Race Time Installation & User Guide
Contents
1. SCHEMATIC 5 INDIVIDUAL START Event Using FINISH POSITION BARCODES to Identify Athlete Finish Positions Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 REGISTER THE COMPETITORS Prior to the start of the race the competitors are registered and allocated a unique barcoded ID Competitors may be registered directly into the RaceTime software or may be registered via other software and then imported into RaceTime from a simple TJ CSV text file 2 ISSUE ATHLETE BARCODES Each competitor is issued with the relevant barcoded athlete ID eg self adhesive label pre printed plastic token or card etc ectronic Reading Systems MLAN A00001 3 CAPTURE ATHLETE START TIMES As each Athlete starts the event use the Athlete Scanner to scan their barcode ID to log the Athlete s start time Note The Athlete scanner cannot be used to hold Start Times and Finish Position data at the same time Start Times must be downloaded before using the scanner to capture finish positions El FINISH 4 CAPTURE FINISH TIMES As the competitors cross the line use the Athlete Timer to capture the individual finish times See relevant Race Timer User Guide 5 CAPTURE ATHLETE FINISH POSITONS Scan the Athlete ID barcodes in finishing order to identify each athlete s finishing position Finish Posi2. Effective Barcode Solutions ERS RACETIME INSTALLATION amp USER GUIDE SINGLE USER EDITION COMPACT SQL DATABASE From v1 0 0 5 Electronic Reading Systems Ltd 14 Wolseley Business Park Kempston Beds MK42 7PW Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 www ers online co uk CONTENTS 1 0 INTRODUCTION HOW THE RACETIME SYSTEM WORKS 1 1 Using RaceTime for Mass Start Events Schematic 1 MASS START Event Using FINISH POSITION BACODES to Identify Athlete Finish Positions Schematic 2 MASS START Event without FINISH POSITION BARCODES Athlete Finish Positions determined by scan order 1 2 Using RaceTime for Group Start Events 1 2 1 Generating the Group Start Barcodes Schematic 3 GROUP START Event using FINISH POSITION BARCODES to Identify Athlete Finish Positions schematic 4 GROUP START Event without FINISH POSITION BARCODES Finish Positions determined by scan order 1 3 Using RaceTime for Individual Start Events Schematic 5 INDIVIDUAL START Event Using FINISH POSITION BARCODES to Identify Athlete Finish Positions schematic 6 INDIVIDUAL START Event without FINISH POSITION BARCODES Finish Positions determined by scan order 1 4 Using Multiple Athlete Timers amp Scanners 2 0 INSTALLATION 3 0 CONFIGURING ERSRACETIME 3 1 Setting up the Additional Field Names 3 2 Setting Up the Event Name 4 0 REGISTERING ATHLETES 4 1 Registering Athletes Manually 4 2 Importing Athletes 5 0 SYNCHRONISING amp DOWNLOADING THE OPN2002 TIMER amp OPN2
3. If Finishing Position barcodes are not being used the scanner will simply be used to scan the barcoded ID of each athlete in order as they finish the race In this case the athlete finish positions will be determined simply from the order in which the Athlete IDs were scanned 1 2 1 Generating the Group Start Barcodes A set of Group Start Barcodes may be generated easily in MS WORD using a free barcode font contact ERS for details of the font The printed codes may be laminated to create a set of durable re usable cards if required Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 REGISTER THE COMPETITORS Prior to the start of the race the competitors are registered and allocated a unique barcoded ID Competitors may be registered directly into the RaceTime software or may be registered via other software and then imported into RaceTime from a simple TJ CSV text file 2 ISSUE ATHLETE BARCODES Each competitor is issued with the relevant syste barcoded athlete ID eg self adhesive label pre printed plastic token or card etc 3 CAPTURE GROUP START TIMES As each Group starts the event use an Athlete Scanner to scan the Group ID Barcode to log the Group start time Note The scanner cannot be used to hold Group Start Times and Finish Position data at the same time Start Times must be downloaded before using the scanner to capture finish positions FINISH 4
4. Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 5 0 SYNCHRONISING amp DOWNLOADING THE TIMERS AND SCANNERS 5 1 Synchronising the Timers and Scanners Before running any event we strongly recommend ensuring that the Timers and Scanners are cleared of any stored data and that their internal real time clocks are synchronised To do this click Event gt gt Initialise Devices from the program menu bar and then connect each of the devices in turn to the PC OPN Initialize Please connect an OPN device to begin initialization OPN Initialize The devices have been cleared of any spurious stored data and synchronised to the PC clock 5 2 Downloading the Timers amp Scanners To download the Timers and Scanners into the ERS RaceTime software proceed as summarised below Note After a successful download the stored data will automatically be cleared from the device and the device s real time clock will be synchronised to the current PC time ERS Race Time File Event Tools Help 2 To download the Timer and scanner devices simply SSeS connect in turn to the PC via USB Note Connect only 1 device at a time 3 The total number of athlete finish times received from the Timer and the number of Athlete position records received from the Scanner will be sum marised These should match the number of competitors who started the race When the download window shows nn Pos
