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Comprehensive software documentation is below, including download links, sample event files for learning & practice, and many helpful tips & tricks.


1. Introduction Last updated: 2023-07-13

Welcome to Muscleware Statistician!

Note

To skip right to downloading/installing Muscleware Statistician, see Section 2 below.

Just want to know what's new? Skip to Section 9 (Muscleware Statistician Revision Notes!)

Since its inception in 2016, Muscleware has been designed to streamline all technical processes of IFBB Professional League, National Physique Committee (NPC), NPC Worldwide and Canadian Physique Alliance (CPA) bodybuilding events. Muscleware is committed to being the most advanced and efficient system for online athlete registrations, ticket sales, payment processing, scoring, statistics, reporting and more.

Muscleware Statistician, along with all components of the Muscleware Software System, are exclusive to the IFBB Professional League, NPC, NPC Worldwide and CPA. Additionally, as of January 2021, we are proud to be the official software system of the NPC in the United States, and the CPA in Canada!

Disclaimer

Muscleware Statistician is free software, and its use is subject to the End User License Agreement (EULA). Please take a moment to review the EULA during software installation.

This software is protected by copyright law, as well as intellectual property laws and treaties.

Additionally, all Athlete information in screenshots in this document have been randomly generated. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Tip

This documentation has been written to go through the various features of Muscleware Statistician, in the order the features are used at a typical event, from Athlete Check-ins to Final Results. Unconventional Show Formats are also supported (after reviewing Sections 1 through 6, see Section 7.1 below for more information).

We recommend that Statisticians (also known as "Scorekeepers" / "Tabulators") review this documentation thoroughly, and also download and install Muscleware Statistician in advance of the event. Download information is provided in Section 2 below.

Muscleware also provides sample event files for learning and practice. For sample files, see the Note in Section 3 below.

1.1 Background

In 2018, Muscleware released the first version of Muscleware Statistician - a FREE desktop software product for Statisticians, as a value-add to our cloud-based Promoter solution. Muscleware Statistician is a tool Statisticians use to bridge the gap between the online data, show day documents, and the process of scoring and statistics.

Muscleware Statistician operates completely offline - no internet connection required! The software also boasts built-in score calculators, a ton of automatic data validations and checkpoints, and a powerful document generation engine that can create perfectly rendered vector PDF documents with the click of a button.

Thank you for learning about (and using) the Muscleware Statistician software. If you have any questions, or would like to book an online training session, please contact us.

1.2 System Requirements

Muscleware Statistician can be run on virtually any computer that runs Microsoft Windows, and will take full advantage of whatever hardware resources are available to it.

(Mac users - you can run Muscleware Statistician too! See the note below!)

In other words, a faster processor, more RAM, a solid-state hard drive, etc. will provide a better user experience, but there's nothing preventing the software from running on older, slower machines. Even a second-hand, refurbished laptop purchased for a couple of hundred dollars will likely be enough.

For the purposes of simply having an answer, here are the baseline system requirements for Windows 10:

Processor 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor
RAM 2 gigabytes (GB)
Hard Disk 32 gigabytes (GB)
Display Resolution 1024 x 768 (1920 x 1080 recommended)

Note to Mac Users

All Muscleware components are cross-platform web and/or mobile phone tools, except for Muscleware Statistician, which is installed on a computer. Muscleware Statistician has been developed for Microsoft Windows.

The decision to use the Windows platform was made for several reasons; PC Laptops are significantly more cost-effective than Mac laptops, and though personal adoption of Mac computers has been on the rise since the introduction of the iPhone, the business world remains dominated by Microsoft Windows.

Installing and using Muscleware Statistician on a Mac is made possible by using Parallels Desktop. (The "Home" / "Student" / entry level edition is sufficient!)

Once Parallels Desktop is installed, and Windows 10 is running, you may proceed with the Muscleware Statistician Download and Installation instructions in (Section 2 below), within Parallels.

A huge thank you to IFBB Professional League Pro Athlete and NPC Promoter and Statistician Becca Sizemore for working with us to get this fully tested at a large live event!

Disclaimer

Muscleware does not provide a software license, direct support, or assume any liability for ongoing maintenance of Parallels Desktop.

Parallels Desktop is a stable, widely used and inexpensive solution for running Windows applications on Mac computers. It is well documented and supported by Parallels Inc. We have tested even the least expensive, entry-level versions of Parallels Desktop (which, as of the time of writing this documentation can be purchased outright for approx. $80 USD), and used it at events with flawless function and performance.

However, Muscleware Inc. provides no guarantees or warranty, and assumes no liability for Muscleware Statistician running on Parallels Desktop (or any other virtualized/non-native Windows environment).

Ideally, between the Promotion team and the Stats team, someone has access to a Windows laptop. But, if only a Mac computer is available, we recommend purchasing/installing Parallels Desktop and setting up the software in advance of the event (not the day before the show!).

2. Installation

Installing Muscleware Statistician can be done quickly and easily. It's a single standard Windows installer - all it takes is a few clicks and you'll be up and running. Simply download and install!

2.1 Downloading

muscleware.com/download

The latest version of Muscleware Statistician can always be downloaded directly using the link above.

You may choose to "Run" the application (to install immediately), or "Save" the application to a folder on your computer so you can install / re-install at your convenience. If you choose to "Save" for later installation, please see the Note in Section 2.2 below regarding potential prerequisites.

2.2 Installing Muscleware Statistician

Installing Muscleware Statistician is as easy as selecting "Run" when prompted using the download link above, or double-clicking the saved installer file if "Save" was selected during download.

Note

Nearly all modern versions of Microsoft Windows come pre-installed with the .NET framework, which is a development platform for Windows software that most newly-created software applications use.

If you get a message during installation that the .NET framework needs to be installed, cancel the installer and exit the installation of Muscleware Statistician. Download/Install the .NET 3.5 Framework here, and then run the Muscleware Statistician installer again.

* Mac users Windows on Parallels must install the .NET Framework prior to installing Muscleware Statistician *

In addition, Muscleware Statistician uses the Google Chrome engine for rendering PDF files. Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world (and it's free!). So, you've likely already installed it, but if not, please ensure Google Chrome is installed as well.

3. Loading Event

When Online Registration is closed, Promoters receive their "Event Deliverables" link, which is a page of links for downloading all of the auto-generated resources for the event. All resources are explained in detail, and include Athlete check-in sheets, uploaded Posing Routine Music, other useful reports (for the Promoter's use), and the Muscleware Statistician "Event File" (which Promoters forward to Statisticians):



Event File (*.MWE)
The Event File contains all of the Athlete and Registration data collected online, as well as many other settings and data related to the event.

Note

Event Files are sent to Promoters once online registration is closed. As these files contain Athlete information, we are only able to release them to the Event Promoter, with whom we have a formal agreement (Privacy Policy, etc.).

The Event Promoter can forward this file to the Statistician. To obtain the Event File for your Event, contact the Promoter directly, after Online Registration is closed.

DOWNLOAD SAMPLE FILES FOR PRACTICE & LEARNING:

» Sample Event File 1 - No Scores Entered
» Sample Event File 2 - Prejudging Scores Entered
» Sample Event File 3 - All Scores Entered

As with most desktop software programs, you can launch Muscleware Statistician from the shortcut on the Desktop (or the Windows Start Menu), and then use the "File" menu, selecting "Open" to open your Event. Or, simply "double click" your Event file, and it will launch Muscleware Statistician and open your Event automatically.

Once opened, Muscleware Statistician will display the "Home" screen, showing the Event name, poster and date.



Important

The Muscleware Statistician software is Licensed for the Event. License information is coded within the Event file. Event files may be opened from the day Online Registration is closed until 1 day after the Event. After this, the Event file will "lock up" and not open.

This behavior is by design; the data is intended to be submitted back to the Organization when the show is complete. This data is used for archival purposes, athlete history, etc., and will drive future capabilities.

If the Promoter would like a copy of the data for their own purposes, simply use the "Export Registration Data" tool in the "File" menu to export the data from the Event file (prior to the expiry of the License).

License information can be viewed in the "Muscleware Event License Information" dialog, accessible in the "Help" menu under "License Information...".

