Schedule Star features several powerful built-in tools to perform important tasks like backing up your data, updating and modifying databases, importing and exporting data, and, for Schedule Net users, uploading your schedules to the Internet. Click the Utilities button on the main calendar screen to open the Utilities Menu.
Warning: Some of the tools in the Utilities Menu make extensive modifications to your data. MAKE A BACKUP before using any of these features.
The Database Tools include probably the single most important Schedule Star facility: THE BACKUP UTILITY. If you never use any other utilities in the entire utilities menu, USE THE BACKUP UTILITY. We cannot stress enough the importance of maintaining current backups of your Schedule Star data. If anything should happen to the data stored on your computer, a 10-cent diskette containing a current backup will save you hours of re-entering lost information.
The best method of preventing costly data loss is to take full advantage of Schedule Star's own built-in backup utility. It allows you to save a complete copy of your data onto a standard 3 1/2" floppy diskette (or other removable media). If anything should happen to the data stored on your computer, you can easily restore it from the backup disk.
From the Utilities Menu, click the Backup button to open the Backup Options menu.
Note to network users: If you are running Schedule Star from a server on a network, we urge you to perform these backup procedures. Performing your own backup can avoid delays in restoring lost data.
To backup all of your data onto a floppy disk, click the Full Data Backup button. Another window will appear prompting you to enter a destination pathway and name for the backup file.
We recommend using the default "A:\skedstar.zip" pathway and name and leaving the checkbox below checked to save the data as a compressed file. Insert a blank, formatted floppy disk in the drive and click OK to perform the backup.
Note: Only one backup can be stored on each disk. One disk will hold up to 12,000 events and 6,000 students.
To restore backup data from a floppy to your computer, insert the backup disk in your drive and click the Restore from backup button in the Backup Options menu.
Warning: Restoring from backup will overwrite all the data on your computer with the data on the backup disk. Any changes made since the last backup will be lost.
The program will prompt you for the name and location of the backup file, which will be the default "A:\skedstar.zip," unless you gave the backup file a different name. Clicking OK will display a warning screen. Click Proceed to restore the backup or Cancel to exit without restoring the backup.
Because floppy disks store data magnetically, they are extremely sensitive to electromagnetic damage. Placing a disk too close to a speaker can be enough to damage its stored data. Additionally, it is not at all uncommon to encounter defective floppy disks that appear to save backup data normally but fail when you attempt to restore from the backup.
To guard against data loss at the hands of a damaged or defective floppy, we recommend you use at least six floppies in regular rotation. Label the floppies 1 through 5 and the sixth one "S" for special. Use floppy 1 to backup data on the first Friday of each month, floppy 2 for the second Friday of each month, and so on.
Use a pencil to date each backup floppy with the day it was made, then carefully erase and write in the new date each time you perform another backup on the floppy. Use the "S" floppy to perform a backup after entering a large amount of data, such as entering an entire season's schedule of basketball games.
Preferably, you should take these backup floppies off-site or to a different part of the building. At the very least, do not leave them next to or near your computer. A power surge that damages a computer can also harm nearby floppies, defeating the entire purpose of backing up files. Taking the disks off-site also guards against extreme incidents like fire, flood, or equipment theft.
Note to network users: If you are running Schedule Star from a server on a network, we urge you to perform these backup procedures. Though data is regularly backed up on networks, it can be difficult and time consuming to recover lost files from a network backup. Performing your own backup can avoid delays in restoring lost data. We strongly recommend relying on your own backup disks instead of your network administrator's backup routines.
The backup utility is also useful for working with Schedule Star on different computers. For example, an athletic director may wish to enter data into Schedule Star on both a school computer and a home computer. The backup utility provides a way to keep the databases on both computers up-to-date.
The process is the same as backing up and restoring data. When you are finished entering data on one computer, perform a backup and take the disk with you. At the second computer, use the backup disk to restore the data, overwriting the old information with the current data. In this way a copy of the database can be carried back and forth between the computers so you can always work with the most current information.
We hope these backup procedures will fully protect your Schedule Star data. Always remember: when you sit down to enter large amounts of data, DO A BACKUP. It only takes a few minutes, and it can save you many hours of re-entering data. Performing a backup is the best protection for you investment of time and effort in the program.
Please be sure to read our expanded "Making Backups" guide at the following address...
http://www.schedulestar.com/PDF/bkpguide.pdf
Archiving events in Schedule Star moves them from your active database to a storage file. To access the archiving features, click the Backup button in the Utilities Menu.
Keeping several seasons of events in the active database creates clutter and will hurt the performance of the program, especially on older 486-based machines. We recommend archiving events at the completion of each season.
To begin removing events from the active database, click the Archive Events button.
