Overview of DataPrax LeaderBoard
Tweed Bridge Club monthly competitions are managed by the Dataprax LeaderBoard software. DataPrax LeaderBoard is a software application that interprets scores for players who have played in qualifying sessions and ranks those players over a twelve month period.
The software also facilitates the setting up of competitions where players may be drawn from the set of either ranked or unranked players. The DataPrax LeaderBoard software enables the governing body to define and declare the rules of play for the competition and how the competition will be scored. All results that have been determined by the software are encrypted using DataPrax’s xylophonic encryption process and are secure against tampering.

Running DataPrax LeaderBoard
DataPrax LeaderBoard needs to interface the scoring system that your club uses for all sessions of play. The LeaderBoard software is currently configured to interface with the Compscore 3 scoring system. If you need the DataPrax LeaderBoard software to interface with a different scoring system, please contact DataPrax via e-mail: dataPrax@tutanota.com to discuss your requirements with us.
DataPrax runs on a Microsoft Windows platform only. The installer configures a task that runs every time your scoring system computer is started. The LeaderBoard software accumulates the scores from any sessions of play that have completed since the last time the software was run and displays the up to date results. If you have a large screen you will be able to display the current scores for players to check their current position on the LeaderBoard. A full set of results is also uploaded to your link on the DataPrax LeaderBoard web site. Your club can link to this page so that members can keep abreast of their current position in all competitions that your club is running.
Additionally, the DataPrax LeaderBoard software analyses the scores for error conditions and prints out a log of errors to the c:\LeaderBoard\ErrorLog\ directory on the computer where you are running the software. Your club needs to establish a process whereby all scoring errors are detected and corrected to ensure that the results that you post for your competitions are accurate and reliable. Your process should cover error conditions that are reported by the DataPrax LeaderBoard software, error conditions that are not reported by the software and how any disputes over scoring issues will be resolved.
The installer for the DataPrax Leaderboard software will also place a shortcut icon on your desktop. Click on this shortcut to run the LeaderBoard software manually. The first time that you run the software, you will be asked to enter a password. This password is for the security administrator and so your club needs to restrict who gains access to the back end features of the DataPrax LeaderBoard software. The security administrator can create logons for competition managers and error analysts. Competition managers are the people who will be resposible for setting up the various competitions that your club will be running. Error anaylysts are the people who will be responsible for correcting any error conditions that arise during the scoring process.

Managing Competitions
The determination of a player’s overall ranking is automatically calculated annually by the DataPrax LeaderBoard software based upon all scores from qualifying sessions of play for the entire year preceding the first day of the current month. It is up to the governing body, however, to decide which sessions of play will provide scores that qualify towards the annual ranking of each player and what is the minimum number of those qualifying sessions that each player must complete to be awarded an accredited annual ranking.
The DataPrax LeaderBoard software enables the governing body to set up and run a range of competitions that may or may not require players to have achieved an accredited annual ranking. For each competition, the governing body must define the way the players are drawn for the competition, the details of the sessions that each player must complete to achieve scores that will qualify towards the final results for the competition, the minimum number of qualifying sessions that each player must complete to be considered a finalist in the competition and the starting and end dates of the competition. At the end of the competition, the Dataprax LeaderBoard software produces a report that declares the final position of each qualifying player in each division of the competition.
The DataPrax LeaderBoard software detects and reports upon a range of scoring errors but there are some types of scoring error that the software may not be able to detect. It is therefore encumbent upon the governing body for each competition to establish procedures whereby the errors that have been reported by the software are analysed and corrected by the designated officials who are in charge of that competition and that procedures are also established to detect and correct other scoring errors that the software is otherwise unable to detect.
The governing body must also establish a mechanism whereby disputes over the effectiveness of the scoring method can be settled.