5. CAPTURE FINISH TIMES As the competitors cross the line use the Timer to capture the individual finish times See relevant Race Timer User Guide Competitors are also handed a barcoded card which identifies their finishing position 5 CAPTURE ATHLETE FINISH POSITONS Competitor s barocded ID and Finish Position card are scanned using the Athlete Scanner Finish Position cards are collected for re use 6 DOWNLOAD TIMERS amp SCANNERS AND GENERATE RESULTS The Timer s and Scanner s are downloaded Results will be generated in Excel format SCHEMATIC 3 GROUP START Event using FINISH POSITION BARCODES to Identify Athlete Finish Positions Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 REGISTER THE COMPETITORS Prior to the start of the race the competitors are registered and allocated a unique barcoded ID Competitors may be registered directly into the RaceTime software or may be registered via other software and then imported into RaceTime from a simple TJ CSV text file 2 ISSUE ATHLETE BARCODES Each competitor is issued with the relevant lectronic Reading Syst harcoded athlete ID eg self adhesive label pre printed plastic token or card etc A00001 E amp 3 CAPTURE GROUP START TIMES As each Group starts the event use the Athlete scanner to scan the Group ID Barcode to log
6. Release code has been accepted 5 RaceTime is now installed and ready to use Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 3 0 CONFIGURING ERS RACETIME 3 1 SETTING UP ADDITIONAL FIELD NAMES Optional When registering competitors the competitor s barcoded ID name gender and race category may be entered together with up to 4 additional fields by default called AF1 AF4 and a free text Notes field The Additional Fields may be used to contain for example a contact telephone number or email address or other data as required These data fields may be used when selecting a set of specific competitors to be included in the output results To configure the names or titles of these Additional fields click Tools gt Options from the program menu bar and from the Additional Fields Tab enter the relevant titles as required Configuration Options x Database Additional Fields gt Configuration Options 3 2 SETTING UP THE EVENT NAME amp DETAILS Before the event the event name and details must be entered onto RaceTime Multiple events may be configured as required for future selection When timing an event the event name will automatically be attached to all downloaded results enabling results from different events to be stored in the database for historical reporting To enter details for a new event click Event gt gt New from the program Menu Bar and
7. also following 2 schematic drawings 1 The Athlete Timer will be used to log the start time of the race and the finish times of athletes as they cross the finish line Times are logged by simply pressing the timer trigger button Thus subsequent presses of the trigger will set the start time of the event the start time of the race itself and the finish times for the 1st 2nd 3rd athlete etc See Separate user guides for the Athlete Timers In this way the Timer will capture the race timings but will not know which athlete finished in which position This is the job of the Athlete scanner below 2 The Athlete Scanner will be used to capture the Athlete s finishing positions as follows If Finishing Position barcodes are being used then the scanner will be used to scan the Athlete s ID barcode followed by the barcoded finish position from the card they were handed as they finished the race The barcoded finish position cards will normally be collected for re use In this case the athlete finish positions are determined by the barcode on the finish position card so athletes can be scanned in any order If Finishing Position barcodes are not being used the scanner will simply be used to scan the barcoded ID of each athlete in order as they finish the race In this case the athlete finish positions will be determined simply from the order in which the Athlete IDs were scanned NOTE See also Section 12 4 below Using Multiple Timers amp
8. the Group start time Note The scanner cannot be used to hold Start Times and Fin ish Position data at the same time Start Times must be downloaded before using the scanner to capture finish positions FINISH 4 CAPTURE FINISH TIMES As the competitors cross the line use the Timer to capture the individual finish times See relevant Race Timer User Guide 5 CAPTURE ATHLETE FINISH POSITONS scan the Athlete ID barcodes in finishing order to identify each athlete s finishing position Finish Position cards are not used in this case 6 DOWNLOAD TIMERS amp SCANNERS AND GENERATE RESULTS The Timer s and Scanner s are downloaded Results will be generated in Excel format SCHEMATIC 4 GROUP START Event without FINISH POSITION BARCODES Athlete Finish Positions determined by scan order Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 3 Using Racetime for Individual Start Events This is really a special case a Group Start event with each Athlete associated with their own Group In this case the Athlete Timer s and Athlete Scanner s will be used as summarised below See also following 2 schematic drawings 1 In this case Athletes will be started individually by using an Athlete scanner to scan the Athlete s barcoded ID Each competitor s start time is set as the time their ID was scanned Note 1 The Start Group entered for each Athl
9. the athletes will be scanned to identify their finishing positions The Athlete scanner is based on the OPN2001 Barcode Data Collector RaceTime supports 2 scanning modes as follows 1 Athletes may be scanned as they finish the race in finishing ee order This has the advantage of simplicity however may result in crowding during busy finish periods 2 Alternatively each athlete is given a re usable barcoded card representing their finishing position order The Athlete Scanner is then subsequently used to scan the Athlete ID barcode and associated finish position barcode for each athlete completing the race This scenario avoids the need to scan athletes immediately as they finish the race and additionally allows athletes to be scanned in any order as in this case the athlete s finishing position is determined by their Finish Position barcode and not by the order in which the athletes were scanned The RaceTime System Software Racetime provides the following main features Ability to register athlete details ie barcoded ID name gender category and up to 4 additional fields via the PC keyboard or imported from a simple CSV text file Ability to download the Timer s and scanner s to load the race results into the system database Export facility to generate the race results including Athlete name additional details finish positions and race times as an output data file ordered by finish position Output fi