If you need a License extension to Open/Edit an Event after the License has expired, contact us.


4. Options + Settings

It's very important, when beginning an Event, to ensure the options and settings of the Event are configured properly.

Muscleware Event Files are created with all kinds of intelligence built in. For instance, the file knows what organization the event has been sanctioned under (IFBB Professional League, NPC, NPC Worldwide, or CPA) and therefore what logo(s) to display on Created Documents.

Event files are also aware of their level of competition (Regional, Pro Qualifier, Pro), and defaults to different settings and provides different options for them. Pro Qualifying events default to 7 Judges, for example, while Regional events default to 5 Judges. International events enable NPC Worldwide Competitor Certificates to be generated, and more.

In any case, Judge count, Score Calculator settings, Class Running Order / Schedule, and various other settings can be set & changed by the Statistician, if necessary.

Tip

Carefully review the Event File Settings prior to Creating any Documents or entering any Scores. The settings described below affect the Class Schedule/Running Order of the Event, how Scores are Calculated, what information is included and/or visible on Documents, etc. Consult with the Head Judge and/or the Promoter if you are unsure of any of the Event settings.



The Muscleware Statistician Settings dialog can be accessed from the main toolbar (the "gear" icon), or via the "Settings" menu by selecting "Muscleware Statistician Settings...".

The Muscleware Statistician Settings dialog is organized into 5 "Tabs", which are pictured and described below:

4.1 General


As mentioned in Section 2.2, Muscleware Statistician uses the Google Chrome engine for rendering PDF documents. All Event documents created by Muscleware Statistician are created in PDF format, allowing perfect, crisp printing to provide the highest level of polish and professionalism.

In this area of the Settings dialog:

  1. If Google Chrome is installed at the default installation path, Muscleware Statistician will find it, and no action needs to be taken.

  2. If Google Chrome was installed in a custom directory, simply use the "Browse..." button to indicate where to find it.

  3. Finally, if Google Chrome is not installed at all, the "Download Chrome" button will open your default web browser to the Google Chrome download page.

Note

An internet connection will be required to download Google Chrome. We suggest getting Chrome installed in advance (if it's not installed already!).


The 'Document Output Path' is a location you can specify that Muscleware Statistician uses as a destination for all generated documents. Simply use the "Browse..." button to specify a folder for Muscleware Statistician to use, and any/all documents generated will be found in this folder.

If you do not specify a 'Documents Output Path', Muscleware Statistician will create a folder on your desktop called "Muscleware Documents" and use this folder for your documents.

4.2 Scoring & Score Calculators


The "Scoring & Score Calculators" settings are very important to specify prior to the show starting. These settings dictate how the built-in Score Calculators calculate scores:

  1. Number of Judges:
    If "5 Judges" is selected, the score calculator will present 5 distinct Judges you will later enter scorecard data for. Selecting "7 Judges" will augment the score calculator to present 7 distinct Judges you enter scores for. If you are not clear on which mode to use, ask the Promoter, or the Head Judge, how many Judges need to be included in score calculations.

    Note

    Test Judges are not included in this count. Only Judges who's Scores are counted toward final placings are included.


  2. Drop High/Low Scores:
    The "Drop High/Low Scores" is a fairly self-explanatory option (for those familiar with how bodybuilding contests are scored). If selected, Muscleware Statistician will disregard the highest and lowest score for each Athlete when calculating Class scores. If not selected, Muscleware Statistician will incorporate all Judges scores for each Athlete when calculating Class scores.

    Important

    Per the NPC, "Drop High/Low Scores" is ALWAYS to be used. As such, this option has been set and disabled.

    Additionally, as the Muscleware Statistician Settings dialog states, if "Scoring Calculator" options are changed *after* Score calculations have already been made (for any Classes), you must return to the scored Class(es), re-load the Score Calculator and click "Calculate" to re-calculate the Scores for the Class(es). This must be done prior to generating the Finals Documents.


  3. Create Scorecards for Classes with Only 1 Athlete:
    As the dialog explains, Muscleware Statistician can optionally not create Judge's Scorecards for classes with only 1 Athlete in them. Ask the Head Judge what they prefer, and use the "Create Scorecards for Classes with Only 1 Athlete" checkbox accordingly.

4.2.1 Test Judge Configuration

When there are Test Judges present at events, they are provided a set of Judge's Scorecards for the Prejudging portion of the show (see Section 5.5 below for information about Creating Prejudging Documents after Check-ins are complete), and their scorecard scores must be recorded via the software. This data is received and processed by the NPC after the event.

Each Test Judge must be defined in the Event File in order for the software to provide the necessary score entry fields for this data. Test Judge configuration can be found on the "Scoring & Score Calculators" tab of the "Settings" dialog:

To add a Test Judge, simply click the "Add" button, and type in the Test Judge's name. This can be repeated as many times as necessary to define all Test Judges:



When providing the Test Judges with their scorecards, be sure to let each Test Judge know what their Test Judge Number is, and instruct them to record this number on their scorecards. This will be used later, as the Test Judge scorecards are collected, to enter the Test Judge scores into the software.

For information on entering Test Judge scores, see Section 6.3.3 below.

4.3 Class Schedule Editor


The "Class Schedule Editor" settings are extremely important, as they dictate the order of classes on each and every document Muscleware Statistician generates, and even the order of classes in the Score Entry dialogs in the software itself.

When Promoters set up events with Muscleware, we ask that they provide their class list in the order the classes appear on stage for show day. This is because once online registration is closed, one of the many tasks performed is pre-numbering the Athletes sequentially, in the order of the show day schedule. Additionally, we confirm the Class Schedule / Running Order with Promoters again, prior to generating the Event Deliverables.

When Statisticians receive the Muscleware Event File, both the Athletes numbers and the Class Schedule is already in the order specified by the Promoter. However, things may need to change to reflect schedule changes. Schedule changes need to be made in Muscleware Statistician BEFORE any documents are generated.

Important

Check-ins can certainly be done prior to any necessary updates to the Class Schedule. But, Class Schedule updates must be done BEFORE "Create Documents" is used. See Section 5.5 for more information.


The Class Schedule Editor itself is relatively straightforward to use. Begin with the major Categories on the Left under "Category Order", and use the UP and DOWN arrows on the right to position them in the new order they need to be in.

Once the major Categories have been adjusted, click on each Category, and use the UP and DOWN arrows on the Right under "Class Order" to "fine tune", positioning the classes in the new order they need to be in within the Category.

Note

"Class Groups" (associated classes, for instance, A, B and C) must be positioned together and cannot be split up. This is why Class Groups appear as only one entry in the "Class Order" table (for example, "Open", rather than each individual class that is in the Open). This is a requirement of several software features, including the functions that determine what classes are grouped together for the purposes of overalls.


4.4 Awards & Routines


The "Awards & Routines" settings are almost entirely specific to the "MC Sheet" (see Section 6.5.2) that gets generated as part of the Finals Documents.

  1. The Awards table displays each class of the Event, in the order of the Event, and provides selections to indicate whether the Top 3 Athletes will be awarded, or the Top 5 Athletes. Muscleware Statistician defaults to Top 5, however the number of awards being presented will depend on several factors, not the least of which is how many awards the Promoter has available.

    These settings are important, because the "MC Sheet" indicates the Top 3 or 5 (per these selections) for the MC for Award Presentation. Incorrect settings will cause confusion for both the Expeditors, and the MC.

  2. As the dialog explains, the "MC Sheet" also contains icons that indicate whether or not the Athlete is performing a posing routine for the current class. Posing routines are performed by Athletes the first time they appear on stage in each Category at the Finals portion of the Event.

    By default, Muscleware Statistician assumes that only the Athletes in the Top 3/5 of the class (per the settings in the Awards table) perform posing routines. If the Head Judge or the Promoter decides that *ALL* Athletes will have an opportunity to perform their posing routine regardless of placing (which is common at smaller events, where there is more time available to have all Athletes perform routines), use the "All Athletes Perform Posing Routines in Applicable Categories" checkbox to ensure the "MC Sheet" to reflects this option.

