League Planning Software

Bespoke software "League Planner" (© David Lyon 2005-2015 All Rights Reserved) can be used to produce the web league fixtures. It is worth doing some preparation and planning prior to using League Planner each season. For instructions and advice on planning and preparation click here..

This article gives an outline of the procedures used, in the order in which they are required.

SETUP

Before the fixture allocations can begin, setting up data is entered, for example:

A- Season (detailed instructions click here)  - what season is being setup.

B- Exceptions (detailed instructions click here)  - events that take up time and rinks which will then not be available for league fixtures, e.g.:-

• Club finals.
• Club friendlies.
• Inter-club events.

C- Quantity Rinks and Time Slots (detailed instructions click here)  - The program stores a rink matrix that is very similar in concept to a club league fixtures display. To do this is requires some basic setup information:

Z- Add/Edit Leagues (detailed instructions click here)  - what league is being setup.

D- League requirements (detailed instructions click here)  - data input for each league in the season:-

• League title.
• Start and end dates.
• The days, times and rinks that the league can use on a weekly basis.
• The days, times and rinks that the league can use if not all games will fit into the preferred day/time/rinks above (termed "overspill slots").
• Any holiday time when a league cannot play (Christmas?).

E- Divisional data (detailed instructions click here)  - data input for each division in the league:-

• Division title.
• How many teams.
• How many times teams are to play each other.

F- League Plans (detailed instructions click here)

Once the initial setup is complete, each League is then calculated individually in an order chosen by the user (the order the leagues are calculated in can be important if they share any time/rink slots with other leagues). This process is continued until all games per all leagues have been allocated and tested.

G- Season Plan

The league plans are then combined into a season plan. The user can again move games and modify the plan, if required, and so on, until happy or insane. The Season Plan, Daily Fixture Booking Sheets and the Captains Sheets are then produced. The Season Plan feeds directly into the web site indoor league fixtures.

The Season Plan form is laid out in a "1, 2, 3, ... etc" format, so you start at 1, then do 2, then 3 etc. Instructions for the use of the Season Plan form is currently being written!

FINALLY - Update the Web (detailed instructions click here) .

THE END.