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Why do I have to have ProScore? Will Meet Score Pro ever be a stand-alone gymnastics meet management system? |
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At this time, the primary goal of the Meet Score Pro software project is to make electronic scoring at gymnastics meets affordable for more gyms. Rental costs of electronic scoring systems is as high as $1000. To purchase the same system, the cost is over $8,000. Meet Score Pro can be purchased for less than the cost of rented equipment and run on PCs that are already owned.
As far as Meet Score Pro evolving into a full-blown meet management system, that remains to be seen. No matter what, it will likely always be compatible with ProScore data because many gyms exchange data in this format. For the most part, doing this would not require much more work with the current interface. Most of the work would go into creating a good set of reports. |
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Can I change any data in ProScore during a meet once I have exported a meet to Meet Score Pro? |
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NO! Remember, when you export your data back to ProScore, all of the meet data will be overwritten with what has been set in Meet Score Pro. Even data that is not modified in Meet Score Pro will be overwritten back to the original values that were saved when the ProScore Transfer File (PTF) was created. |
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One of the Meet Score Pro software components stopped working or crashed. What should I do if a meet is active? |
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While this should not happen, there is always the possibility that it can. The good news is that in most cases, if you simply re-start the offending application, the others will re-connect automatically. If this does not happen, the best thing to do is re-start Meet Score Pro and then re-connect all the Judge and Scoreboard systems. |
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Can I use Meet Score Pro for a real meet without a valid license code? |
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NO! Don't do it! The evaluation license will enter randomized scores during the export. You will see a big warning message about this if you try to export with an evaluation license. It's OK to perform the export as a test, but make a backup of your original data and, of course, NEVER use those scores for actual scoring purposes. |
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What is that tab called Ads for? |
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At the time of the latest release, the advertising code was not complete. That will be coming to the software VERY soon. More information will be coming soon about this feature, but basically it will allow the Meet Director to cycle advertising images on the scoreboard(s) between sessions (or while no scoring data is active). |
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Why did you create Meet Score Pro? Do you have a daughter in gymnastics? |
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I created Meet Score Pro because I was amazed that the only decent scoring devices were somewhat out-dated in terms of available technology, and also I wanted to make owning the scoring system more affordable. Yes, I do have a daughter in competitive gymnastics and I think it is a terrific sport! |
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Are you trying to edge out the ProScore people with this software? |
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Absolutely not. In fact, this software utilizes data that is created and managed in ProScore. From my conversations with others in the gymnastics world (at least in Women's JO), ProScore is very popular and is used by many gyms. I evaluated the software and it works very well. It has great reports and is fairly easy to use. The documentation is thorough and the software seems to be well supported. As I have documented in other places, I have not ruled out whether Meet Score Pro will ever act as a stand-alone meet management product. Right now, it's purpose is to provide scoring and scoreboard functionality. |
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I want to create my own custom scoreboard backgrounds, but I don't know how to do this. Can you help? |
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I have provided the Photoshop templates and I encourage everyone to definitely use those to create your own branded scoreboards. I think it is a huge benefit with this software. If you don't have Photoshop but you have a logo or some other graphics you want to use, I may be able to help you. You can request this assistance by going to the contact page on the web site. I have to charge a nominal fee of $50 so I can have my graphics person do this for you. But honestly, I bet there is likely a parent or a friend of a parent at your gym who could probably do this for you. |
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How much time/effort has gone into creating this software? |
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I am a software developer and my company is a consulting firm that produces software for clients looking for very specialized solutions. I actually did not initially intend to offer this software to the public. But, I am a total perfectionist and as I kept working at it, I decided to really go all out and create something that lots of gyms could use. This kind of product is incredibly specialized, so there is a VERY narrow market for it. I realize that, but I am hoping that my efforts with this will end up helping other gyms afford to own their own scoring system. If I make any money with this, I intend to donate a percentage of the profit either to USAG or to a fund or organization that promotes the sport of gymnastics. Plus, I look at how hard my daughter and other gymnasts work, and I feel like this is hopefully doing something positive for them and the sport. |
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Will judges like and accept the scoring software? |
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I sure hope so! I am of the opinion that they will actually love it. It actually automates much more of the scoring process than anything else out there. For example, when a new session is set, the Scoring Consoles are all pre-populated with the squad lists - and in the proper rotation order. The judge does not have to use the squad list if they don't want to. They can simply enter a gymnast number and enter scores just like they would do with the keypads. Corrections are easy and the judge can always see what scores have already been sent because the squad list is color-coded accordingly. It gets even better when you have multiple judge consoles for a given event. The head judge (Judge #1) is the primary controller. They pull up the gymnast record and the other judge consoles open that gymnast automatically. The second, third, or forth judges only have to enter their single score. The head judge will see these scores populate on their screen as they come in. The head judge will enter a start value (if required) as well as any deductions. The software does everything else for them. Once all the scores have been received, the head judge can send the score off to the scoreboard queue. It's pretty cool. |
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What about new versions and upgrades? |
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All registered users can upgrade for free within the same major version number. Recent license purchases may be eligible for a free major version upgrade depending on how long it has been since the original purchase. Upgrades to a new major version will always be discounted. Pricing for these upgrades will be published when those releases are made available. |
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What support is offered for Meet Score Pro? |
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Licensed users can request support, and a response should be forthcoming within one business day. Hopefully, most questions will answered the same day, and that is what I'll try to do. Most of the time, support will be via email, but if it appears that a call will be the best way to handle the problem, then we'll schedule a call.