10. 001 SCANNERS 5 1 Synchronising the Timer amp Scanner Devices 5 2 Downloading the timer amp Scanner Devices 6 0 GENERATING THE RACE RESULTS APPENDIX A IMPORT FILE DATA FORMAT APPENDIX B BARCODE FORMAT APPENDIX C CREATING A NEW DATABASE APPENDIX D POTENTIAL DATA ERRORS Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 0 INTRODUCTION HOW THE RACETIME SYSTEM WORKS ERS RACETIME is a barcode based race timing system designed to provide running clubs and organisations with a low cost means of electronically capturing athlete times and race results The RACETIME system is designed for single stage races with either Mass starting of all athletes or Individual or Group starting The main system components are summarised below see also system schematic on following page Athlete Timer The Athlete timer is used to 7 OPN2002 capture the race start time for Mass start events and to log the time when each competitor crosses the finish line Two versions of the Timer are available The Standard Timer based on the OPN2002 Data Collector and the Advanced Timer Based on the CPT8200 terminal The Advanced Timer has the benefit of a display which shows a stop watch style timer an athlete counter and the last 10 captured finish times Athlete Scanner Each competitor is allocated a unique barcoded ID when they register for the race On completion of the race
11. 1234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 4 Create the System Database To create the RaceTime database run the RaceTime software and proceed as follows EFFECTIVE BARCODE SOLUTIONS BE 1 Program splash screen displayed for approx 5 seconds Shed eee 2 Click Yes to create RaceTime ERS Race Time DEMO Version 1 0 0 0 Buik 26 03 2013 data base 14 Wolseley Business Park Kempston Bedfordshire MK42 7P Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Email sales ersitd co uk Web www ERS Race Time 3 Database is automatically created RaceTime starts up by displaying Main Menu screen For information The default location for the RaceTime database is C ProgramData Electronic Reading Systems Ltd ERS Race Time 5 Register the RaceTime Software After initial installation the software will run in demonstration evaluation mode where the max number of records in the database will be limited To register the software for normal a release code is required from ERS To obtain the Release Code run the RaceTime software and proceed as follows Licence Management 1 Click Help gt Licence Management from the RaceTime Menu bar 2 Click Change Licence Bpiy Date Licenced Options _Description _ Status OPN Licence Validation Disabled xi Keycode 557961 Release Code 3 RaceTime generates a random Keycode x Contact ERS for the relevant release code Ok Enter the Release Code and click OK
12. J HISTORY 27 03 2013 11 02 File folder wa es G RaceTime2 sdf 27 03 2013 12 38 SQL Server Compac Documents a Music k Diciro 2 Browse to the required location for the database enter a database name and click Save to create a Local Disk C Accounts NF600 gt 4 gt File name fo rc rrr rrr cc CUZ Save as type SQLCE Database Files sdf Hide Folders Create database result x Cancel p A Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk APPENDIX D POTENTIAL DATA ERRORS The RaceTime system is ultimately dependent on operators using the timer and scanner devices correctly In the event that erroneous data is received on download RaceTime will do its best to present those data records on the output report in a manner which can sensibly be interpreted Note regarding erroneous data records Running results with selection criteria can mask certain error conditions or make a test for a certain error condition no longer applicable so after downloading the Timers and Scanners we recommend outputting an initial set of race results without any selection criteria This will allow all potential erroneous records to be displayed for interpretation before running results for selected groups of athletes Depending on the type of event the following error groupings are defined The exact interpretation of the error for any specific data record may be slightly diff
13. Scanners Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 REGISTER THE COMPETITORS Prior to the start of the race the competitors are registered and allocated a unique barcoded ID Competitors may be registered directly into the RaceTime software or may be registered via other software and then imported into RaceTime From a simple TJ CSV text file 2 ISSUE ATHLETE BARCODES Each competitor is issued with the relevant see luanthinatitinm arcoded athlete ID eg self adhesive label ALLAN pre printed plastic token or card etc A00001 3 CAPTURE RACE START TIME At the race starts use the Timer to capture the race start time See relevant Race Timer User Guide 4 CAPTURE FINISH TIMES As competitors cross the line use the Athlete Timer to capture individual finish times See relevant Athlete Timer User Guide Competitors are also handed a barcoded card which identifies their finishing position 5 CAPTURE ATHLETE FINISH POSITONS Competitor s barocded ID and Finish Position card are scanned using the OPN2001 Scanner Finish Position cards are collected for re use 6 DOWNLOAD TIMERS amp SCANNERS AND GENERATE RESULTS The Timer s and Scanner s are downloaded Results will be generated in Excel format SCHEMATIC 1 EER MASS START Event Using FINISH POSITION BARCODES to Identify Athlete Finish Positi
