1. Protect sensitive data.

  2. Add a club Administrator.

  3. Export all Club Users.

  4. Import Club Users.

  5. Export Players signed in.

  6. Import Players.

  7. Clean Up Matches.

  8. Clean Up Players ( and Matches ).

  9. Simulate Club Run once.

  10. Simulate Club Run for today.

  11. Lock Up signing in.

  12. Limit Number of Players signed in.

  13. Enforce Gender Balance in matches.

  14. Forbid match adjustment.

  15. Renew License Online.

  16. Enable Internet Feature for Club Run.

  17. Have a WarmUp of different duration.

  18. Tournment or Separate between Two Divisions in Club Run.

  19. Multiple Subclubs, each for different day.

  20. Enable data synchronisation among multiple sites (laptops).

  21. Run multiple Club Period on the same day.

Details of FAQ for Advanced Operations:

  1. Protect sensitive data.

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Config" -> "Administrator".

      • Type in "admin" in the name field of "Administrator".

      • Type in a none empty password, and confirm it.

      • Click "Update" button.

    Notes:

      • BC4E has function to protect the sensitive data to provent unauthorized changes. The protection is disabled for new installation to facilitate testing the software.

      • To enable the data protection, simply set up an non-empty password for default Administrator account "admin" as Steps above.

      • The sensitive data include Skill Levels, Club Fee, User Types, and BC4E Options.

  2. Add a club Administrator.

    BC4E has a default Administrator account "admin". To add another Administrator account, you need to be authenticated as Administrator firstly.

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Config" -> "Administrator".

      • Authenticate with your Administrator account and password.

      • Type in a new account name, password, and confirmed passsword.

      • Click "Add" button.

    Notes:

      • Before adding any new Administrator account, set a non-empty password for the predefined Administrator "admin" firstly.

      • BC4E has a default Administrator account "admin". To add another Administrator account, you need to be authenticated as Administrator firstly.

  3. Export all Club Users.

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Admin" -> "Export Data".

      • In prompted Dialog Window, choose option of "User" in "Data to Export" Group Box.

      • Choose the location of the file by clicking "Browse" button.

      • Type in the file name to save, and click "Export" botton.

    Notes:

      •  You may need to export the data of Club Users to a formatted (.CSV) text file in following senarios:

         •  You like to make changes to many Club Users as a batch.

         •  Migrate Club Users to another BC4E installation.

         •  Exchange Club User information with other systems.

      •  For batch change, you can use Excel software to open the exported file, and make changes in Excel. Save it as .CSV file, and Import it to BC4E again.

      • For migration to another BC4E installation, ensure it has the same User Types configured, and then import the exported file directly as descirbed below.

      • In BC4E, you can export many other information to formatted text (.CSV) file, like Matches, Players, or Player Visit Statistics. They needs to specify the date period.

      •  Historical data of Matches and Players are kept in ".\Data\Archive" subfolder. BC4E uses Windows Files to keep data for simplicity. Each day has different files for Matches and Players respectively.

  4. Import Club Users.

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Admin" -> "Import Users".

      • In prompted Window, click "Browse" button to choose the text file to import.

      •  Click "Import" botton.

    Notes:

      •  The formatted text (.CSV) file that have information of all Club Users, must have the same format as shown in sample file "C:\BC4E\BC4E_Users_import_sample.csv".

      •  The exported file of all Club Users has the same format. So, it can be used for Importing as well.

      •  In the format shown in the sample file, all columns of Dates are optional. They can either not exist at all, or have empty values. Please use universal Date Time format "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss" for any value of them.

      • Before import, make sure User Types occurred in the text file are configured in current BC4E system.

      •  By default, the import will add any new Club User, and update details any existed user (identified by User Name). You can choose different options to control the behavior.

  5. Export Players signed in.

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Admin" -> "Export Data".

      • In prompted Dialog Window, choose option of "Player" in "Data to Export" Group Box.

      •  Click "Browse" button, and choose the location to keep the file.

       • Type in the file name to save, and click "Export" botton.

    Notes:

       • In the case you want to run simulation with the same group of Players for test, you can export those Players so you can sign them in by importing.

       • Or in some case, when you want to roll back change of BC4E software in the middle of club, this can solve the problem if copying the data files doesn't work due to possible format difference.

  6. Import Players.

    Steps:

       • Choose menu item "Admin" -> "Import Players".

       • Choose the text file to import by clicking "Browse" button.

       •  Click "Import" botton.

    Notes:

       • The Players exported text file has simply list of names of Players. Each line has one name.

  7. Clean Up Matches.

    Steps:

       • Choose menu item "Simulate" -> "Reset Matches".

    Notes:

       • Before starting a new Simulation, especially when simulate repeatedly for different period of time within the same day, better do this operation firstly because there could be hidden matches from previous simulation.

       • Simulation is quite different from club run, which normally only has one period of time for the same day. It is fine for Club Run that the system keeps the matches on the same day in the same data file.

       •  You can use this feature to clean up all unwanted matches to prevent match history affecting new match arrangement in terms of equal match count or match variety.

       •  In some rare case, this can help to fix some persistent match arrangement error due to conflict of applying many different rules.