Enter the date range of the events you wish to archive by typing the dates into the field, or by clicking the From: and To: buttons and choosing the dates from the pop-up calendars. You can archive events for just one team by selecting gender, level, and sport from the pull-down menus. Leaving them blank will archive all events in the date range. Click the Archive button to remove the events from the active database. Click Done to exit.
If you need to restore archived events to the active database, click the Restore from archive button. The procedure is the same as archiving data. Specify a date range and, optionally, a team, then click the Restore button to return the events to the active database.
You can permanently remove events from the archive by clicking on the Purge Archives button and specifying a date range and, optionally, a team. Once events are purged from the archive, they cannot be restored. Please use the purge function with care.
Schedule Star will accommodate a two-year schedule by automatically "flipping" the current year's schedule into next year. The events will be copied to the corresponding day in next year's calendar. For example, an event on Monday will stay on same Monday next year. You also have the option of swapping the place (home this year, away next year).
Warning: Before performing these updates, DO A BACKUP. The changes made to your event schedule by the Mirror function are very difficult and time-consuming to undo. If the mirroring is done incorrectly, your schedule can be restored from this backup.
Clicking the Mirror button in the Utilities Menu will display a red warning window. Click the I understand. Run Mirror button to continue to the Mirror Events screen.
We recommend you mirror one sport at a time, using the pull-down lists to select gender, level, and sport. Make sure you make selections for ALL THREE.
If "Swap place" is checked, mirrored events will have their home/away settings switched. For example, if you are mirroring your Boys Varsity Basketball schedule and you check "Swap place," home games from the current year will mirror as away games next year, and vice versa. Facility and transportation assignments are automatically dropped for mirrored events regardless of whether the places are swapped or not.
Click the OK button to perform the mirroring operation.
After mirroring, carefully check next year's schedule. If the mirrored schedule is current, PERFORM ANOTHER BACKUP before mirroring another sport. If you make a mistake using mirror, you can restore from your last backup.
Note: You can also use the Archive function to eliminate the incorrectly mirrored events and purge ONLY the gender/level/sport that is incorrect. See 'Archives' under "Backup" earlier in this section for details on archiving events.
By using the Ahead one week or Back one week button, you can push the schedule for the upcoming year ahead or back by one week. You can do two-year or even four-year schedules by using the Ahead one year button.
When you are finished, click Cancel to exit Mirror, then click Done at the warning screen to return to the Utilities Menu.
The Student Database utilities give you additional control over your Student Directory. using these tools, you can update semester attendance figures, reset seasonal eligibility settings, store alumni information, and bring new students into your database.
This button accesses the directories of graduated students that were archived in the Alumni List by the Year Update tool (see "Semester Updates" later in this section).
The first window shows the path name of the Alumni List. If you archived your alumni to a different file, click or tab into the directory field and enter the path name of the file. Otherwise, accept the default path name and click OK to proceed.
The next window asks you to select a class. Click to highlight a class, then click the View button to open the Alumni Directory. This directory works just like the Student Directory (see "Students" under Information Databases).
Click Done to return to the class selection screen. Click Done from this screen to exit.
At the close of any sports season, you may find it necessary to reset eligibility information for all student athletes. The Season Update tool allows you to reset each eligibility flag in the Student Directory for ALL students.
Warning: Before performing any of these updates, DO A BACKUP. The changes made to your student database by these updates are very difficult and time-consuming to undo. Should these updates be done incorrectly, your data can be restored from this backup.
Clicking the Season Updates button in the Utilities Menu displays a red screen with all three eligibility flag names and the two user-defined eligibility fields.
Clicking the Reset All Flags button will return all eligibility settings to their default values. For any of the first three items (eligibility flags), this will uncheck the corresponding box in the Student Directory for ALL students. For the last two items (user-definable fields), this function will erase the corresponding field in the Student Directory for ALL students.
Semester Updates contains two tools to keep the semester attendance for all students in your Students Directory up-to-date. The Semester update advances attendance numbers by one semester. The Year update advances attendance numbers by one semester AND removes graduating seniors from the database, archiving them in a separate directory. This saves you from removing seniors individually and manually advancing semester attendance numbers for every student in the Student Directory.
Warning: Before performing these updates, DO A BACKUP. The changes made to your student database by these updates are very difficult and time-consuming to undo. Should either update be done incorrectly, your data can be restored from this backup.
Both updates require that the semester attendance figures for all students be properly entered. At the beginning of any school year, the semester attendance boxes should contain the following: 1,0,0,0 for freshmen; 2,1,0,0 for sophomores; 2,2,1,0 for juniors; and 2,2,2,1 for seniors.
Clicking the Semester Updates button opens a red window. Use the pull-down list to select the current school year.
Clicking the Semester button will advance every students' semester attendance by one semester. A second window will prompt you to confirm the action.