14. co uk 1 REGISTER THE COMPETITORS Prior to the start of the race the competitors are registered and allocated a unique barcoded ID Competitors may be registered directly into the RaceTime software or may be registered via other software and then imported into RaceTime from a simple TJ CSV text file 2 ISSUE ATHLETE BARCODES ems Each competitor is issued with the relevant barcoded athlete ID eg self adhesive label pre printed plastic token or card etc ectronic Reading Sys e nidii 3 CAPTURE ATHLETE START TIMES As each Athlete starts the event use the Athlete Scanner to scan their barcode ID to log the Athlete s start time Note The Athlete scanner cannot be used to hold Start Times and Finish Position data at the same time Start Times must be downloaded before using the scanner to capture finish positions FINISH 4 CAPTURE FINISH TIMES As the competitors cross the line use the Athlete Timer to capture the individual finish times See relevant Race Timer User Guide Competitors are also handed a barcoded card which identifies their finishing position 5 CAPTURE ATHLETE FINISH POSITONS Competitor s barocded ID and Finish Position card are scanned using the Athelete Scanner Finish Position cards are collected for re use 6 DOWNLOAD TIMERS amp SCANNERS AND GENERATE RESULTS The Timer s and Scanner s are downloaded Results will be generated in Excel format
15. e each subsequently scanner continues from the last finish position from the previous download When running Mass Start events the use of 2 Timers and Scanners can also allow initial results to be posted before all athletes have finished the race This might be used for example to allow fast runners to obtain their times and positions before the final runners have completed the course In this case it is simply a matter of switching to use the 2nd timer scanner when the 1st devices are taken for downloading The results of the early finishers can then be downloaded to the system and posted whilst the 2nd scanner timer continue to log the remaining athletes When finally downloading the 2nd devices at the completion of the race these remaining results will be added to the early finishers and the full race results can be posted Note 1 this only fully works with Mass Start events where all competitors start at the same time With Individual and Group Start events an athlete s final finishing position is not known until all competitors have completed the race Note 2 When operating with 2 Timers in this way both timer devices will be setup and used in the same way ie at the start of the race all timers will be set with the race start time in the usual way 1 timer will then be used to capture the finish times of the early finishers with the 2nd device being set aside for use when the 1st device is taken for downloading When using multiple de
16. e selection if required Note Start Group This is used for Group Start and Individual Start events only The Start Group currently held in the registration database for the Ath lete is used to determine their actual race start time Note that an Athlete s Start Group may change for subsequent events without altering the results for events that have already been processed Athlete Registration Category AF1 AF2 AF3 AF4 Senior pa 3 The Athlete is added to the list Click Add New to add another athlete Note To delete Athletes highlight one or more from the list and click Delete ee ee Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 4 2 IMPORTING ATHLETES To import athletes from a CSV text file click File gt Import gt Athlete Data File from the program menu bar and proceed as shown below Select the ATHLETE file you wish to import jm PE2900 iain 1 Browse to the required import file and click ioctl Open to start the import JE TECHNICALO1 jA TECHNICALO2 vid E gt File name Athletelmport te Text Files txt csv Open Cancel Import result x y i j Athlete import complete 15 By default the import will merge records in the import ee T TEE E file with any data currently in the Athlete database 0 of 4records updated Note See Appendix A for details of the import file format Electronic Reading Systems Ltd
17. ed An enhanced import function will be released shortly however at present the input data file must be in the format summarised below lt Athlete ID gt lt Athlete Surname gt lt Athlete Forename gt lt Gender gt lt Category gt lt Start Group gt lt Additional Field 1 gt lt Additional Field 2 gt lt Additional field 3 gt lt Additional field 4 gt lt Notes gt lt CR gt lt LF gt Where lt CR gt lt LF gt are the carriage return and line feed characters Example import file format A1001 Yates Michael Male Senior 01201 443556 A1002 Offley Peter Male Senior peter1234 hotmail co uk 1st time runner A1004 Randolph Gemma Female Junior A0078 Bates Norman Male Senior nbates yahoo com Notes Only the Operator ID and surname are mandatory We have included the Athlete Start Group See Group Start events in the import file In reality we expect this may change on an event by event basis so may not be known when importing the main Athlete details Nevertheless we include the Start Group for completeness Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk APPENDIX B BARCODE FORMAT In order for the system to distinguish between barcodes representing competitor athlete IDs and those representing race finish positions the system defines a simple format for the barcodes as follows Athlete IDs Barcode must start with the single character A Finish Positions Barcode must s
