2. Install the software on the first workstation using the Full install option. Go through the upgrade process. Then open the software and enter the registration number. Once the software is functioning correctly on the first computer, continue as below.

3. Move the C:\Program Files\Mansker Enterprises\AD\AthleticData.mdb file from the workstation to the network AD4 directory. It’s important to move the file rather than to copy it. It is also important that the software be installed on each workstation with only the data file on the server in the shared folder.

4. Open the program on the first workstation. The program will look for the tables in the default location. When it does not find it here, you will be asked to map the location of the tables. Click the path on the attachment screen and then click the Locate button. Browse to the folder containing the AthleticData.mdb file.

5. On each subsequent computer, install the software using the Workstation install. After you have completed the upgrade, you will get the Where is Your Data File. Attach to the AthleticData.mdb file on the server.

Before you begin to use the program, you should customize the defaults to reflect your sports program. From the opening screen menu at the top of the screen, choose Customize Program.

Entering Default Program Information

Work your way down the Customize Program menu and make the appropriate entries. Bear in mind that sport, levels, locations, etc. entered here will form drop-down lists when using the program.

The Contest Information Screen

You will spend the vast majority of your time on the Contest Information Screen. This is were you enter and edit schedules as well as performing most other functions of the program. This screen contains two button bars. One above the schedule and one below. Each of the buttons helps you perform a specific function.

Displaying and Editing Schedules

Select the sport from the sport box at the top of the screen. If you have scheduled contests for this sport, games for the current season will be selected. You can change the current season by clicking the Set Current Season button. To select a different schedule, click the season in the left-hand box. To edit a contest, you can either double click on the contest or highlight the contest by clicking once and then clicking the Edit Selected Contest button on the lower button bar.

You may choose whether you want to display a Home/Away column or a Location column under Site on the Contest Information screen. Go to the Customize Program menu on the opening screen and choose Site Column on Schedule Display.

Blackout Dates

To be alerted about blacked out dates, enter them under the Blackout Dates choice on the Customize Program menu on the opening screen.

Uploading your Events to the Internet

Your MES Athletic Director software has the ability to upload a file to www.MySchoolCalendar.net, which is a web site we have designed to work hand-in-hand with your scheduling software. To create the upload file, go to the Upload Events to Web menu at the top of the Contest Information screen and choose Create Upload File. On the next screen, select the season you want to upload and click the Create the MySchoolCalendar.net File button. This creates the Calendar.txt file in the C:\MySchoolCalendar folder on your computer. If you have an account set up on www.MySchoolCalendar.net, you can upload this file to allow your students, parents and patrons to view all of your events in a calendar format or to browse your sports schedules. Please visit the web site for more detail. There is a yearly fee for hosting schedules and events.

Logo and Signature Files

You can use your mascot/logo graphic with game schedules and various other reports and your signature file with contracts and reminder reports.

Logos: If you have a logo or mascot file in a graphic format, open this file in a graphic editor and save it as Logo.bmp (Windows bitmap). The ideal size is 200 x 200 pixels. The image will be resized to fit into the space allotted.

Signatures: The easiest way to do this is to take a blank sheet of paper and do two or three signatures on the page, keeping the signature square with the bottom of the page. Scan the page and save the image as a .jpg or .gif format or other common file format. Open this file in a graphics editor and cut out a signature and save it as ADSig.bmp. The ideal size is 360 wide X 80 tall pixels. The image will be resized to fit into the allotted space.

Save each of the files to C:\Program Files\Mansker Enterprises\AD and replace the existing file(s). You should keep a copy of these files in case you need to reload your program on a new computer.

We are happy to assist you in putting the files and offer this as a free service. If you will send us your logo and your signature scan, we will put these in the proper format and size and return them to you via email. The email address is info@manskersoftware.com.

Importing/Adding/Editing Athlete Information

This feature is available by clicking the Add/Edit Athlete button on the upper button bar. Click the Import Athlete Information on the next screen.

You can import athlete information from a text or Excel file or enter the athlete information manually.

If you import from a text file or Excel file, the following fields are eligible for import. Make sure that the first record of your import file is made up of field names. Don’t put spaces in field names.