    Important

    The above settings apply to the MC Sheet that is generated by Muscleware Statistician as a guide for the MC at the Finals portion of the Event. To prevent confusion and delays for the MC (who is under enough pressure already!) ensure these settings are correct for the Event prior to generating the Finals Documents.

    If you are unsure of how many athletes are being awarded in each class, or whether all athletes will perform routines (or only the Top 3/5), ask the Event Promoter.


  3. The "Show IFBB Pro Card Winner Switches" checkbox is used at events where IFBB Professional League Pro Cards are awarded.

    When enabled, the "IFBB Pro Card" column is added to the "Registrations" grid, and the switches within this column can be used to specify which Athletes / Entries are IFBB Pro Card Winners. (For more information, see Section 6.6.2 below).

    These indication switches are independent of the automatically calculated Overall Winner indicators (which are based on scores), because often there are multiple IFBB Pro Card recipients, or other reasons why IFBB Pro Card winners who are not necessarily also Overall winners.

    Whatever the case may be for the particular event, these switches are used to indicate the IFBB Pro Card winners for the purposes of the Final Results document, and data submission to the Organization.

4.5 Overrides


The "Overrides" settings are various toggles that can be used to override the default output & behavior of the software. These settings are important to review, prior to Creating the show-day Documents, to ensure that the documents display the correct information for the event.

  1. "Show Manual Overall Override Switches"
    Muscleware Statistician will only recognize overall groups/classes when there is more than 1 class winner of "like" classes to compete against each other.

    The "Show Manual Overall Override Switches" checkbox toggles override switches, which appear as a new column in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab. These switches can be used in any situation where it is necessary to force recognition of overall winners, even when Muscleware Statistician doesn't automatically do so.

    To provide a more complete explanation, consider the following two examples:

    1. Example 1:

      There is only one Women's Open Bodybuilding class in the event. The Promoter and/or Head Judge has decided that the winner of this class is to be awarded an Overall trophy, and be recognized as an Overall winner. Because there were not two classes (for instance, Lightweight and Heavyweight), we do not have two class winners to compare with each other to form what the software recognizes as an overall. The software will not create an overall Scorecard, a block to enter scores for the Women's Bodybuilding Overall, etc.

      Using the OVERALL OVERRIDE switch for the appropriate class entry for this winner in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab, will force the Final Results document (and the data that is submitted to the NPC) to indicate this athlete as the overall winner for Women's Bodybuilding.

    2. Example 2:

      The Promoter is defining a Masters Overall for athletes competing in different age groups.

      Muscleware Statistician will certainly recognize an overall for situations where there are multiple height or weight classes defined within an age group. For instance, if there is a Masters 35+ A, and a Masters 35+ B, the software will take the winner of each and create a Masters 35+ Overall.

      Though uncommon, some events wish to take the winner of Masters 35+, the winner of Masters 40+, and the winner of Masters 45+ (for instance) and put these athletes together in an overall class. Muscleware Statistician does not recognize this group as an overall, since it containins Athletes from different age groups.

      Again, using the OVERALL OVERRIDE switch for the appropriate class entry for the winner in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab will force the Final Results document (and the data that is submitted to the NPC) to indicate this athlete as an overall winner.


  2. Disable Selected Overalls
    Muscleware Statistician will create an overall scorecard, create score entry blocks in the Enter Scores dialogs and indicate overall classes on the MC Sheet, for ANY classes that the software determines can result in an overall group. This includes all situations where there are more than one True Novice, Novice, and/or Masters classes (Masters within the same age group - see 'Example 2' above).

    Certain overalls can be disabled, to prevent the software from recognizing them. These checkboxes allow True Novice, Novice, and/or Masters overalls to be disabled.

  3. "Event Date Override"
    The date of the event is programmed into the Event File, and is displayed on all documents the software creates. For events that span across multiple days, this setting can be used to override the date in the event file, so that subsequent days will have the correct date on Created Documents.

5. Athlete Check-ins

Muscleware starts with online registrations, and all of the data collected online (in addition to being used to create the Event file for the Statistician) is used to automatically generate the Athlete Check-in Sheets document. These sheets are printed by the Promoter and brought to Check-ins to be used throughout the Check-ins process.

Tip

We have put together a document that describes what to do when first receiving your Event Deliverables link, and also our recommended process/flow for the Athlete Check-in:

Muscleware Athlete Check-In Guide

5.1 Athlete Check-In Sheets


» Click here to see a Sample


Muscleware Check-in sheets are designed to be printed double-sided, resulting in a single page for each Athlete.

Note

If the Promoter has printed the Check-in sheets one-sided, references in this documentation to the "front side" of the sheet will be page 1, and "back side" will be page 2.

The front side of the Check-in sheet contains Athlete information, the Athlete's Organization Membership Number, and the Athlete Number (button/badge number) for the show.

The back side of the Check-in sheet is for use by Organization Executives/Contest Officials. It lists all available classes of the show (that were available for online registration on the entry form) and indicates which class(es) the athlete registered for. At the bottom, there is an area Officials use to record measured heights/weights, and sign off on the sheet.

Note

For non-English or multi-language events, the front side of the Check-in sheet is in the language the Athlete registered online with. The back side of the Check-in sheet is for use by Officials, and is always in English.

As previously mentioned, the Muscleware Event file already contains all of this information - the sheets are used purely for height/weight verification and adding walk-ups, allowing Statisticians to make any necessary adjustments to the data prior to creating the Prejudging documents (Competitor List & Schedule, Judge's Scorecards, Crossover Conflict Report and Expeditor Sheet).

The first order of business for Statisticians is to "process" these Check-ins sheets after Officials have made any necessary notes and signed off on them. All processing tasks are explained in detail in Section 5.2, Section 5.3 and Section 5.4.

Promoters/Officials may decide to pass these completed sheets to the Statistician immediately after processing the Athlete, or in batches when convenient, or in a single stack at the end of the Check-ins process. Regardless, the sheets need to be reviewed by the Statistician, and any necessary changes made to the Athlete/Class Entry data.

Tip

We recommend that Statisticians be present at Check-ins and receive completed sheets from Officials as soon as possible after the Athlete has been processed.

Additionally, this way, Statisticians will be able to create all of the Prejudging Documents with the click of a button, virtually as soon as the last Athlete is checked in.

Finally, if the Athlete signs the front-side of the Check-in sheet at the end of the process, this sheet can additionally be used as confirmation that the Athlete understands which class(es) they'll be competing in. This may save disputes during show day.

Important

The notes that Contest Officials make on the Athlete Check-in sheets may not always be 'crystal clear'...

As a Statistician, do not be afraid to approach the Official that processed the sheet and ask for additional clarification. If later there are problems with Athlete classes or any other information, the Statistician is ultimately responsible, even if it was the result of unclear/ambiguous notes on the Athlete Check-in sheet. So, if you have questions, ASK!

5.1.1 Online vs. On-Site

It's important to recognize the difference between an Athlete who registered online, and an Athlete who registered on-site. Athletes who registered online will have pre-filled out Check-in sheets. Their information may need to be edited (Membership number added, Classes added/switched, etc., described in Section 5.2) but they exist in the Event File already.

Athletes who registered on-site (aka "walk ups") will have hand-written Check-in sheets, and will not be in the Event File yet - the Statistician will need to add them, as described in Section 5.3.

5.1.2 Membership Numbers

Check-ins staff must ensure Athletes provide proof of Membership prior to being able to compete.

If the event is sanctioned by the Canadian Physique Alliance (CPA), for instance, Promoters are liable for membership fees for any Athletes who compete with expired memberships (or no membership at all). Though this is not technically a Statistician's responsibility, and Check-ins staff should have required the Athlete to present proof of current active membership (and made any necessary notes) prior to the Athlete being given their Check-in sheet, the Statistician is the final gatekeeper in this effort.

Athletes who have not provided an Organization Membership Number will be colored in Red in the "ATHLETES" tab in Muscleware Statistician (see Section 5.3 below). This is simply an indicator that we do not have this data for the Athlete, and, if it hasn't been written on the Check-in sheet manually by the Check-ins staff, the ball was dropped on the Membership check!