18. enter the re quired event details Click OK to Save Create Event as Event Name Date and Event Type are all free text fields Note the Event Name will be used as the output filename so reserved Windows filename characters cannot be used 2 Specify the event Start types from the drop down list Mass Start all competitors start at the same time Individual Start Each competitor individually started Group Start Groups of athletes started in Batches 3 Specify whether Finish Position Barcodes will be used to set the Athlete s finishing position Yes position tags are being used at the finish line No position tags are not being used ie Athletes will be scanned in their finishing order Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk The created event will automatically be selected as the current event To configure another event simply close the current event Event gt gt Close and click New to enter the event details Remember that the last event entered will automatically be set as the current event by default so you have configured multiple events make sure before timing an event that the correct event is selected before downloading the timer scanner devices To select a new event as the current event click Event gt Close from the program menu bar to close the currently selected event then either Event gt Open to select a pre
19. erent depending on the exact circumstances however the general interpretation is summarised below Unused Finish Timings This generally lists any finish timings from the timer device which have not successfully been matched with athletes to create a complete race record for the athlete This might for example represent additional Finish times logged by the timer compared to the num ber of athletes finishing the race or when using finish position barcodes this might result from an athlete being scanned without scanning their finish position barcode at the end of the race this will result in RaceTime not being able to associate the correct finish time with the athlete therby leaving that finish time unused Unused Athlete Finish Scans This generally represents any finishing athlete scans from the athlete scanner which have not been successfully matched with start itme and stop time to create a complete race record for the athlete This might represent a situation where too few finish times have been logged by the timer device for the number of athletes competing in the event or for Individual Group start events may result from a finishing athlete for whom no start time was found Athletes who started but have no finish position Groups who started but have no finish position These errors are checked when processing data for Individual or Group start events and represent situations where an athlete was started but for whom there was no
20. ete in the Registration database will be the same as their Athlete ID This represents the athlete s current Start Group which will be used to determine their start time when processing the race results Changing an athlete s Start Group in future does not alter their historical results Note 2 Athlete finishing positions will also be captured using Athlete Scanners at the end of the race It is important not to mix Athlete Start data and Finish position data in the same scanner at the same time Thus if a scanner contains Athlete Start times this scanner must be downloaded before using the scanner to collect Athlete finish positions For this reason we would recommend considering the use of multiple athlete scanners when operating in this mode in order to dedicate different scanners for the capture of Start data and Finish data Practicalities rather dictate this approach for events where athletes will still be Starting when others are finishing The Athlete Timer will be used in the usual way to log the initial start time of the race and the finish times of athletes as they cross the finish line Times are logged by simply pressing the timer trigger button Thus subsequent presses of the trigger will set the start time of the event the start time of the race itself and the finish times for the 1st 2nd 3rd athlete etc See Separate user guides for the Athlete Timers In this way the Timer will capture the race timings but will not kn
21. finish position found in the data base or where a group was Started but for whom no athletes from that group were found to finish Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk
22. ion 5 for which no matching Athlete was scanned 2 This record shows a scanned athlete Athlete ID 10016 for whom no matching Registration record was found in the Athlete database The Athlete s time and position have been correctly logged however no details eg name etc have been found in the registration database 3 This record shows an athlete scanned by the Athlete scanner at the end of the race Athlete ID 1005 but where the athlete s Finish Position barcode was not scanned In this case the event was configured to expect Finish Position barcodes to be used Note regarding erroneous data records Running results with selection criteria can mask certain error conditions or make a test for a certain error condition no longer applicable so after downloading the Timers and Scanners we recommend outputting an initial set of race results without any selection criteria This will allow all potential erroneous records to be displayed for interpretation before running results for selected groups of athletes For further details of possible erroneous records see Appendix E Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk APPENDIX A IMPORT FILE DATA FORMAT The Athlete registration data may be imported from a simple comma delimited CSV text file if required Note that importing a datafile will overwrite any existing data in the database ie the database will be completely refresh
