Comma-delimited list of labels used to identify traditional age divisions, gender, or eligibility in mixed skating divisions
Racing Age	Date	No	This is for user information. An Excel formula can be inserted to calculate the skaters “racing age” on June 30th prior to the July 1st of the current season
Racing Division	Text	Yes	Racing group name. Remember to match the racing group name in the skater tab to the division name listed in the events tab
Scoring Division	Text	No	Unused
USS ID	Text	No	The US Speedskating assigned skater ID
General Seed
Distance and Time

Age Formula

The following Excel formula can be used to calculate a skater’s age: =INT(YEARFRAC(P3,DATE(2023,6,30)))

Seed Columns

Column S, T, U, V, W, etc. are used to enter seed time information.

Cells in the time columns are formatted so that you only need to enter the numbers. If there is not a time available, then enter a fake time (i.e., 555555)

Manual Seeding

Skaters can be seeded manually by using faux times, by simply entering the number 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. These numbers will be converted to time stamps (0:00.001), but will be functionally identical to a simple number.

General Seed

Used only for the 1st round of the 1st Distance. Remaining distances are seeded by the current overall standings from the previously completed distances.

General Seed and Per-Distance Seeds are mutually exclusive

If using a General seeding method, DO NOT fill in any other distances or times.

Distance & Time (Seed 1, Seed 2, …)

Used for seeding each distance independently. You must enter both the distance and the corresponding time.

General Seed and Per-Distance Seeds are mutually exclusive

If using a single distance seeding method, DO NOT fill in a General Seed.

Importing the Excel File

When your import file is completed, open Tempus and select Import Competition button. A dialog box will open and you can search for the excel file on your PC. Select Open and the file will load into Tempus. Tempus will give you an error message if it finds errors in the import file. Fix file and reimport.

Once the file is imported, the name of the competition is shown, and the number of skaters entered is displayed.

Advanced Configuration

Configuration Files

Every competition is preconfigured with default settings once it’s been created or imported into Tempus.

There is no way to edit these settings once the file has been created. To edit the configuration of a competition, the configuration files must be changed before creating or importing the competition into Tempus.

Configuration files can be located using the purple button with the gear icon in the upper-right of the screen. Configuration files are located in the %ProgramData%\Tempus\Versions\<version>\Defaults folder.

Configuration files are currently version-specific to prevent newer versions from overwriting manual changes made in older versions. If you change the configuration files and the software is upgraded to a newer version, you’ll need to reapply the changes to the configuration files in the newer versions.

File	Purpose
ImportTemplate.xslx	A blank template which is delivered to the user when they download the Excel Template in the File Browser
Organizations.txt	Feature not implemented. This file can be ignored.
Rules.json	The rules of a competition, such as advancement conditions, lane positions, and classifications.
QualificationTables.txt	Qualification tables used to structure progression formats. Used to reconfigure races when skaters drop or are advanced.
Points.json	Named point schedules which designate how points are awarded by rank
SampleCompetition.meet	Sample competition imported in the file browser drop-down

Competitions must be reloaded if files are changed

These configuration files represent the default configuration of a competition, meaning that they are stored with a competition file once it’s created. Changing these files will not affect a competition that’s already been imported.This means you cannot change these settings once a competition has started! If you do, the changes will not be reflected in the existing competition.

Embedding the settings within the competition file is by-design

• Competition files can be distrubuted or archived in their entirety as a single file

• If configuration changes are made for future competitions, those configuration changes would not affect competitions previously completed

• Selection competitions and local competitions can sometimes have interleaving schedules. Embedding the rules within the competition file allows the competitions to be switched simply without needing to also alter configuration files.

Rules

The rules file allows the rules of a competition to be changed without needing to change and release a new version of the software. These rules include how races are seeded, lane positions are determined, and classification reports are generated.

A user interface is planned for editing these rules. Editing this file manually is not recommended.

Qualification Tables

Qualification tables are encoded as a text file. Qualification tables can be added or edited via this text file.

Comments

Any text following a ‘#’ symbol is ignored by Tempus

Table Definitions

A new qualification table is identified by the following pattern:

[<Qualification Table Name>]:<Skaters on the line>-<Skaters in the final round>

Any race configurations specified below this line will be associated with this qualification table.

For example: [Elimination]:4-5 represents the Elimination table with 4-5 skaters on the line. These are used in the Excel sheet to identify a given race configuration.

Race Configurations

Each line represents the configuration of a distance for a specific number of skaters.

The configuration for each round is as follows: <Round> <Qualifiers> <Races>. Multiple rounds are represented on a single line, separated by a space. Values can be separated by any (at least one) whitespace (tab or space).

For Example: H 3+1 4*4,1*5 Q 2 4*4 S 2 2*4 F 4,4,4,4,5     #21 represents a 4-round progression with 21 skaters:

• H 3+1 4*4,1*5 The first round of heats qualifies the fastest three skaters in every race, plus the first fastest fourth in four races of four skaters and one race of five skaters.

• Q 2 4*4 The second round of quarter-finals qualifies the fastest two skaters in every race in four races of four skaters.

• S 2 2*4 The third round of semi-finals qualifies the fastest two skaters in every race in two races of four skaters.

• F 4,4,4,4,5 The final round consists of four races of four skaters and one race of five skaters.

• #21 This is a comment indicating the total number of skaters this line represents

Round

A round is the capital first letter for any round.

Letter	Round
H	Heats
Q	Quarter-Finals
S	Semi-Finals
F	Finals

Qualifiers

The number of direct qualifiers and extra qualifiers for a given race in the following format: <qualifiers>[+<extra qualifiers>]

Extra qualifiers are optional. Qualfiers should always be in the format of n or n+n.

Finals must not contain qualifiers.

Races

A comma-separated value of races, where the number specifies the number of skaters in a race.

Values can be condensed using the multiple-sign in the format of <races>*<skaters>.

Examples:

Example	Description
4,4,4,4,4	Five races with four skaters in each race
5*4	Five races with four skaters in each race
4,4,5	Two races with four skaters, and one race with five skaters
2*4,5	Two races with four skaters, and one race with five skaters

Header Logos

There are two logos which can be displayed on all reports. By default, only one header is shown (The US Speedskating Logo). To change these headers, overwrite the LeftLogo.png and RightLogo.png files in the %ProgramData%\Tempus\Versions\<version>\Defaults. Open this folder from the purple gear icon in the File Browser screen.