Note

Ensuring Athlete membership numbers are provided not only covers the Promoter in terms of potential penalties from the Organization post-show, this information also provides Muscleware with the unique data identifiers necessary to import contest results into the rapidly growing Athlete History Database. This comprehensive database will drive exciting future tools and capabilities.

So please, honor the Organization, and do us a favor too - make sure these numbers get entered!

5.2 Registrations (Class Entries)

Most Check-in tasks are done in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab of Muscleware Statistician. Registrations (aka Class Entries) represent Class(es) that Athletes have registered for.

The Registrations grid displays Registrations in "show class order" (the order the classes appear on stage), and then within those groups, they are sorted by Athlete Number (button/badge number).



Tip

When working with Registrations (or Athlete data), you can use the "Filter (Athlete #)" at the top-right to filter the grids to a particular Athlete Number. This becomes very convenient when processing Athlete Check-in sheets, as you can reduce your view to only the Athlete you are processing in the moment.

To clear your Athlete # Filter, simply use the "Remove" button to the right of the input box.

5.2.1 Adding Registration

Registrations can be added two ways:

  1. Right-clicking any Registration from the "REGISTRATIONS" tab and selecting "Add Registration..." (or using "Add Registration..." from the "Actions" menu while on the "REGISTRATIONS" tab) will display the "Add Registration" dialog with "<New Athlete>" chosen by default. If "<New Athlete>" remains selected, you are adding the first Registration for a new Athlete (an Athlete that does not yet exist in the Event file). For more information on adding new Athletes, see Section 5.3.1 below.



    To add a Registration (class entry) for an existing Athlete, either select the Athlete from the "Athlete" drop-down (which is sorted by Athlete Number), or click the "Load" button to auto-select the Athlete that corresponds to the currently selected Registration in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab.

  2. Right-clicking an Athlete from the "ATHLETES" tab and selecting "Add Registration..." (or using "Add Registration..." from the "Actions" menu while on the "ATHLETES" tab) will display the "Add Registration" dialog, with the selected Athlete chosen. Simply select the appropriate "Class" in the drop-down and click "Add".

Note

Muscleware Statistician will not allow an Athlete to be registered in the same Class more than once. For more information, see Section 5.3.1 below.

5.2.2 Editing Registration (Changing Class)

There are several reasons why an Athlete Registration may need to be changed. For instance, if the Athlete Registered for a particular class online that official height/weight measurements determine is not the correct class for them, or, the Athlete might simply have a change of mind, and decide that they'd rather compete in a Masters class, an Open class, or maybe a class of a different category altogether.

Regardless of the reason, switching the Registration (class) is very easy. Double-click the appropriate Registration in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab (or Right-click and select "Edit Registration"). This will display the "Edit Registration" dialog. Simply select the appropriate Class, and click "Update".



Tip

Remember that you can use the "Filter (Athlete #)" to immediately show only the Registrations/Athlete grids to only a particular Athlete Number. This small trick allows you to focus on a particular Athlete incredibly quickly, and make any necessary changes. For more information, see Section 5.2 above.

5.2.3 Removing Registration

Though uncommon (unless removing an Athlete from the Event entirely), situations may arise where Athletes need to have particular Registrations (Class entries) removed.

Note

In most situations, it is beyond the scope of the Statistician's responsibilities to ensure the Athlete receives any necessary refunds when this happens. For more information, see Section 5.3.1 below.

To remove a Registration, Right-click the Registration in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab and select "Remove Registration" (or, select the appropriate Registration and use "Remove Registration" from the "Actions" menu). A confirmation will be displayed before the Registration is removed.

Important

Removing Registrations can't be undone. If a Registration is removed by mistake, it will need to be re-added. For information on adding Registrations, See Section 5.2.1 above.

5.3 Athletes

The "ATHLETES" tab displays a grid of all the Athletes registered to compete in the Event.



Athletes, by default, are sorted by Last Name, though the sort orders can be adjusted by clicking the column headers. Relevant Athlete details are displayed, including Athlete Number, Age, Member Number (NPC/NPC Worldwide/CPA Number), and Phone Number. If the Event is open to International Athletes, Country is also displayed.

Additionally, there is an "ATHLETE NOTES" column, which is provided as an editable field for values such as officially measured height / weight. These notes are editable from the "Edit Athlete" dialog (see Section 5.3.2). Notes also appear in the "REGISTRATIONS" area, providing a reference for any necessary splitting/combining of classes.

Finally, there is a "DONE" column containing "YES"/"NO" switches, which provide a toggle for Statisticians to keep track of which Athletes/Athlete check-ins sheets have been processed. It is purely for keeping track of who has been seen, so that at the end of Check-ins, the ones who didn't show up can be removed. These switches have no additional functions in the software - they are simply 'flags' available for your convenience. To toggle the switches, simply click them!

"DONE" switches also appear in the "REGISTRATIONS" area, providing a reference for who has been checked in, regardless of which tab is being viewed.

5.3.1 Add New Athlete

The Athletes grid is automatically generated based on Registration data. An Athlete cannot exist without at least one Registration. In other words, to Add an Athlete, you add a Registration. (See Section 5.2.1 above).

In the "Add Registration" dialog, rather than selecting an Athlete from the "Athlete" drop-down (which would mean you are adding a Registration for the Athlete selected, which is an existing Athlete), select "<New Athlete>". Then you may proceed with entering the Athlete's details, as well as selecting the (first) class to add as a Registration.

Note

For the first Registration added for an Athlete, all available classes are displayed in the "Class" drop-down. Once the first Registration is added, Muscleware Statistician determines the gender of the Athlete, and subsequent add/edits will only show the classes relevant to the Athlete's gender, to present shorter lists.

When adding (or editing) Athletes, the following validation routines are executed:

  1. "Athlete Number" (button/badge number) is compared against existing data to ensure that the new Athlete Number isn't already assigned to an existing Athlete. New Athletes (Athletes who register on-site) should be assigned Athlete numbers by Check-ins staff, starting after the last assigned Athlete number for the Athletes who registered online.

    There are exceptions, such as the Promoter having buttons/badges that are numbered out of sequence. This is fine... Muscleware Statistician doesn't require Athlete Numbers to be sequential, but it does require them to be unique.

  2. Similar to "Athlete Number", "Member Number" must be unique. Muscleware Statistician will check for duplicates. If found, the software will additionally compare the home Country of the duplicate Athlete(s) and use industry logic to determine if these numbers should be allowed. Essentially, Muscleware Statistician recognizes which database the Member Number belongs to (NPC USA, NPC Worldwide, or CPA). Member Numbers must be unique within the same database.

  3. "First Name" / "Last Name" pairs are checked against existing Athletes. If a duplicate is found, a warning is displayed. Because it's conceivable that two Athletes at an Event may have the same name, you may choose to allow this entry. The warning serves as a moment to take pause in case some investigating is necessary. (Check-ins staff may have had the Athlete re-register on-site in error, for instance).

  4. Muscleware Statistician will not allow an Athlete to be registered in the same class more than once. If the new Registration is for an existing Athlete, this additional check is performed.

  5. "Notes" are used for any details to be displayed in the "REGISTRATIONS" area for reference. Typically, this will be the officially measured height and/or weight of the Athlete.

Note

It is beyond the scope of the Statistician's responsibilities to ensure new Athletes ("walk-ups" who register on-site) or existing Athletes (who add Registrations on-site) complete the appropriate financial transactions. Check-ins staff should be making the appropriate note(s) (including their initials) on Check-in sheets prior to the Athlete receiving their sheet.

At the same time, we are all on the same team - if you suspect the Check-ins sheet has been tampered with by the Athlete at some point during the Check-ins process, get confirmation from the Check-ins staff and/or the Official who processed the Athlete.

5.3.2 Edit Athlete Details

Right-clicking any Athlete in the "ATHLETES" tab and selecting "Edit Athlete" (or using "Edit Athlete" from the "Actions" menu) will display the "Edit Athlete" dialog for the selected Athlete. This dialog allows Statisticians to make any necessary Athlete Number, Member Number, Name and/or Age corrections necessary.



If the Event is open to International Athletes, a "Country" selector will also be displayed, allowing corrections to Athlete Country if necessary.