All users are encouraged to use the Meet Score Pro online forums to request help, report bugs, and submit feature requests. I also watch the posts there and I will chime in whenever I feel I can help. |
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I see that the database file for Meet Score Pro is an Access Database. Can I access or use that data? |
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Yes. I decided NOT to password protect the database file. But be careful not to modify the data structure or make changes to it outside of Meet Score Pro. In fact, I would recommend that you make a copy of the file if you wish to use the data for other purposes. It is my belief that this data belongs to you and you should be allowed to access it directly. However, ALWAYS be respectful of people's privacy at all times. I DO NOT endorse or ever recommend using this data for marketing or other related purposes without the consent of the gym's, judge's, or gymnast parent's permission. |
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Can I export data from Meet Score Pro in a comma or tab delimitted format? |
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There is no functionality for exporting text file formats in Meet Score Pro at this time. If you wish to do this, you can export the data back to ProScore and perform those types of exports from that software. I think it is probably a useful feature, but will not likely make it into the software for a few more minor version updates. |
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Does Meet Score Pro support men's gymnastics events? |
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Currently, the released version only supports the four women's JO events - Bars, Beam, Floor, and Vault. I do plan to also add support for the men's events. My best estimate is that the men's events will be added around the middle of the summer 2010. During the summer, I have a little more time to devote to improvements on this project. The men's events are one of several improvements that will be added this year. |
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I want to have a single scoreboard for each event. Can I do this? |
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UPDATE (9/18/2010): This feature has just been released (v 1.3) |
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How do I connect a Judge's Console or Scoreboard Display to Meet Score Pro? I don't know what to enter for the IP address. |
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When a meet becomes active in Meet Score Pro, the main screen will display the IP address and the port being used for listening on the network. Write down that IP address and Port number and enter that same information when setting up your Judge and Scoreboard connections. Also, you may need to turn off firewalls that might be blocking the port number being used. Lastly, the PIN number must also match what has been set in Meet Score Pro. The PIN is there for an additional layer of security. |
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I want to test Meet Score Pro, but I don't have a ProScore Transfer File to import. How can I test the software? |
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If I can figure out an easy way to provide a testing PTF file, I will make it available on the downloads page. The problem with doing this is that test data imported into ProScore is really not a good idea. If the data that changes is gymnast-specific (like scores), this will not affect ProScore data. But, if you import fake gym names, they will remain in your data - and that is probably not desirable.
I recommend that you download the ProScore demo and create some test data there. You can then export a ProScore Transfer File to Meet Score Pro and do some testing. |
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Q: |
I have purchased a license. How do I install the license code? |
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Open Meet Score Pro. Click the help menu and then click Update License. Copy the license code into the text box and then click the Update button. The license code is specific to your gym's name and this will be displayed as well as the number of licenses purchased. |
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I need to re-install or I am unable to find my license code. Is there a way to retrieve it? |
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Yes. Go to http://www.meetscorepro.com/account.asp and login with your email address and password. If you have forgotten your password, you can use the password help page to have a reset email sent to you. Once you are logged in, your current license code will be displayed as well as the number of licenses you have purchased. |
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