Information eligibile for import

FirstName LastName Address City

State Zip Phone GradeLevel

DateofBirth Height Weight Gender

Once you have the import file, open the Contest Information screen and click the Add/Edit Athlete button. On the next screen, click the Import Athlete Information button. You will then be asked to select the file. Follow the instructions on the next screens. When matching fields, each of the drop-down boxes will contain all of your import fields. Select the correct field for each box. If you are not importing a field, leave it blank.

To add athlete information manually:

Click the Add/Edit Athlete button. Complete as much of the next screen as is appropriate for your needs. If you want to do rosters, for example, be sure to fill in the height and grade level blanks.

Building Rosters

Click the Rosters button on the lower button bar. On the Roster screen, choose the Sport, Season and Level for the roster you want to build. A list of available students is displayed in the center box. Click on a name from this box. You will be asked to verify that the student, sport, season and level are correct. If this information is correct, choose Yes and enter the roster information. lf the information is incorrect, click on No. As you add players to the roster, their names will be displayed in the right hand box. If you wish to edit roster information for a player, click on the name in the right hand box, and change the information. On the Edit screen, you will be offered the option of removing this player from the roster. Complete necessary eligibility information.

Moving all Athletes Up a Grade

The Move Everybody Up a Grade button is located on the Athlete Entry screen. When you click on this button, you will get a confirmation screen. If you choose to continue, all athletes in the program are advanced a grade level.

Entering Opponents

It’s important that you enter opponents before you begin entering contests. You can add opponents to the list at any time, but it’s easier if the opponent is already on the list.

From the Contest Information screen, click the Add/Edit Opponent button on the upper button bar. This takes you to the Opponent Entry form. Enter the appropriate school information for your opponents. (Make sure you enter , for example, “Jackson High School” instead of “Jackson”, as this name appears as part of the address on correspondence.) Each piece of information is used in other parts of the program. You may leave the Address 2 box blank and the Athletic Director's phone blank without affecting the reports in the program. All other blanks are required.

Entering Officials

Click the Add/Edit Official button on the upper button bar. As with opponents, officials cannot be assigned to contests until they are entered into the program.

Entering Contests

Single Opponent Contests

Use this option to enter any contest where there is only one opponent. Select a Sport by clicking the arrow at the right end of the box labeled Select a Sport, and click on the New Single Opponent Contest button. This pops up an entry screen. Complete the entries for your contest.

You can select an opponent for the contest by either clicking the down arrow next to the Opponent box and then clicking on an opponent from the list, or you can begin typing the opponent name and the box will go to the nearest match. When the proper opponent’s name appears in the box, press Enter.

The same is true for the contest level.

For the Contest Date box, you may either enter a date by typing it in, (Note that single digit months must be preceded by a "0", for example: 09/21/2009), or you may use the calendar icon to enter dates.

Location. Appropriate entries here are the name of your opponent's town or the name of your town. You can build a list of default locations under the Customize Program menu on the opening screen. If you plan to use the Practice portion of the program, you should create this default list.

Contest Time. Type in the time. Single digit hours must be preceded by a "0". For example 7:00 PM must be entered 07:00PM. The colon will be inserted automatically, and your game time will display as 7:00 PM. You can add a second game time for multilevel contests by typing the second game time in the box following the game time. If you don't enter a game time, TBA will appear on schedules.

Home/Away. If the game is at home, you can simply tab through this box. If the game is away, click on the down arrow, and then click on "Away". You may also choose TBA. Bear in mind that choosing TBA will prevent the game from appearing on either the Home or Away game reports.

Complete any bus information for the contest.

Tourneys or Meets

Click the New Tourney or Meet button to schedule events such as track meets, golf matches or tournaments. A tourney entry screen will pop up. Complete the details for the tourney. If it is a one day event, leave the End Date blank. Once you have entered the details, click the Select Teams for This Event button. If the event is a home event, select the invited schools. If it is an away event, select only the host school. You may also choose to enter individual games within the event and buses for the events.

Building Practice Schedules

With the correct sport selected, click the Practice button on the upper button bar. Complete information on the following screen.

Assigning Officials

To assign officials, you must have scheduled the contest for which they will be assigned and the official you want to assign must be part of your officials list. (Add/Edit Officials on the upper button bar.)

Click the game you want to highlight it. Click the Assign/Edit Officials button on the lower button bar. Click Add Official on the next screen. Complete the information for the official. Game times are indicated at the bottom of the screen. Check the appropriate boxes for the games the official will be working.