Also, the "Notes" field may be used for any details to be displayed in the "REGISTRATIONS" area for reference. As mentioned in Section 5.3.1, typically, this information will be the officially measured height and/or weight of the Athlete.

Note

All of the same validation routines that run when Adding New Athletes are also run when editing Athlete data. For more information, see Section 5.3.1 above.

5.3.3 Remove Athlete

Athletes can be removed two ways:

  1. If all Registration(s) for a given Athlete are removed, the Athlete is effectively removed.

  2. Right-clicking an Athlete in the "ATHLETES" tab and selecting "Remove Athlete" (or using "Remove Athlete" from the "Actions" menu) and selecting "Remove Athlete", is essentially a shortcut that removes all of the selected Athlete's Registration(s), thereby removing the Athlete.

Tip

We suggest using the "ATHLETES" tab to remove athletes, as this will ensure that no Registrations are missed. If you opt to use the "REGISTRATIONS" tab, you can use the "Filter (Athlete #)" at the top-right to double check the Athlete Number of the removed Athlete no longer exists.

Important

There is no "undo" when removing Athletes. If an Athlete is removed by mistake, or for any reason needs to be re-added, they will need to be added just as walk-ups are added. For information on adding Athletes, see Section 5.3.1 above.

5.4 Modifying Event Classes

Though a slightly more advanced feature, Muscleware Statistician provides Statisticians tools to define new Classes, which in turn allows Statisticians to split or combine existing classes as well.

Important

Defining new classes, splitting and/or combining classes is not a judgement call to be made by Statisticians. Only use these features if instructed by Organization Officials.

For instance, if Officials decide that the final number of Bikini Athletes necessitate 4 classes, even though there were only 3 classes defined by the Promoter for online registration, the Statistician can add a "Class D", and shuffle the Registrations around accordingly. The "COUNT" column reports the current number of Athletes in each and every class of the Event.

Disclaimer

If modifying Event Classes is necessary, Statisticians must be aware of National Physique Committee Rules & Regulations in terms of height/weight requirements. In most cases, adding another class to an existing category shifts the ranges of all classes within the category.

For example, 3 Bikini classes (A, B, C) have defined height minimums and maximums. If a 4th class is added (A, B, C, D), this changes the min/max height requirements of ALL of A, B, C and D. So, existing Athletes would likely need to be shuffled around to satisfy the new ranges.

This is not a problem of course, since the measured height/weight is written on the Check-in sheet by the Official. And, if the "Notes" field was used while processing Athletes at Check-ins, all heights & weights will be available for reference in the software. See Section 5.4.3 for the official NPC-Defined Class Breakdowns. With this information, Registrations can be moved around with ease. For information about how to edit Registrations (switch Classes), see Section 5.2.2 above.

Finally, the NAME given to the newly added class(es) is very important. Muscleware Statistician uses a special algorithm to determine what groups of classes result in overalls. Before modifying the Event Classes, please be sure to read Section 5.4.1 carefully.


5.4.1 Defining Additional Classes

To Add a new Event Class, Right-click any existing Class in the Classes grid, and select "Add Class..." (or while in the "CLASSES" tab, use "Add Class..." from the "Actions" menu). This will display the "Add Class" dialog.



  1. Select the appropriate Category using the "Category" drop-down.

  2. Give the new Class the logical name (for instance, "Novice B", "Class D", "Masters C", etc.)

    Note

    As the dialog states, the name you specify for the class will be used later in the way Muscleware Statistician determines how to build the Overall Scorecards, the Overall Score Entry dialog / calculators, and the Final Results documents. Use the existing class names as an indication of what your newly defined class should be named - this should make it obvious.

    Ultimately, it's all about the suffix. In non-bodybuilding categories, use letters (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, etc.). For Bodybuilding, use any of the properly named weight classes exactly (Bantamweight, Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Heavyweight, Super Heavyweight).


  3. Select from the "Insert After" drop-down to indicate when (in the order of the category classes) this class will be on stage.

5.4.2 Splitting + Combining Classes

Define new Class(es) as required to satisfy the necessary splitting of Classes. When finished, return to the "REGISTRATIONS" tab, and Edit the Registrations as needed.

Combining classes can be done via the "REGISTRATIONS" tab, by simply 'shuffling' the Athletes into the desired remaining classes, emptying out the classes that are no longer necessary (the software simply ignores empty classes).

Note

There are options for Deleting Classes, but this is very restricted; Classes defined by the Promoter's original specifications for the online registration form cannot be deleted, and only Statistician-defined classes with no current Registrations existing for the Class can be deleted.

Don't worry about Classes existing for which there are no longer any Registrations; You can safely ignore them. They aren't hurting anything - they don't show up in generated documents, Score Entry dialogs, Score Calculators, etc.

Tip

After splitting and/or combining Classes, you can use the Registrations grid (or the "Enter Prejudging Scores" dialog - see Section 6.1 below) to double-check your edits.

5.4.3 NPC-Defined Class Breakdowns

The NPC-Defined Class Height/Weight Breakdowns are provided below for reference. Please be advised that the official resource for this information is the NPC News Online website. The charts below are provided in case Statisticians do not have an internet connection to access the NPC News Online website at Check-ins.

Muscleware strives to always have this information up to date, but again, please be advised that in the case of differences between this information and the official breakdowns on NPC News Online, the NPC News Online charts supersede the information below.


Men's Bodybuilding  

Men's Classic Physique  

Men's Physique  

Women's Fitness  

Women's Bodybuilding  

Women's Physique  

Women's Figure  

Women's Wellness  

Women's Bikini  

5.5 Creating Prejudging Documents

Once all of the Athlete Check-ins sheets have been processed, it's time to create the Prejudging Documents to be printed for use at the Event. To create the Prejudging Documents, click "Create Documents" from the main toolbar (or use "Create Documents" from the "Actions" menu).



By default, all Event Categories are selected, which means that the documents will include all Categories. If you need to create documents for only some Categories (for instance, for split-shows) de-select the undesired Categor(y/ies). For more information on how to do split-shows and use other advanced operating modes, see Section 7 below.

Ensure "Prejudging Documents" is selected, and click "Create Documents". Muscleware Statistician will create the Prejudging Documents in PDF format for printing. Documents will be created in the 'Documents Output Path', as defined in the "Settings" dialog (see Section 4 above).

Below is a description of each of the Prejudging Documents, how many copies to print (typically), and what to do with them!

Note

All documents created by Muscleware Statistician will include appropriate Organization logos. These logo settings are not editable by Statisticians, as they are defined by the sanctioning body of the Event. Logo(s) may include IFBB Professional League, National Physique Committee (NPC), NPC Worldwide and/or Canadian Physique Alliance (CPA).

Tip

Depending on the printer you have available to you, documents may take time to print. There may be a 'life hack' here, depending on the Event Venue/Hotel...

Sometimes Venues/Hotels have business centers with commercial printers available. Simply copy the documents generated by Muscleware Statistician on to a USB stick - they are all PDFs, so they can be printed from any computer.

Additionally, as there may be a cost to use printers in business centers, sometimes you can simply print 1 copy of each document, and ask the front desk to make photocopies for you. Shockingly, many Venues/Hotels are happy to make lots of photocopies for you quickly (sometimes at no cost)!

5.5.1 Competitor List & Schedule


» Click here to see a Full Sample


The Competitor List & Schedule report is a list of all Classes & Athletes, grouped in Classes. Classes are displayed in show order (the order of the Event), and Athletes are in Numerical order within Classes.

Athlete names in (parenthesis) are simply indications that this Athlete has appeared on stage in this Category already. Judges using this report to make notes during the show can use these to avoid making notes more than once per Athlete.

There is no sensitive information on this document, and typically it's posted in numerous locations. Judges, the MC, official photographer and more all may want copies, and often this document is posted backstage for Athletes to follow along as well. Printing/Photocopying 10-15 copies of this document is not out of the ordinary.

5.5.2 Expeditor Sheet


» Click here to see a Full Sample


The Expeditors need slightly different information than the other roles at the Event; The Competitor list & Schedule certainly shows all Classes in the order of the Event, and within each Class, the numerical order of Athletes. But, in addition to this information, the Expeditors also need to know each Athlete's schedule for the day, so they know when to keep Athletes close by when they exit the stage.

