Import Meet Entries

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This is a great feature when you want to merge two or more meet entry files that have been exported from TFTM Databases that have been installed on different computers. Coach 1 may set up entries on his computer for the Women and Coach 2 may set up entries for the Men. Coach 1 would export Meet Entries normally and then Coach 2 would Import those entries into his/her TM Databases. The result would be both set of entries included under one meet so that relays could be set up and one export file provided to the meet host.

From the TEAM MANAGER Main Menu Bar, click on File then Import then Entries. TM will first ask you to select the Drive, Directory, and File Name of the file you wish to Import. If the athlete file is on a diskette, put the diskette into your Drive A and select A from the Windows Open dialog box. TM will select all the files with the following file extensions - TCL from a TM Database and ZIP. Pick the one you wish to import and click on OK.

If you selected a ZIP file, TM will unzip that file into a temporary directory named TFTMTemp and then ask you to choose from the list of files that were extracted.

Check the Data
After you have selected the file you wish to Import, TM will read the file and make various integrity checks. These checks are important because you do not want to import "bad data". At the conclusion of the data integrity checks, TM will display information about the file that was selected including who created the file and when it was created.

Ready To Import
At this point in the process, TM is ready to import meet entries and integrate them into your TM Database. But first, TM will check various parameters in the import file for reasonability.

Check for the Existence of the Meet.

If the meet/date that is being imported does not exist in your TM Database, TM will setup that meet for you including the dates, setup the events that have been included in the Import file, and then import the entries.

If the Meet already exists, Check for Event Matches.

If the meet/date that is being imported matches a meet/date that already has been setup in your TM Database and some meet entries have been declared in your TM Database for that meet/date, TM will first check to see that the event numbers and descriptions in the Import file match the event numbers and event descriptions in the TM Database. For example, if event #5 in the Import file is the Boys 11-12 55m dash and event #5 in the TM Database for this meet is the Girls 13-14 200m dash, TM will not import any of the entries for event #5 and will include the entries not imported on the Exception report.

Check for Team and Athlete Matches

TM will check to make sure the Team in the Import file exists in your TM Database. if not, TM will let you know that if it adds this new team, all the entries will be set up for this team and all the athletes will be added as "New Athletes".

TM will also indicate if there are athletes that exist in the Import file that do not exist in the TM Database. If there are any "new" athletes, TM will give you the choice to Add those new athletes and import their meet entries or not. TM will then give you the option to "merge" the new meet entries or "replace" them. If you select "merge", TM will add the entries from the Import file to the meet entries declared for that meet/date. If you select "replace", TM will delete all the meet entries currently setup for that meet/date and then import the ones contained in the Import file.

NOTE: Entries for "new" athletes will be set up as "Custom Marks" since there would be no "Best Marks" in the TM Database for a meet entry for a new athlete. Otherwise, the mark used for the meet entry will be the standard "Best Mark" in the TM Database at the time a Meet Entry report is printed or a Meet Entry Export is executed.

NOTE: Custom Mark entry declarations that are imported for existing athletes will be stored as Custom Marks, unless the entry declaration already exists in the current TM Database.

NOTE: Entry declarations for Heat/Lane or for Relay Only Athletes will NOT be imported.

Check for Relays

The TM Meet Entry Import does import relay entries but ONLY if relay entries (declarations) do not exist for that event. For example, if a relay entry already exists in the TM database for the Girls 400 Relay and there is a Girls 400 Relay in the import file, TM will NOT import that relay entry since by doing so, there could be multiple "A Relays" for the same event. TM will report all relay entries that it did not import due to the existence of a relay entry for the same event.

How TFTM Matches Athletes
When you import Meet Results, TFTM goes through the following process to find a correct match for each athlete being imported into your Database.

TFTM looks for a match of Last Name, First name, Gender, and Team. If all of these match, then TFTM imports the data for that athlete. If not, then TFTM checks the "Add New Athlete Box". If it is checked, then a new athlete is added. If it is not checked, this record is not imported and is put on the Exception Report list.

Exception Report
You will be notified if TM was not able to import all of the data in the selected file and then be given the option to review a list of the information that was not imported and the reason why it was not imported.