23. ition Timing records Downloaded the device may be unplugged Select Data Type Note When downloading data from the Athlete scanner for an Individual Start or Group Start event RaceTime will ask for star Data es confirmation whether the data being downloaded represents the Athlete Start scans or the finish position scans It is important to select the correct type for the processing of the output results to be correct Abort x Note When downloading the Athlete scanner the system will warn if any unpaired athlete records have JA tunpsired athlete Position record downloaded been received eg when using finish position barcodes this might represent a scanned Athlete ID with no associated Finish Position or Finish Position barcode with no Athlete ID If all athletes have been scanned correctly there should be no unpaired records Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 6 0 GENERATING THE RACE RESULTS To generate the race results proceed as summarised below Note If any errors were noted during the download process above eg incorrect number of finish times logged by the Timer or unmatched records from the scanners we recommend initially gener ating the output results with no selection criteria In this case the output data file will contain all the valid results but will also include a list of Athletes who completed the race but where their finish position was no
24. le opens in Excel Athletes included in the output results may be selected using any of the Registered data fields eg to provide separate results for Male Female competitors The output results file may be used directly or may be passed to other systems if required for further processing and or reporting The system also automatically synchronises the Timer and scanner devices Barcodes A range of options are available for generating the Athlete ID barcodes and finish position cards from pre printed labels or plastic tokens or cards through to various self print options The following Sections summarise the operation of the RaceTime system in each of the possible operating modes ie Mass Start Individual Start Group Start Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk Important Note Synchronising Timers and Scanners Before any event we strongly recommend synchronising all scanning and timing devices This is especially true where multiple timer scanner devices are being used or for Group Start or Individual start events where the athlete timings will be logged by more than 1 device To synchronise the devices see section 5 0 below Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 1 Using Racetime for Mass Start Events In this case the Athlete Timer s and Athlete Scanner s will be used as summarised below See
25. ll be used as summarised below See also following 2 schematic drawings 1 2 In this case Athletes will be started in Groups by scanning a barcode representing the group to which the athlete was allocated Thus if using groups identified as G1 G2 G3 etc it will be necessary to print barcodes representing G1 G2 G3 Note 1 The Athlete s Start Group is entered on their record in the Registration database This represents the athlete s current Start Group which will be used to determine their start time when processing the race results Changing an athlete s Start Group in future does not alter their historical results Note 2 Athlete finishing positions will also be captured using Athlete Scanners at the end of the race It is important not to mix Athlete Start data and Finish position data in the same scanner at the same time Thus if a scanner contains Athlete Start times this scanner must be downloaded before using the scanner to collect Athlete finish positions For this reason we would recommend considering the use of multiple athlete scanners when operating in this mode in order to dedicate different scanners for the capture of Start data and Finish data Practicalities rather dictate this approach for events where athletes will still be starting when others are finishing The Athlete Timer will be used in the usual way to log the initial start time of the race and the finish times of athletes as they cross the fi
26. nish line Times are logged by simply pressing the timer trigger button Thus subsequent presses of the trigger will set the start time of the event the start time of the race itself and the finish times for the 1st 2nd 3rd athlete etc See Separate user guides for the Athlete Timers In this way the Timer will capture the race timings but will not know which athlete finished in which position This is the job of the Athlete scanner below Note In this case the start time for each individual competitor is set by scanning the relevant Group ID barcode Step 1 above and not by the nominal race start time set in the Timer For consistency with Mass Start events however the operation of the Timer remains unchanged for Group Start events hence the need to use the initial trigger press to set a nominal race start time This time is however not used when calculating race results for Group Start events The Athlete Scanner will be used to capture the Athlete s finishing positions in the usual way as follows If Finishing Position barcodes are being used then the scanner will be used to scan the Athlete s ID barcode followed by the barcoded finish position from the card they were handed as they finished the race The barcoded finish position cards will normally be collected for re use In this case the athlete finish positions are determined by the barcode on the finish position card so athletes can be scanned in any order
