Event Management

The Live Entry screen is the primary place to manually enter time data. It also serves as a review point for time entries that have been flagged by OpenSplitTime as faulty, meaning that they require human review before being posted for public view.

You will need to Enable Live Entry in order to access the Live Entry page.

You can reach the Live Entry page by selecting Live > Time Entry from the main menu.

For aid stations that have no data connectivity, the best way to report time entries is often by voice over ham radio or some similar mechanism. The timing crew may record the times using OST Remote and read them from the Review/Sync screen, or they may use paper and pencil and read the time entries the old fashioned way.

When an aid station calls to report times, follow this procedure to record an entry:

1. Select the correct station from the Aid Station dropdown at the top of the Live Entry screen
2. Tab to the Bib field and enter the bib number
3. Tab to the time field and enter the time or times. There will be one time field if you are recording "in" times only, and two fields if you are recording "in" and "out" times.
4. If the entry is a drop/stop, click Dropped Here
5. For Events that are monitoring pacers only: If the entry includes a pacer, click the "In" and/or "Out" pacer toggles, as appropriate
6. Click Add. The entry will appear in the Local Data Workspace.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for all times reported by the station.

The Live Entry screen is designed to be used exclusively with the keyboard, if the operator so chooses. This is the most efficient way to enter times. Use Tab and Shift-Tab to move between fields. Use the space bar to toggle the Dropped Here and Pacer boxes. Use Enter to activate the Add button.

As you enter data into the Live Entry screen, OpenSplitTime provides real-time feedback to help you evaluate the data.

If a bib is not found, a red "X" icon will appear next to the Bib field. If a bib is found but is associated with an Event that is not expected to be at the selected station, a yellow "?" icon will appear next to the Bib field.

If a time is questionable, a yellow "?" icon will appear next to the time. If a time is bad, a red "X" icon will appear next to the time. If a time is duplicated (meaning that a Split Time already exists for that bib at that station), a grey "!" icon will appear next to the time.

When you enter a bib number, OpenSplitTime will fetch all existing time data for that Entrant and display it in the upper right corner of the Live Entry screen. This allows you to quickly evaluate the Entrant's status and understand why a time may be flagged as bad. For example, if Bib #111 has dropped at Aid 3 and Aid 4 calls in a time entry for Bib #111, the time will always be flagged as "bad."

Times entered through the Live Entry screen are placed into the Local Data Workspace. Times in the Workspace are not saved to the database and will not be visible to the public. The Local Data Workspace provides an area in which time entries can be reviewed and checked for accuracy before being submitted to the database.

A time entry can be edited by clicking the blue pencil icon at the right side of the row.

A time entry can be discarded by clicking the red "X" icon at the right side of the row.

All time entries can be discarded at once by clicking the red Discard All button and confirming the action.

Submitting a time entry results in it being removed from the Local Data Workspace and saved as a Raw Time for recordkeeping purposes and as a Split Time for view by the public until they are submitted. A single time entry is submitted by clicking the green checkmark icon at the right side of the row.

Multiple time entries can be submitted to the database at once by clicking the green Submit All button.

Each time entry in the Local Data Workspace is either "clean" or "not clean." "Clean" entries are those that have a valid bib number, are not duplicates, and have times that OpenSplitTime does not consider to be faulty. Clean entries will have green checkmark icons next to the bib number and all related times.

Clicking Submit All will submit only those entries that are clean, but clicking the green checkmark icon next to a single time entry will submit that time entry whether or not it is clean.

Some time entries cannot be submitted using any method. For example, if the bib number does not exist in the Event Group, the time entry cannot be submitted even using its individual submit button. It must be edited to fix the bib number or discarded.

For example, say you have five time entries in your Local Data Workspace. Two are clean, one has a duplicate time, one has a faulty time, and one has an invalid bib number. You click Submit All. The two clean entries are submitted, and the other three entries remain in the Local Data Workspace.

You click the green checkmark next to the entry having the duplicate time. The entry is submitted and the new time overwrites the old time.

Next you click the green checkmark next to the entry with the faulty time. The entry is submitted. The related Entrant will now appear in the Admin > Problems list because one of her times is faulty.

You click the green checkmark next to the entry with the invalid bib number. The entry is not submitted because there is no way to create a Split Time for an invalid bib number. The entry remains in the Local Data Workspace. It can be removed only by discarding it or by correcting the bib number and then submitting it.

Time entries coming through OST Remote are always saved as Raw Times. If the entries are clean, they are automatically saved as Split Times for public view.

But when a time entry from OST Remote is not clean, either because the entry is a duplicate, the time is marked as bad, or the bib number is invalid, the Raw Time must be reviewed by a human before it can be saved as a Split Time. The Live Entry screen is the place where such Raw Times are reviewed.

When times are available for review, a message will appear in the upper right corner of the screen, and the blue Pull Times button will be enabled and will indicate the number of times available for review. Click Pull Times to bring in a batch of time entries for review. Times are pulled in batches of 50 at most.

Once you have pulled a batch of times, review them and determine whether they should be submitted as-is, edited to fix problems, or discarded. Review and analysis are covered in the Reviewing Raw Times section.