Tip

If the Expeditor(s) have not worked an Event run on Muscleware before, provide this document to them in advance of the Prejudging portion of the Event. That way, they will have an opportunity to read and absorb the information on the first page, which essentially explains the document and describes how to use it. Since the document can be created in seconds right after Check-ins, it can be provided to Expeditor(s) long before the show starts.

As with all Muscleware Statistician generated documents, this document is created in show order. Each class has a "block", and each "block" contains the Athletes in the Class.

The Expeditor Sheet is formatted differently than the Competitor List and/or Placings documents, in that it indicates each Athletes' entire schedule for the event, regardless of how many Categories/Classes they are competing in.

To the right of the Athlete's name, there is notation that indicates the entire schedule for this Athlete - for the whole event. Categories are abbreviated (for instance, Men's Bodybuilding is "MBB", Women's Physique is "WPD", etc.). Class names are also abbreviated. The Current Class is indicated in Bold and Underlined text; this functions as a "You Are Here" indication! When the last class listed for the Athlete is Bold and Underlined, this is their last class of the Event.

Categories (including the Classes within them) are surrounded by (Parenthesis) and separated by commas.
If a large asterisk appears to the left of the Athlete's name, this Athlete has not been seen (presented) yet, for the current Category - in other words, this is the first time this Athlete is being seen on stage. This may mean different things for different events, depending on how they are being run. For instance, this is an indication that this Athlete, for this class, should be presented on stage, whereas they may not be in additional class(es) within the same category.

5.5.3 Judge's Scorecards


» Click here to see a Full Sample


The Judge's Scorecards are created for each Class, in show order, and designed to be cut down the middle (two scorecards per page). There are two score columns ("Comp #" and "Placing"), each with Athlete Numbers in numerical order in the "Comp #" column.

There are 30 available spots for Athlete Numbers (15 per side), which is sufficient for most Classes. If the number of Athletes in the Class exceeds 30 however (more common at very large Pro-Qualifiers for instance), additional Scorecard(s) will be created with "page X of Y" at the bottom of each of the Scorecards (e.g. "Page 1 of 2", "Page 2 of 2", etc.).

Judges' Scorecards are intended to be printed (one complete set for each Judge), and additional set(s) can be printed for test Judges if necessary. After printing, cut down the vertical center (as indicated by the "cut line") and create a stack of scorecards for each Judge in the order the cards are generated. This will ensure they are in order for the Judges.

Note

If specified in the settings, a Scorecard may not be generated if there is only 1 Athlete in the class. For more information, see Section 4.2.

Tip

If there are any non-official / non-standard Classes (classes that are not defined by the NPC) that Promoters include in their Events (subject to approval by the Organization, of course) and request scorecards for, a "Manual Scorecard Template" can be exported from the "File" menu as a Microsoft Excel document.

Muscleware Statistician will not provide Score Calculators, Score Entry, or include these "Classes" in generated documents of course (so as not to clutter official documents with "just for fun" Categories/Classes), but the "Manual Scorecard Template" allows scorecards to be created manually that use the same logos, format and layout as official scorecards.

5.5.4 Crossover Conflict Report


» Click here to see a Full Sample


The Crossover Conflict Report is a special document Judges can use to ensure their scores are free of logical errors / conflicts when two or more Athletes appear in multiple Classes together.

There are a few different ways this document can be used;

As the "Class #1" Class(es) are Judged, Judges can record the placings they have specified for the indicated Athlete(s). Then, when "Class #2" Classes are Judged, Judges can ensure that the placings they specify for "Class #2" are in the same order as the placings they have specified for "Class #1" (regardless of the actual placing numbers).

Tip

If the Statistician re-creates this document after Prejudging (after all of the scores have been entered), Muscleware Statistician will auto-fill the document with the final class scores, and indicate any conflicts / "flip-flops", providing an automatic conflict detection document.

» Click here to see a Full Sample


Finally, some Head Judges don't track crossover conflicts at all, taking the position that time passes and bodies change; each class is Judged with a "clean slate". Muscleware does not make the rules - we just make the tools; As such, this document is available as a tool, if the Judges opt to use it.

Important

Encourage the Judges to use this document. This sheet protects them (and in turn, the Organization) from situations where the Judging might not make sense (potentially upsetting Athletes).

Judges are human beings, and it's very easy (especially with many Athletes/Classes) for oversights/conflicts with Athlete Crossovers to happen. Remember that scores and/or placings are never to be decided by the Statistician - as a Statistician, never put yourself in a position where you're modifying the Judge's scores to "fix" logic.

6. Show Day Tasks

On show day, Statisticians arrange Prejudging Documents for the Judges, and get themselves and their laptops set up at the end of the Judge's table. Then, they wait for the show to begin, and to be handed Scorecards for processing / calculating final scores.

Note

In theory, most of the work of the Statistician is done at this point. Show day is just a matter of entering/calculating scores, and creating the Finals Documents after Prejudging.

In real life, stuff happens...

Athletes may have "prep brain" and suddenly decide they wish to enter additional classes or switch classes (pending payment to/approval of Promoters). Or, Officials may have made mistakes on Check-ins sheets that weren't caught the day before, or any number of other wonderful human errors.

If these kinds of things happen (and the Head Judge approves changes to be made), don't panic! If anything needs to be changed after all of the Prejudging Documents have been printed, though annoying, it's not the end of the world. All you need to keep in mind is that for you (as the Statistician using Muscleware Statistician) the change(s) can be applied in a few clicks and your interface is updated instantly. But for the Judges, MCs, Expeditors, etc., they are all working off of printed documents, and need to be informed of any changes so they can make notes on their papers to reflect the updated information.

So, for instance, if for whatever reason an Athlete eats some carbs and suddenly decides they need to be switched from one Class to another, right as the show is starting (pending Promoter/Head Judge approval), you must:

  1. Update the "Registrations" in Muscleware Statistician appropriately. This will immediately update your Score Entry dialog, Score Calculators - everything.

  2. Inform the Judges that they must make the change(s) manually on their Scorecards (cross out the athlete from the previous Class Scorecard, and write in the Athlete's Number on the new Class Scorecard). Alternatively, if the show hasn't started yet, quickly make these adjustments for the Judges.

  3. Inform the Backstage staff, Expeditors and MC of the change, so they can make the appropriate note(s) on their sheets.

Disclaimer

Apt / tech savvy readers will wonder if bodybuilding shows could ever be an entirely paperless, collaborative, synchronized experience.

Yes! It is absolutely possible for Athletes, Judges, MCs, Backstage Staff, Expeditors, and even DJs to share a single, live database, and interact with it directly from tablets (or their own mobile phones). In fact, this is on the Muscleware development roadmap. And all of this while still not requiring an internet connection at the venue (yes, we can do that!)

As more and more roles get familiar with Muscleware, and technology in general, we will be introducing increasingly more advanced components.

Our industry is very large, with many people involved, all at various levels of comfort with technology. It's a big machine with many moving parts. This process needs to be done gradually, at a pace that doesn't leave anyone behind.

6.1 Scoring Prejudging

To display the Score Entry dialog for Prejudging Scores, use the "Enter Prejudging Scores" button in the main toolbar (or selecting "Enter Prejudging Scores..." from the "Actions" menu).

Muscleware Statistician builds and displays the "Enter Scores" dialog with respect to the current Athlete and Registration data. To match the Competitor List (and Scorecards), each Class "block" is created and displayed in show order, and contains Athletes in numerical order within it.



The "Score" entry boxes are available for the Statistician to enter values directly, or make any modifications per Head Judge instructions. Prior to the introduction of the Score Calculators, Statisticians would calculate the Scores on their own, and use the "Score" entry boxes to enter them.

This is no longer necessary, as Muscleware Statistician includes built-in Score Calculators! See Section 6.3 below for more information.

Tip

We advise Statisticians to use the built-in Score Calculators. Not only does this simplify the process, it also ensures Scores are validated and calculated properly.

Additionally, using the built-in Score Calculators allows the software to capture the individual scorecard scores, which are used in the Head Judge's Report. See Section 6.5.1 for more information.