  8. Clean Up Players ( and Matches ).

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Simulate" -> "Reset Matches & Players" from the main Window.

    Notes:

      • If you want to initiate a new "Simulation" or "Club Run" within the same day, you can do this.

  9. Simulate Club Run once.

    Steps:

    • Choose menu item "Simulate" -> "Simulate One Run".

    Notes:

      • Prerequisite for simulation: There is a active schedule for today, and there are Players signed in.

      • Simulate match arrangement of Club Run once. The difference between Arrange New and Simulate Once is the former is relateive to current time while the later is relative to future time.

  10. Simulate Club Run for today.

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Simulate" -> "Simulate for Today".

    Notes:

      • This simulates the whole club run through the period as the schedule for today.

      •  The simulation takes a few seconds only. So, the main Window probably only display the final matches when the simulation finishes.

  11. Lock Up signing in.

    Steps:

      • Choose menu item "Admin" -> "Lock Signing In".

    Notes:

      • One of the design goal is to make the system completely automatic (Auto Mode) without board duty person. "Locking Signing In" is to provent those, who need to pay for each visit, from Signing In by themself without paying.

  12. Limit Number of Players signed in.

    Steps:

      • Specify the ratio of capacity limit of Players to total court capacity in "Player Count Limit" parameter by choosing menu item "Config" -> "Options".

      • Specify what type of Club Users are restricted by the limit set above in "Is Limited" column in User Types configuration window.

    Notes:

      • Sometimes, clubs like the system to automatically limit the number of players signed in to grantee everyone can play decent number of matches.

      • This is once off settings.

  13. Enforce Gender Balance in matches.

    Steps:

      •  Choose "Config" -> "Options" menu item.

      •  Specify "Yes" for follwing three options in the open Window:

        • "Encourage Same Gender" ("Yes" by default).

        • "Encourage Mixed Double" ("Yes" by default).

        • "Enforce Gender Option" ("No" by default).

    Notes:

      • Generally, BC4E arranges matches with Skill Level Balance balance having higher priority to that Gender Balance.

  14. Forbid match adjustment.

    Steps:

      •  Choose "Config" -> "Options" menu item.

      •  Specify "0" for "Match Adjustability (Minute)" option in the open Window:

    Notes:

      •  Sometimes, you want to forbid any player adjusting matches arranged by BC4E to be fair for everyone.

      •  Those players who want to have a match fovor for them can use Pair Player feature.

  15. Renew License Online.

    Steps:

      •  Ensure your laptop has Internet connection.

      •  Choose "Help" -> "Renew License" menu item.

      •  Make payment as appropriated if prompted to do so and not yet, and wait for the order being authorised (may take a few days).

      •  Ensure your laptop has Internet connection again.

      •  Choose "Help" -> "Renew License" menu item. Renewal should be successful now.

    Notes:

      •  "Renew License" is only enabled when current license is close to or past its expiry.

      •  The first renewal request is to make an order for new license. It will prompt to pay for the renewal and the order number.

  16. Enable Internet Feature for Club Run.

    Steps:

      •  Ensure your laptop has Internet connection.

      •  Choose "Config" -> "Internet" menu item.

    Notes:

      •  If BC4E cannot connect to BC4E Web Site, the Internet feature will be disabled automatically after a few failures.

      •  The indicator that Internet Featue is enabled successful is the ther will be a Barcode image in the Main Windows.

      •  The Barcode image serves for scanning in with mobile apps.

  17. Have a WarmUp of different duration.

    Steps:

      •  Choose "Config" -> "Options" menu item.

      •  For fixed duration, specify an positive number of minutes for "WarmUp Period (Minute/Others)" option.

      Or:

      •  For flexible duration up to 30 minutes, specify "-1" for "WarmUp Period (Minute/Others)" option.

    Notes:

      •  The default value of "0" for the option means WarmUp duration is the same as Match Duration, which is specified in another option.

  18. Tournment or Separate between Two Divisions of Club Users.

    Steps:

      •  Choose "Config" -> "Options" menu item.

      •  Specify "Compete" or "Separate" as value for "Policy of Two Divisions" option.

    Notes:

      •  The default value of "Mix Up" for the option means to treat two Divisions as one common pool of all players from them.

  19. Multiple Subclubs, each for different day.

    Steps:

      •  Choose "Config" -> "User Type" menu item.

      •  Specify value of "Days To Play" column , which indicate the day of week to play as favored members, for each different User Type.

    Notes:

      •  If the Club Fee is different for each visit for different User Type, please configure the Club Fee as appropriate.

      •  Be default, all User Types can play all days in a week.

      •  When "Days To Play" values are not the same as default, the main Windows will have Radio Button to show Club Users for "Today's" or "Others".

  20. Enable data synchronisation among multiple sites (laptops).

    Steps:

      •  Choose menue item "Config" -> "Internet".

      •  In the prompted Windows, check "Connect to Internet for remote operation".

      •  Check Data Synchronization Group CheckBox.

      •  Type in the group name for the data synchronization, and specify the protection password for it.

      •  If the group has not been created, choose "Create" radio button, otherwise, choose "Join".

