Because of performance and data integrity issues, TM.Net is NOT designed to allow database activity (either queries or updating) to take place right on the web. The #1 design criteria for TM.Net is to ensure that a customer's database does not get corrupted or "stepped on" by other users.
The TM.Net Administrator for the team initially uploads a copy of the team's database to the TM.Net server from their desk top and then assigns "read" and "edit" rights to various users. Click Here for information about Admin Tools for TM.Net. Let's discuss a couple of scenarios to see how TM.Net works.
Example 1 - Two Users on Read-Only Mode
User 1 logs on TM.Net for the first time. TM.Net will let User 1 know that they will need to download the database to their desk top in order to use it just as they would any other TEAM MANAGER Database. After the download has been completed, User 1 can run reports and even make changes to the database. But since they were not given "edit" rights, any changes to the database WILL NOT be uploaded to the TM.Net server.
User 2 logs on TM.Net for the first time and goes through the same procedure as User 1.
When they are finished using their TEAM MANAGER, then they exit normally. The next time they start TEAM MANAGER and logon to TM.Net, TM.Net will check to see if any changes have been made to the TM.Net copy of the database since their last download. If no changes have been made to the TM.Net copy, then it is not necessary to download it to the User desk top and they can proceed normally. If changes have been made to the TM.Net server copy, then TM.Net will prompt the User to download that copy to their desk top.
Please Note: If User 1 has made changes to their desk top copy of the database and then subsequently downloads a current copy of the TM.Net database, those changes will be over written.
Example 2 - One User in Edit Mode and One User in Read-Only Mode
User 1 logs on TM.Net and chooses the "For Edit" option (assuming the TM.Net Administrator has given edit rights to User 1). When the "For Edit" mode is chosen, TM.Net will ALWAYS download the current TM.Net server database copy to the desk top to ensure that changes made on the desktop will have the TM.Net baseline. Otherwise, multiple users could upload a database to the TM.Net server that was not based on the current TM.Net server copy.
User 2 logs on TM.Net and notices that the "For Edit" option is greyed out. TM.Net will display the User name of the person who has the database "locked for edit" so that User 2 can contact them to see how long they intent to spend making those changes. Of course, User 2 has the option to login as "Read Only" and run reports, etc on the current database.
User 1 adds three new athletes and corrects the mailing address of two others then either logs off TM.Net or exists TEAM MANAGAER. TM will let them know that they had opened the TM.Net database in edit mode and asks if they want to upload their desk top copy to the TM.Net server. User 1 chooses "Yes" and a new updated copy of the team's TEAM MANAGER database is uploaded to the TM.Net server. Any user logging on to TM.Net after the User 1 copy has been uploaded will get that new copy.
Example 3 - How a User Might "Loose" Changes
User 1 logs on TM.Net and chooses the "For Edit" option (assuming the TM.Net Administrator has given edit rights to User 1). When the "For Edit" mode is chosen, TM.Net will ALWAYS download the current TM.Net server database copy to the desk top to ensure that changes made on the desktop will have the TM.Net baseline.
User 1 wants to add 10 new athletes but gets a telephone call and has to leave for a few hours. So far, User 1 had added 3 of the 10 new athletes so they exit TEAM MANAGER and says "No" to upload the changed copy of the Database since they are not finished. They return in 3 hours, start TEAM MANAGER, Login to TM.Net "For Edit", and now the current TM.Net server copy is download to their desk top and over writes their copy that has the 3 new athletes. Now they must start over to add the 10 new athletes.
The point is that whenever the TM.Net database is opened "For Edit" and changes are made to the database, it is very important to make sure that when you logoff TM.Net or exit TEAM MANAGER, you choose "Yes" to upload those changes to the TM.Net server.