Scores in the "Score" entry boxes (on the right) are subject to 3 Score validations:

  1. Scores which have not been specified yet appear with a Light Red background.

  2. Depending on the 'Score Calculator Mode' options configured in the Muscleware Statistician Settings dialog (see Section 4 above), Muscleware Statistician understands what the minimum and maximum possible Score values can be. As such, values outside of this range are corrected automatically. (The only exception being "Special" Score Codes. See Section 6.2 below for more information).

  3. Duplicate Scores (Ties) are indicated with a Dark Red background. In most cases, ties are broken automatically with the Score Calculators. For information about breaking ties, see Section 6.3.2 below.

When Scores are entered / adjusted in the "Enter Scores" dialog, click the "Save" button to save the Scores.

Tip

Save your work! Batteries die, computers crash, life happens. Use the "Save" button after Scoring each Class!

6.2 "Special" Score Codes

Muscleware Statistician has a couple of "Special" Score Codes that Statisticians can use in place of Scores (in the main "Enter Scores" dialog) to indicate special cases. These Codes need to be entered before the Score Calculator is opened, to remove the associated Athlete(s) from the Score Calculator's calculations.

999 Athlete is a "No Show". This Athlete will not be included in the process of Calculating Scores with the Score Calculator, and will appear at the bottom of Final Results (last place) with a placing and Score of "NS".
888 Athlete has been "Disqualified". As with "No Show", Athlete will not be included in calculations, and will appear at the bottom of Final Results (last place) with a placing and Score of "DQ".

6.3 Score Calculators

At the top-right of each Class block in the "Enter Scores" dialog, there is a "Score Calculator" button. When clicked, the Score Calculator for the current Class is displayed, and built to match the Judge's Scorecards.



Using the settings specified in the 'Score Calculator Mode' options configured in the Muscleware Statistician Settings dialog (see Section 4 above), Muscleware Statistician creates individual Score Entry columns for each Judge's Scorecard.

As you can expect, simply enter the Scores in the Calculator as they appear on the Judge's Scorecards.

Scores entered are subject to automatic live validation rules (see Section 6.3.1 below), including detecting scores that are out of range (incontiguous), and duplicate scores, both of which will be indicated by a Dark Red background as the scores are entered.

Important

If any Registrations were modified after the printing of the Judge's Scorecards (as described in Section 6 above), use caution when entering the Scorecard values. The Score Calculators will be in Athlete Number order, whereas anything that may have been manually written on the Judge's Scorecard might not necessarily be in Numerical order (they will likely be at the bottom of the originally printed numbers).

When finished, click "Calculate" to have Muscleware Statistician calculate the Class Scores. If the entered Scores pass all of the validation checks the Calculator performs (see Section 6.3.1 below), calculated Scores will appear in the "Score" column on the right. Then, click "Submit" to copy the Calculated Scores back to the main "Enter Scores" dialog.

Tip

Click "Save" on the main "Enter Scores" dialog to save these values in the Event File.

6.3.1 Score Validation

In order for Scores to be calculated, Muscleware Statistician performs the following validation checks on the Scores entered:

  1. Firstly, all Scores must be entered. If Scores are missing, a notification will be displayed that reports which Athlete(s) have incomplete Scores.

  2. For each Judge, Scores must be unique - duplicate Scores will be caught, and a notification will be displayed that indicates which Judge's Scores contain duplicates. The only exception to this would be for classes with more than 15 Athletes, where multiple 16th place entries are understood not to be errors.

  3. For each Judge, Scores must be sequential. If there are 3 athletes, possible scores are 1, 2 and 3. If there are 4 Athletes, 1, 2, 3 and 4. etc.

  4. For each Judge, Scores must be contiguous. If there are 3 athletes, an entered Score of 4 or 5 will be caught, and a notification will be displayed that reports which Judge's Scores are Incontiguous.

As mentioned in Section 6.3, if the entered Scores pass all of the above validation checks, calculated Score values will appear in the "Score" column on the right.

6.3.2 Breaking Ties

When Ties are detected, Muscleware Statistician invokes the automatic tie breaker tool.

The tie breaker displays the Athletes involved in the tie, and indicates each Judge's score that contributed to the tie, in addition to their relative placing, with respect to the other members of the tie.



Using the relative placings, the software breaks the tie, and indicates the necessary score adjustments to do so. After review, the Statistician may either click "Cancel" to exit the automatic tie breaker and adjust the original scores as necessary (per Head Judge direction), or click "Accept" to have the software make the necessary/indicated adjustment(s), and complete the calculation.


Note

The automatic tie breaker tool runs in a loop, breaking any ties it finds. In other words, even if there are multiple ties, or new ties are manufactured by previous tie breaks/adjustments, the tool will loop and break the subsequent tie(s). The tool will continue to loop until all ties are broken.

In extremely rare cases of 3-way or 4-way ties, and where these ties cannot be broken mathematically, a dialog will be displayed that reports that the automatic tie breaker cannot break the tie, and the scores will need to be reviewed by the Head Judge.

6.3.3 Entering Test Judge Scores

When Test Judges have been defined (see Section 4.2.1 above for Test Judge Configuration), an additional button will appear at the bottom-left corner of all Prejudging Score Calculators labelled "Test Judge Scores":



This button will initially be 'blinking' an orange color, indicating that Test Judge scores have not yet been entered for the current class. Clicking this button will display a dialog for entering in each Test Judge's scorecard scores:


Note

Test Judge Scores are not rigorously checked for logic inconsistencies as Official Judge's Scores are. The software will accept the data it is provided, and not offer any hints or correction suggestions. This is by design, as after all, this data is being evaluated.


Once all Test Judge Scores have been entered, simply click "Save". The Test Judge score entry dialog will close, and the "Test Judge Scores" button on the Score Calculator will no longer blink the orange color.

6.4 Placings Preview

Depending on the format of the Event (for instance, in "One-Show" a.k.a "COVID" format, where awards are presented immediately after Judging is completed), sometimes the Statistician needs to report the placings of a given Class immediately after calculating the Scores.

For this, there is a "Placings Preview" button at the top-left of each Class block in the "Enter Scores" dialog.



As long as all Scores are entered, and there are no ties, the "Placings Preview" dialog will be shown, with the Athletes placings.

Tip

The "Copy" button at the lower left will copy this information to your Windows Clipboard in CSV format. You can "paste" it anywhere (for quick printing, for instance).

Additionally, the "Export for Print" button will immediately create a PDF of the results, to be printed.

In reality, often in "One-Show" formats, its fastest to simply have the Head Judge announce the placings by viewing your computer screen, or text messaging a photo of the "Placings Preview" to the MC for Award presentation!

6.5 Generating Finals Documents

Once all Prejudging scores are entered, Muscleware Statistician will enable the "Finals Documents" option in the "Create Documents" dialog.


Note

If the Event is operating under a "split show" format, Categories for which all Prejudging scores have been entered can remain "checked" in the top section of the "Create Documents" dialog, while Categories that have yet to be Judged can be "unchecked".

In other words, as long as all Prejudging scores have been entered for the "checked" categories, the "Finals Documents" option will be enabled for you to create the Finals Documents. For more information, see Section 7.1 below.


Below is a description of each of the Finals Documents, how many copies to print, and what to do with them!

Tip

For general notes on document logos, and tips for printing documents efficiently (and economically), see Section 5.5 above.

6.5.1 Head Judge's Report


» Click here to see a Full Sample


The Head Judge's Report is designed for the eyes of, and for use by the Head Judge only.

Underneath the report title, the Muscleware Statistician Score Calculator settings are displayed, including the number of Judges for the event, and whether the 'Drop High/Low Scores' option is set for the Calculators (for more information see Section 4 above).

This document is similar to the Competitor List of the Prejudging Documents in how it is grouped (Class "blocks" are in show order, and Crossover abbreviations are included). The Head Judge's Report, however, includes all of the Prejudging Scorecard Scores for all Judges on the right side. Additionally, the total calculated Class Score is displayed in the last column.

Important

This document is for the Head Judge's eyes only. Do not allow this to be posted anywhere Athletes may see it, or given to anyone who may expose this information to Athletes, spectators, or any other unauthorized personnel.