27. nstaller CP210x_VCP_WIn2K_XP_S2K3 exe or CP210x_VCP_WIN 7 exe from the USB Drivers folder in your System Installation kit and follow the prompts This installs bot ht ebasic USB drivers and a VCP COM Port driver which makes the Timer look like a simple COM port on the PC Step 2 Once the drivers are installed connect the CPT8200 Timer to the PC power up the Timer and Select Menu Option 3 Initialise from the Timer Menu The Windows Found New Hardware wizard will automatically complete the driver install Note this can take around 30 seconds to complete Step 3 Once the drivers have been fully installed you can exit from Initialise Mode on the terminal Note If you want to watch the installation process then have the Windows Device Manager open during the installation above the Timer will initially appear under Other Devices as 8200 USB VCOM however once the drivers have been fully installed it will then appear under Ports as Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge COMxx You don t have to do this of course but it can be interesting to watch the process Install the RaceTime System Software To install the system software proceed as follows Run the Windows application installer Setup exe from the PCInstall folder in the Installation kit and follow the prompts The installer will normally add an icon to the desktop of the PC Run the Racetime software Create a new database Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 0
28. ons Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 REGISTER THE COMPETITORS Prior to the start of the race the competitors are registered and allocated a unique barcoded ID Competitors may be registered directly into the RaceTime software or may be registered via other software and then imported into RaceTime from a simple TJ CSV text file 2 ISSUE ATHLETE BARCODES Each competitor is issued with the relevant barcoded athlete ID eg self adhesive label pre printed plastic token or card etc 3 CAPTURE RACE START TIME At the race starts use the Athlete Timer to capture lt the race start time See relevant Athlete Timer User Guide START FINISH capture individual finish times See relevant Athlete Timer User Guide 5 CAPTURE ATHLETE FINISH POSITONS Scan the Athlete ID barcodes in finishing order to identify each athlete s finishing position Finish Position cards are not used in this case 6 DOWNLOAD TIMERS amp SCANNERS AND GENERATE RESULTS The Timer s and Scanner s are downloaded Results will be generated in Excel format SCHEMATIC 2 MASS START Event without FINISH POSITION BARCODES Athlete Finish Positions determined by scan order Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 2 Using Racetime for GroupStart Events In this case the Timer s and Athlete Scanner s wi
29. ow which athlete finished in which position This is the job of the Athlete scanner below Note In this case the start time for each individual competitor is set by the initial athlete scan Step 1 above and not by the nominal race start time set in the Timer For consistency with Mass Start events however the operation of the Timer remains unchanged for Individual Start events hence the need to use the initial trigger press to set a nominal race Start time This time is however not used when calculating race results for Individual Start events The Athlete Scanner will be used to capture the Athlete s finishing positions in the usual way as follows If Finishing Position barcodes are being used then the scanner will be used to scan the Athlete s ID barcode followed by the barcoded finish position from the card they were handed as they finished the race The barcoded finish position cards will normally be collected for re use In this case the athlete finish positions are determined by the barcode on the finish position card so athletes can be scanned in any order If Finishing Position barcodes are not being used the scanner will simply be used to scan the barcoded ID of each athlete in order as they finish the race In this case the athlete finish positions will be determined simply from the order in which the Athlete IDs were scanned Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online
30. t logged together will a list of any finish times from the Timer which could not be matched to Athletes See example output files below From these data it may be possible to determine the actual sequence of events ERS Race Time il o x File Event Tools Help 1 Click Generate Results file from the Main Menu Me ma Generate Results File Event BQ ee a a TT Gender E 2 Use the various database fields to select the set of Athletes required for Category the output results eg Seniors only Junior females only etc Starti Click Export to generate the results file arting Group Note the event name defaults to the currently configured event To run results for a historical event select the relevant event name from the drop x down list AF2 saveas x X j Search RaceResults 2 gz v Date modified Type Size 3 Browse to the required output folder and provide a name for the output file Click Save to write the file jM ACCOUNTSO3 jE ADMINCLERKO2 jM DESPATCHO1 jM DHAYZENOS jE FLIGHTBOARDO1 pM FLIGHTBOARDO3 pM LABELBUREAUO1 pM MAINTENANCEO2 pM MIKEDESKTOPO1 Generate Results Separated Value Files csv X 4 The results are printed by default as a simple csv file which will normally open direct in Excel Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk Example results file Eg Microsoft Excel New Eventcs
31. tart with single character P Note The leading characters above are only used by the system when processing the downloaded barcode data from the OPN2001 scanners and are automatically stripped off before the data is stored in the Race Time Database This means that the leading A is not required when entering the competitor s ID during registration See section x xx above ATHLETE 1001 The leading character A identifies this barcode as an Athlete ID In this example this barcode refers to Athlete 1001 A1001 POSITION 25 The leading character P identifies this barcode as a finish position barcode Thus this barcode represents finish position 25 P0025 Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk APPENDIX C CREATING A NEW DATABASE In addition to the automatic database creation when initially installing the software it is possible to manually create a database from the Database Tab under Tools gt Options as follows Configuration Options x Database Additional Fields SQL Server Compact Edition Database file CAProgramData Electronic Reading Systems Ltd ERS Race Time RaceTime2 sdf Browse Execution time out 30 seconds 1 From the database tab under Tools gt Options Maximum database size 255 MB Click Create Database Organize New folder jz v JB Downloads af Name Date modified Type Recent Places