      •  Submit your request for data synchronisation.

    Notes:

      •  The data synchronisation is actually for Club Users, Players signed in, and Matches arranged. Remote signing in with mobile app is to be built.

      •  The User Types in different laptops that join the synchronisation group needs to be the same with manual configuration.

      •  The same person must use the same User Name in the BC4E systems on different laptops that join the synchronisation group.

  21. Run multiple Club Period on the same day. (Only availabe from Version 3.7.0)

    Steps:

      •  Set up multiple Club Periods on the same day with "Config" -> "Schedules" as following:

        •  Each Club Period can have multiple neibouring schedules.

        •  There must be some gap between two near Club Periods.

        •  The gap to separate two near Club Periods can be a small time gap of at least one minute, or a WarmUp session at the starting Schedule of each Club Period.

    Notes:

      •  BC4E automatically archives the data of previous Club Period before starting a new one.

      •  BC4E stores the data of Players and Matches separately for each Club Period, unlike one set of files for one day in version before BC4E 3.7.0.

      •  BC4E can export or report on the data of Players and Matches for each Club Period. Now you need to specify the Club Run Date, and the Club Period Ordinal in such operation.

  22. Upgrade BC4E software

    Steps:

      •  Download the latest software package from BC4E web site.

      •  Unzip the package into a temporary folder.

      •  Run "setup.exe" executable in the temporary folder.

      •  If your installation was done as default settings, no need to change anything. Otherwise, browse to its installation folder.

      •  Click "Upgrade Existing" button.

    Notes:

      •  The upgrade process make a copy of the whole current installation folder with the name with additional Date Time surfix. This can take some time if the club has a lot of archived data.

      •  Copy the newer files that are core for BC4E application and replace older files in current installation folder.

      •  The file copy and replace is based on the file date and time stamp. So, even the version number is the same, newer files will still replace older ones.

      •  Sometimes, minor revisions of the software doesn't change its version number. But the upgrade process still works.

  23. Rollback BC4E to its backup

    Steps:

      • 

      •  Find the right backup folders that you want to rollback to.

      •  If installation folder is "C:\BC4E", backup folders have the name pattern as "C:\BC4E_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss"

      •  Sort the folder name, check their modify date and choose the backup folder to roll back to.

      •  Rename current install folder name "C:\BC4E" to something else like "C:\BC4E_rolled_back" to avoid name conflicting.

      •  Rename the backup folder name to "C:\BC4E" by removing the suffix in the backup folder name.

      •  If original folder has the new license key, copy that license key file "BC4E_Certificate.key" over to restored folder.

      •  If the rollback happens in the middle of club, you need to restore the players signed in and matches played or arranged, you can copy these two files over to ".\Data" subfolder of the restored folder.

        •  .\Data\players.tbl

        •  .\Data\matches.tbl.

    Notes:

      •  The method of restoring Players signed in and Matches arranged should work in most cases unless their format are different between the two versions, which is rare.

  24. Uninstall BC4E

    Steps:

      • 

      •  Delete the BC4E installation folder, for default, "C:\BC4E".

      •  Delete the ShortCut on DeskTop.

    Notes:

      •  BC4E keeps, and access all information under its installation folder specified when running setup. The only item created outside the folder is the ShortCut on DeskTop.

      •  So, to backup BC4E, just need to backup the whole installation folder. In its intial setup, the installation path, PC machine id, and Clus User data file are bound to its license.

      •  Any change to its install path, copy to different PC, or manual handling the Club User data file will make BC4E malfunction.

      •  In addition to restore the whole installation folder from its backup, the other ways to copy Club Users to or restore them from other source is to use Export and Import Club Users feature or use Internet Data Synchronisation Group.

  25. Migrate Data to BC4E on another PC

    When clubs needs to run BC4E on a different PC. Please follow the following steps (any file or folder copying needs to be done when BC4E is not running.):

      •  a. Do a fresh installation on the new PC with the same form of Levels as the old PC. It has three months' free trial period on successful online registry.

      •  b. Backup the whole installation folder (by default, "C:\BC4E") in the new PC before any change by making a copy of it.

      •  c. On the old PC, export Club Users data to a .CSV file. This file will be used to import club user data on the new PC.

           Importanat! Please don't try to copy that Club User data file directly. It will crash your new installation.

      •  d. Copy following files from "C:\BC4E\Data" folder of old PC, to the same folder on the new PC, and overwrite the existing files there.

        •  administrators.tbl

        •  club_fees.tbl

        •  courts.tbl

        •  schedules.tbl

        •  user_type.tble

           Important! Do not copy or overwrite any other files under "C:\BC4E\Data" on to the new PC. Otherwise, the new installation will crash.

      •  e. Copy the exported .CSV file in Step c above to the new PC.

      •  f. Start BC4E application on the new PC, and import Club Users from the Copied .CSV file in Step above on the new PC.

      •  g. BC4E application on the new PC should be ready for use now.

      •  h. If BC4E on your old PC won't be used any more, and its license is still valid for long period (well over 3 months). You can request Support to transfer its license to the new PC, which costs NZ$20 for administration fee.