Navigation:  Club's advanced options > Managing Australian masterpoints

Overview

Masterpointing of Australian events is routine in the scorer. When the event is scored you select the option "Masterpoint the event" on the first score-up screen and fill in the options for masterpointing when they appear. Reporting includes the masterpoint awards. Once an event is completed it will need to be "finalized"  before the masterpoints can be exported to the ABF masterpoint centre.

 

To produce the masterpoint files that may be sent to the ABF or masterpoint secretary use the [Export MPs] option. It is also possible for the ASE Scorer 8 to send the files via email automatically if the computer is connected to the internet. Often the local masterpoint secretary wishes to check the totals before being sent. The files produced may be audited as required before dispatch.

 

Creating the event

The first screen in the "New event" dialogue with the computer shows an option that is relevant to the production of masterpoints. This can be changed later and the default values are those normally required for local club events.

 

The option is in "Main details" and is called "masterpoint grade". The default value is "E Club event". When you masterpoint the event during the scoring, the initial values for awards are set based on this grade shown here. This means the person scoring the event will not need to make any decisions on the session awards.

 

Masterpointing the event

Where the "masterpoint grade" has been set correctly in the first screen of the new event (see above) then the values on this screen will be correct and no changes needed.

 

The "masterpoint awards" screen has many options but the director/scorer of the club events need only apply the simple rules using the following three options (with the default values shown).

 

Event level: "a Qualifying; other"

Masterpoint tournament grade: "E Club event"

Masterpoint type: "Green"

 

Then select [Recalculate]. The awards will be updated to reflect the ABF rules for such an event. While it is possible to change the awards manually it is not recommended. The ASE Scorer 8 will calculate the awards based on the ABF rules.

 

The option "Produce outright awards" should only be used in multi-session events and be [ticked] when the last session is scored. Ticking this option will invoke the automatic calculation of all awards. Again, changing these awards is not recommended. Use recalculate if needed restore the values.

 

Finalization of the event

When an event has been completed, the results are final and no more reporting is needed the event should be finalized. Once finalized, the event will be included in the list of events available for dispatch to the ABF.

 

A finalized event is also available for eclectic events, where the results of several events are combined to produce a new set of results for players rather than pairs. These are never masterpointed.

 

Producing masterpoint files

Masterpoint files can be produced using any or all finalized events. Typically most bridge clubs will produce masterpoint files for the ABF at the end of a month and usually only includes green point events. All such events are combined into one file.

 

Clubs do run red point events too and so produce red point files. These will require an authorization number. Gold point events are run independently of the clubs and the masterpoint dispatch is done by event or a collection of events at a single congress.

 

To produce masterpoint files in the ASE Scorer 8 select the option [System]/[Export MPs] from the main menu or [Club F3]/[3Advanced]/[Export MPs] from the main screen.

 

The first thing to do is select the collection of events you wish to work with. See [Options] and choose one or both of [Show exported events] and [Show non-exported events]. At the end of month you would normally select [Show non-exported events] and expect to produce a masterpoint file for all these events.

 

To produce masterpoint file(s) from the listed events choose the option [Export]/[All club events] from the screen menu. You will be presented with a dialogue showing the paths and files where the masterpoints will be written. All three types are shown, but normally only the green MP file will be produced. The gold points are written to the .gld file, the green to .grn and the red to .red.

 

The file name is constructed from the ABF club number and date. For example the masterpoint file D2120405.grn is a club file for club 2120 in quarter 4 year 2005 and contains green masterpoints. The date used is that shown as "Period end date" on this form, and typically is the last day of the month being processed. It is also possible to select one or more events out of the complete list. To select an event click on the left hand column where an indicator will appear like ?>.

 

That event can then be exported to a file using [Export]/[One selected event]. The file names of the export files is constructed from the quarter number the event was run and the three-character event identifier assigned by the ABF. For example Y4ABC.gld is an event MP file for the 4th quarter with identifier "ABC" and the masterpoints are gold. To change the identifier for the selected event before export use the [Event]/[Change] option. Enter the "ABF event ID" field and press [OK].

 

More than one event can be selected by holding down the [Ctrl] key while clicking on the needed events. After clicking all the required events (all selected events will now be marked with ? the left hand column) choose the [Export]/[All selected events] option. The file names will be the same as those generated by the [Export]/[All club events] option.

 

Any masterpoint files produced in this way can be viewed using the standard ABF MP file tools. The program MPFiles.exe is one such program. See that on the ASEComputing web site at http://www.asecomputing.com/Downloads/MPFiles.exe.

 

Auto-email of Masterpoint files

The ASE Scorer 8 allows you to automatically email the files to the ABF. See the [System]/[Internet] option from the main menu or [Club F3]/[3Advanced]/[Internet] option from the main screen. This option is also available from the Export MPs screen under [Options]/[Internet parameters]. If you do not want this option make sure that the "Automatically send masterpoint files" option is not ticked.

 

If you do use this option then this option should be ticked and the option "Send mail to host" should contain your SMTP email server address. Your Internet Service Provider supplies you that information, for example "mail.optusnet.com.au". When auto-sending red masterpoints to the ABF you will be asked for the authorization number(s) to include with the dispatch.