32. tion cards are not used in this case 6 DOWNLOAD TIMERS amp SCANNERS AND GENERATE RESULTS The Timer s and Scanner s are downloaded Results will be generated in Excel format SCHEMATIC 6 INDIVIDUAL START Event without FINISH POSITION BARCODES Athlete Finish Positions determined by scan order Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 1 4 Using Multiple Timers Scanners RaceTime Supports the use of multiple timers and scanners The storage capacity of the devices is such that a single scanner timer will normally be more than sufficient for the size of events for which RaceTime was designed however using multiple timers and scanners can provide additional functionality For example 1 For events using Finish Position barcodes multiple athlete scanners may be used to speed the process of scanning athletes after finishing the race Note that multiple Athlete Scanners can also be used for events which do not use finish Position barcodes in this case the athlete finish positions are determined by the order in which the athletes were scanned If multiple athlete scanners are used the athlete finish positions will also be determined by the order in which the scanners are downloaded thus the 1st scanner to be downloaded will determine the athletes who finished in positions 1 2 3 n with the next downloaded scanner determining athletes finishing in position n 1 onwards i
33. vices it is especially important to ensure that all devices are synchronised before the event see section 5 0 below Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 2 0 INSTALLATION The RaceTime system installation kit may be supplied on CD Memory Stick or sent as an electronic download To install the system proceed as summarised below Note We recommend the system be installed from an Administrative logon 1 Install the OPN200X Drivers To install the drivers proceed as summarised below Note Do not connect the OPN200X onto the PC until step 2 below Step 1 Run the Opticon Driver Installer USB Drivers Installer exe from the USB Drivers folder in your System Installation kit and follow the prompts Step 2 Connect the OPN200X to the PC The Windows Found New Hardware wizard will automatically complete the driver install Note To check the driver installation open the Windows Device Manager with the OPN200X device connected to the PC Expand Ports to show a list of all available communications ports on the PC If the OPN200X has installed correctly it will be listed with a description similar to Opticon USB Code Reader COMxx 2 Optional Install the Drivers for the Advanced Race Timer if used To install the drivers for the CPT8200 Avanced Timer proceed as summarised below Note Do not connect the timer onto the PC until step 2 below 3 Step 1 Run the Driver I
34. viously configured event or Event gt New to configure and select a new event Open Event x Test Event 1513 01 05 2013 Test Event 4 1513 01 05 2013 Test Event 5 with errors 01 05 2013 Event gt Open displays a list of all events currently configured in the database To select one of these events as the current event highlight the event name in the list and click OK Electronic Reading Systems Ltd Tel 01234 855300 Fax 01234 855446 Web www ers online co uk 4 0 REGISTERING ATHLETES Before the event all competing athletes must be added onto the system Athletes may be entered manually via the PC keyboard or may be imported via CSV text file Note this import will shortly be expanded to also allow importing direct from Excel and to allow variable input file formats 4 1 REGISTERING ATHLETES MANUALLY To register athletes via the PC click Athlete Registration from the Main menu screen and proceed as shown below ERS Race Time File Event Tools Help 5K Run Milton Keynes 1 April 2013 Tue 26 March 2013 Fun Run Athlete Registration 1 Click Add New to add a new athlete ADD Athlete 2 Enter the relevant details as required The only mandatory fields are the Athlete s Barcode ID and Surname Note many fields operate as self populating drop down lists Thus once a gender or category etc are entered for the first time these will be available as a drop down for futur
35. w EJ Mi E Hle Edit Wew Insert Format Tools Data Window Help eH BSBSIGBAli VB 4 Aan FJI 4l kl Le 4 toe p ara Eii El cor Ga Sa fa a b aja iy ee Fe Reply with Changes End Review P Event name date category and selection criteria for output results 1 OT Fun Position Athlete Surname Forename Elapsed Time Gende Category AF1 AF2 AF3 AFA Notes O04 Brown John 00 00 08 15 10 52 Male Senior 2 1503 Moore Roger 00 00 16 15 11 00 Male Senior q 3 1022 Smith James 00 00 22 15 11 06 Male Senior 4 1009 Berry Mike 00200229 16 11 13 Male Senior Results in finishing position order Example output file showing an example of mis matched erroneous records Microsoft Excel New Event csv JE File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help De H AB SIigG Wivo sAtBmB Jg A ol Zl Hy A 100 BF arial zi flee go ag d all a A A F A ill Ty Reply with Changes End Review p 6 Position Athlete Surname Forename Elapsed Time Gender Category AF1 AF AF3 AF4 Motes 1 1004 Brown John 00 00 08 15 10 52 Male Senior 2 1503 Moore Roger 00 00 46 15 11 00 Male Senior 3 1022 Smith James 00 00 22 15 11 06 Male Senior 4 1009 Berry Mike 00 00 29 15 11 13 Male 11 5 142 00 00 44 15 11 26 44 Athletes who finished without timing results 16 1005 Spiggot George Male Junior 3 17 a This record shows a logged finish time finish posit
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