Changing Sports

To enter a contest for a different sport. Click on the down arrow next to the Select A Sport box and click on the desired sport from the list.

Reciprocal Contests

Click on the game you'd like to schedule a reciprocal contest for. Click the Schedule Reciprocal Contest button. A contest entry screen will pop up with the details of the corresponding date contest in place. Select the correct sports season and verify that the corresponding date is correct. Click Add Contest To Schedule.

Cloning or Extending Schedules

You may create entire schedules with a few mouse clicks or copy a schedule to another sport.

To clone or extend a schedule, select the sport at the top of the Contest Information screen. Click the appropriate season from the seasons box. (For an extended schedule, this must be the last season entered. For example, to extend the 2007-2008 season to the 2008-2009 season, make sure you’ve selected 2007-2008 and that no 2008-2009 season exists.) Click the Clone/Extend Displayed Schedule button. On the next screen, make the appropriate choice. Cloning a schedule makes an exact copy of the schedule and allows you to assign it to a different sport. You may select a different starting time. Extending the schedule creates a new season in the same sport. All contests are advanced to the same day of the week, the same week of the year for the following year. On the selection screen, you may choose to move all events up or back a week.

Game and Tournament Contracts

State versions vary as to the process for printing contracts. You can print contracts either by clicking the Game Contract button on the lower button bar or by selecting the Contracts menu at the top of the Contest Information screen, whichever is used for your state.

Transportation Request

Transportation request allows you to print a formal request for buses. You can print the displayed game, by date range or by season. You may also choose to print driver information or a brief version of the request.

Deleting a Contest.

You can delete a single contest by clicking on the contest and then clicking the Delete Selected Contest button.

You may also choose to delete an entire schedule. To do this, click the Delete Displayed Schedule button. This cannot be undone.

Exporting Information

Your program has the abiltiy to export certain information for a variety of uses. All Export options are available under the Export menu on the Contest Information screen.

The Opening Screen Menu

File

This menu choice allows you set a password for your program.

Customize Program

This menu allows you to enter contact information for your school as well as establish custom lists of sports, levels and seasons to reflect your unique program. These choices appear on drop-down lists throughout the program

Budget

This menu allows you to create budget categories, track vendors and individual purchases information. You can also print a budget summary. These forms tend to be pretty self-explanatory, so fill in the appropriate information for each. Remember that you will need budget categories and vendors completed before you move to purchases. Budget summary breaks down purchases into budget categories and gives you a printout of details and totals for each of the budget categories.

Income categories can also be entered.

Reminders

Allows you to print reminders to opponents and officials about upcoming events.

Contest Screen Menu

Athlete Status

This allows you to track certain pieces of information such as physical dates, gpa, district eligibility, etc.

Reports

Allows you to print a variety of reports. Select the report you want from the menu.

Tracking Athlete Awards

Awards tracking capabilities are available under the Awards menu on the opening screen. You can create a custom list of awards and then assign them to your athletes. You are able to compile an awards history for each athlete, print lists of awards for athletes and print awards certificates.

Tracking Inventory

Inventory tracking capabilities are available on the opening screen under the Inventory menu. You can track inventory items including distributed items such as uniforms and your other inventory items as well.

Stats

Baseball/Softball and Basketball stats are available for download from www.manskersoftware.com. These stats programs work in conjunction with your MES Athletic Director software.

Backing Up and Restoring Your Data

Considerations before you back up:

If your data file is located on a server and more than one user is able to access the program, it isn’t wise or necessary to back up your data. Server files are routinely backed up by your IT department. Please check with them to be sure that AthleticData.mdb is part of their regular backup set. It would probably be located in a shared folder called AD4.

If your program is installed only on one computer, it is very important that you back up your data regularly. When you want to back up, be sure that your AD software is closed. Go to your Start button and choose All Programs. Select MES Athletic Director and click the Backup Icon. If your backup is configured, just click the Start Backup button. The backup will close when the process is complete.

If you have not backed up your data before, please click Configuring the Backup

Technical Support

Technical Support is available from Mansker Software at (888) 334-8418 , on the Internet at www.ManskerSoftware.com, or by email at support@manskersoftware.com