You should perform the Semester update in the middle of the school year at the close of the first semester. When done properly, the Semester update should advance semester attendance numbers to the following: 2,0,0,0 for freshmen; 2,2,0,0 for sophomores; 2,2,2,0 for juniors; and 2,2,2,2 for seniors.
Clicking the Year button will advance every students' semester attendance by one AND remove graduating seniors, placing them in the Alumni Directory. Again, a second window will ask you for confirmation.
You should perform a Year update at the close of the school year. The Year update will remove all seniors from your Students Directory and place them in the Alumni Directory (see "Alumni Lists" earlier in this section). It will also advance all other students to the correct semester attendance for the beginning of the next school year.
If you maintain the correct semester attendance figures for your students, performing one Semester update and one Year update each school year will keep your entire student database up-to-date.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED FEATURE. We will be happy to answer general questions regarding the actual import. However, we CANNOT assist with converting your student data. Beyond these instructions and the template files provided on your Schedule Star CD, no further support is available without incurring a fee.
Schedule Star can import your students' names, addresses, and related data from your school's student database. The person responsible for your student records should be able to provide you with a file in the correct format for importing into Schedule Star.
Warning: Before attempting to import students, DO A BACKUP. The changes made to your student database by these updates are very difficult and time-consuming to undo. If the import is performed incorrectly, your data can be easily restored from this backup.
Typically, use a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel to format the data and save it as a .csv file. There are sample import files located on the Schedule Star CD-ROM in the Student folder. To access these samples, hold down the “Shift” key while inserting your Schedule Star CD (hold it down for about 20 seconds). This will disable the automatic installation of the program. Double click on “My Computer” then RIGHT click on Schedule Star and LEFT click on “Explore” , this is where you will find the “Student” folder. These files show EXACTLY how the data must be arranged for importing into Schedule Star.
We recommend you copy the header row from one of the sample files and paste it as the header row on the spreadsheet containing your student data. Manipulate your data to match the header. You may leave columns blank except for L_ NAME and SCHOOL ID, but do NOT delete any of the headers. You must leave a complete header row at the top of the spreadsheet before attempting to import.
Some columns require special instructions:
L_NAME is a required field
The numbers in the “Phone” column must be in this format: 614-555-1212
The “Gender” must be Male or Female (full words with capital letters)
“School ID” is a required field.
“GRAD_YR” is the graduation year; it must be a four digit number reflecting each student’s graduation year
“Attend 8” through “Attend 12” is number of semesters completed for each grade year (single digit, eg: 4.) This will update automatically with the semester and yearly updates.
“Enrollment” is the date originally enrolled in school, eg: 09/23/94
When you are ready to import, save the spreadsheet to the root directory of your hard drive as a CSV file called "students.csv." From the Utilities Menu, click the Import Students button. A directory screen will open prompting you to select the file.
Since you copied the file to the root directory on your hard drive, it will appear in the box to the left. Double-click on it to begin importing.
Note: If you did not save the file in the root directory or saved it to a different drive, locate the file using the "Drive" pull down and the directory tree on the right. When you open the correct folder, it will appear in the box on the left.
After a few moments, the First Record verification screen will appear. This should display the header file information.
Examine the information to make sure it appears in the correct fields. If there are any errors, click Cancel to abort the import. Open the file in your spreadsheet program to correct the errors, then try importing again.
If the information is arranged correctly, click OK to continue on to the Last Record verification screen.
The information for the last student in your file will appear in the fields. Again, examine the information for any errors. Clicking Cancel will abort the import so you can exit and correct the errors.
If the information appears correct, click OK to complete the import. When the import is complete, exit the Utilities Menu and open your Student Directory. Carefully check the student records to make sure all of your information imported correctly.
The Editing portion of the Utilities Menu contains several miscellaneous tools for editing items that do not have a dedicated database in the Information Manager, such as facilities. These utilities also let you change settings and edit contract- and eligibility-related items.
Schedule Star comes with several built-in choices for gender, level, and sport. The Edit Teams utility lets you add, remove, or modify these choices as they appear on the Sporting Event screen.
From the Utilities Menu, click the Edit Teams button. The Edit Teams Lists window will appear with three separate areas for sports, level, and gender.
To add a selection, click into a category (this will enable the buttons next to it on the right). then click the New button. Enter a name for the new item, then tab or click with into the next field and enter a unique code (three letters maximum for a sport and two letters maximum for levels and gender). When adding a sport, be sure to check the "Low scores win" box for sports like cross country and golf where the lowest score is the winning score. Click OK to add the selection to the list. It will now appear in the pull-down list.
To delete a selection, highlight it by clicking on it, then click the Delete button. The program will prompt you to type "Y" to confirm the deletion. The choice will no longer appear on the pull-down list.
To edit an existing selection, highlight it by clicking on it, then click the Edit button. Use the tab key or click with the mouse to move to the field you want to change. Click OK when finished to save the changes.
Note: The Edit Teams Lists window can also be accessed from the Sporting Event screen by clicking the Edit Teams button.
Teams, Level, and Gender may all be displayed one of three ways. These are by Record # (the order in which you enter them into the program), Abbreviation (alphabetically by the abbreviation), or Name (alphabetically by name). Use the Order pull-downs to change these settings.
The order you choose depends on how you are using Schedule Star. An example would be on Levels. If you want the teams to show up in reverse order in the pull-down menus, you would enter them Varsity, then Junior Varsity, then Sophomore, then Freshman, and select the "Record #" option. If you were to enter them and select the "Name" order, the program would put them in the alphabetical order of Freshman, Junior Varsity, Sophomore, and Varsity. The use of capital letters for opponent, gender, level, and sport makes a nice print-out.
Unlike items such as opponents and students, facilities do not have a separate dedicated database. You can, however, modify the list of facilities that appear on the Sporting Event screen using the Edit Facilities utility.
From the Utilities Menu, click the Edit Facilities button to open the Edit Facilities List screen.
Click the Add button to place a new facility in the list. Type the name of the facility, then use the Tab key to move to the next field and type an abbreviation for the facility (maximum of four characters). Click Done to save the facility and exit, or click Add to save this facility and add another.
Notice the Select button is disabled on this screen. If you edit the facilities list by clicking Facility on the Sporting Event screen, the Select button allows you to save the new facility and select it for the current event. (See "Facility" in the Adding and Editing Events section.)
To remove a facility from the list, highlight it by clicking on it, then click the Delete button. Click Done to exit back to the Sporting Event screen.
Note: The Edit Teams Lists window can also by accessed from the Sporting Event screen with the Facility button.
See "Editing Contracts" in the Contracts section for full instructions.
The three checkboxes in the lower left corner of the Student Directory are Student Eligibility Flags. These three flags are fully customizable. You can activate or deactivate these flags or change their names.
From the Utilities Menu, click the Eligibility Settings button. This opens the Edit Eligibility Settings screen.
The first three fields, labeled Student Eligibility Flag 1-3, hold the names of the three corresponding checkboxes in the Student Directory. The checkbox to the right of each field denotes whether that eligibility flag is active in the Student Directory. Active flags are checked, while inactive flags have empty checkboxes and grayed-out names.
To change the name of an eligibility flag, click or tab into the field and type the new name.
You can activate or deactivate a flag by clicking to check or uncheck the "Active" checkbox. You must activate or deactivate flags from highest to lowest. For example, you cannot disable flag 1 if flags 2 and 3 are active. Similarly, you cannot activate flag 3 if flag 2 is deactivated.
The two Sport Eligibility fields hold information used on eligibility forms for certain states. The Student Eligibility Flags may or may not come into play on your state's eligibility form. Consult the state-specific instructions under "Eligibility" in the Teams and Eligibility section.
Note: The Season Update tool allows you to reset each Student Eligibility Flag for ALL students. See 'Season Updates' under "Student Database" earlier in this section.
Several miscellaneous settings that do not fit elsewhere in the Utilities Menu have been grouped together on the Setup Information screen. From the Utilities Menu click the Setup Info. button to access this screen.
Warning: Most of the settings in this menu are global program variables. Making changes here can have adverse effects elsewhere in the program. You will rarely need to make changes here more than once per season, if at all. If you are not sure, DO NOT change ANY of these settings without consulting this User's Guide.
The Jr. High Grades and Sr. High Grades fields are used with the Pennsylvania eligibility reports ONLY and are automatically set up during installation of that state's forms. DO NOT alter these settings.
Enrollment Date lets you change the athlete enrollment date that appears on certain team reports.
The names in Student Field 1 and 2 correspond to the two fields at the bottom of the Student Directory. You can customize them by changing their names here. However, if your state's eligibility form is installed in Schedule Star, NEVER change the names of these fields. Doing so will cause problems with printing your state's eligibility reports.
Copies is an eligibility-related setting. See 'Pennsylvania' under the state-specific instructions in the Eligibility section.
DO NOT type anything into the Info Locks field. This setting is used by our programmers for internal testing ONLY.
See "Editing Contracts" in the Contracts section for an explanation of the Contract Days setting.
The last three rows of fields let you enter the titles and names of school officials. This information appears at the bottom of certain team reports. DO NOT move the principal position from the second row.
Certain reports, such as the Season Awards report in the Teams area, filter data according to season. The Define Seasons utility lets you customize the start and end data for each season according to your own schedule.
Click into each field to establish a start date for the seasons. Click Done to save changes and exit.