6.5.2 MC Sheet


» Click here to see a Full Sample


The MC's job (though experienced MC's make it look very easy) can be quite stressful, especially when they have to work from several disjointed documents they must flip between to search for information. As such, Muscleware Statistician creates the MC Sheet specifically for the MC, and provides everything they need for presentations and awards, all in one report.

Tip

If the MC has not worked an Event run on Muscleware before, provide this document to them in advance of the Finals portion of the Event. That way, they will have an opportunity to read and absorb the information on the first page, which essentially explains the document and describes how to use it - it contains all of the information below.

Important

This document includes Athlete placing information and is for MC eyes only. Advise the MC that they must not show anyone this document that may expose this information to Athletes or spectators. Until the end of the Event, this document is as confidential as the Head Judge's Report.


As with all Muscleware Statistician generated documents, this document is created in show order. Each class has a "block", and each "block" contains the Athletes in the Class.

The MC Sheet is formatted differently than the Competitor List and/or Placings documents, in that Class blocks are split into Left and Right sides.

The Left side is intended to be used for presentations at the Finals portion of the Event. Athletes are listed in numerical order by button/badge number (as they would be presented). There are 3 notations to be aware of:
If a trophy icon appears to the left of the Athlete's name, this Athlete is in the top 3 or 5 (depending on the "Awards & Routines" settings. See Section 4.3 above).

Depending on how many Athletes are in the Event (and how much time is available for the Finals portion of the Event), the Promoter and/or Judges may decide that Athletes in the top 3/5 do not need to be presented at Finals, as they may just present the non-top 3/5 Athletes and move right in to a posedown for the top 3/5, followed by Awards Presentation.

If this is the case (and any other cases where it may be useful to know in advance who's getting awards), the MC will not need to present the Athletes with the trophy icon to the left of their name.
If a music note icon appears to the right of the Athlete's name, this Athlete has not yet performed a routine for the current Category and will need to do so.

Conversely, if the Athlete has already performed their posing routine for the current Category, a music note icon will not appear to the right of their name.

By default, only Athletes in the top 3/5 perform posing routines. This can be adjusted in the "Awards & Routines" settings. See Section 4.3 above).
(<Name>) If the Athlete has already appeared on stage in any capacity for the current category, their name will be in parentheses (round brackets).

This is especially useful in Categories that do not have posing routines (Physique, Figure, Wellness and Bikini for instance) to indicate Athletes who have already been on stage. As with the star icon, this can be a valuable time saver if the Promoter and/or Judges decide that not all Athletes need to be presented for each Class of their Category.

The Right side is intended to be used for award presentations. Athletes are listed in reverse-placings order (as they would be presented with awards).

Tip

For situations where Athletes don't show up to Finals (or are otherwise disqualified), Athletes outside of the top 3/5 are indicated below the top 3/5 with a slightly shaded background. This provides the MC with the information they need about the next Athletes in line, if for any reason one or more of the top 3/5 Athletes aren't being awarded.

6.5.3 Athlete Bio Sheets

Note

Athlete Bio Sheet functionality is only available if the Promoter originally specified custom fields on the online registration form. It's these optional custom fields (Occupation, Hobbies, etc.) that are displayed as options in the software.

If the Promoter has not instructed Muscleware to collect any custom fields on the entry forms, these options will not be available.

The "Athlete Bio Sheet" document is a supplemented version of the "Competitor List & Schedule" document. In fact, to create the "Athlete Bio Sheet" document, settings are selected from the "Create Documents" dialog, which cause the "Competitor List & Schedule" to be reformatted to include custom-collected entry form data.



Clicking the settings (the "wrench" icon) will open a dialog that allows the Statistician to select the relevant custom-collected fields for the MC (not all of the custom-collected data fields may be relevant).



When any custom-collected fields are selected, the Competitor List & Schedule document (part of the Prejudging document set) can be re-generated, and will be reformatted to include the custom-collected data (putting the information in context of the classes in the order of the show).

This document can be used by the MC as a supplement to the MC Sheet, where events are doing personalized introductions for the Athletes.

6.5.4 Overall Scorecards


» Click here to see a Full Sample


The Overall Scorecards are calculated by a special algorithm that determines which Categories/Classes necessitate Overalls (for more information, see Section 5.4.1 above). They are created very similarly to the Prejudging Scorecards (see Section 5.5.2 above), except Overall Scorecards present Athlete (button/badge) Numbers in show order - the order of the Classes of the Event.

They are designed to be printed (1 complete set per Judge) and cut down the middle, the same as the Prejudging scorecards.

6.6 Scoring Overalls

Tip

If the Event is in a "One-Show" format (with Awards being presented immediately after judging), the Statistician does not have the luxury of a break between Prejudging and Finals to generate/print the Overall Scorecards. Additionally, this can't be done in advance, since the Athletes in an Overall Class aren't known until the judging is complete for the last class of the overall group.

The "Create Overall Scorecard" () button, to the left of the "Scorecard Calculator" () button, will immediately generate an Overall Scorecards Document that can be printed the moment the last class of the Overall group is judged!

Additionally, there is an "Overall Group" () button to the right of the "Placings Preview" that will generate a document the MC can use to announce the Athletes who appear in the overall, while the Expeditors are rounding up the Athletes backstage.


Processing Overall Scorecards / Scoring Overall classes is nearly an identical process to processing Prejudging Scorecards.

The main difference is rather than use the "Enter Prejudging Scores" button in the main toolbar, you use the "Enter Overall Scores" button (or "Enter Overall Scores..." from the "Actions" menu).

Note

The "Enter Overall Scores" dialog will only create Class "blocks" for categories will all Prejudging Scores entered, and uses the same logic for determining which Classes necessitate Overalls that the Overall Scorecards generator uses (for more information, see Section 5.4.1 above).

Also, rather than being displayed in Athlete Number order, the "Enter Overall Scores" (and the Overall Scorecards, for that matter) are in show order; The Athletes are in the order of the Classes they won.

The Scorecard Calculators (see Section 6.3 above) and "Placings Preview" dialog (see Section 6.4 above) work the exact same way for the "Enter Overall Scores" as they do for the Prejudging counterpart. All of the same validation rules apply, and the process used to Enter Scores and Calculate Scores is the same.

6.6.1 Manual Overall Override Switches


The Final Results (with Overalls) document can be generated by Muscleware Statistician once Overall Scores have been entered. It is important to provide this document to the Event Photographer, so they have the information they need to submit photos to NPC News Online.

Additionally, when the "Send Data to Muscleware" button is used, all scores / results, including Overall winner data, is transmitted to NPC News Online, and also the NPC Muscleware database for archiving.

Muscleware Statistician determines who the overall winners are based on their overall scores, of course. And, in order for the software to recognize an overall class, there must be more than one class winner in it.

However, there are certain situations where events may award overalls to class winners anyhow, even though there was only one class in the division. Additionally, some events host non-standard overall classes, such as the winners of the various Masters age groups.

Note

To show or hide the OVERALL OVERRIDE column in the "REGISTRATIONS" area, use the setting on the "Scoring & Score Calculators" tab of the "Settings" dialog.

For more information, see Section 4.5 (a).

Important

Muscleware Statistician will recognize Masters overalls if there is more than one class in any particular age group (e.g. Masters 35+ A, Masters 35+ B will result in an optional Masters 35+ Overall).

However, the software will not group different ages together for an overall (e.g. Masters 35+ vs. Masters 45+).

If your event is doing this, or something similar, the Manual Overall Override Switches are the answer!

For these reasons and others, the Statistician may need to be able to manually specify additional overall winners, on top of what the software calculates based on the automatic grouping and overall scores.

The "Show Manual Overall Override Switches" will display 'toggles' in the "Registrations" table, that will allow Statisticians to set any Athlete, in any class, as an overall winner. The Final Placings (with Overalls) document will display both the calculated overall winners, and the overall override winners.

6.6.2 IFBB Pro Card Winner Switches


The Final Placings (with Overalls) document can also include information about which Athletes were awarded IFBB Professional League Pro Cards at applicable events. Because these Athletes don't necessarily correspond directly to the ones who won overall awards, independent switches are provided.

Again, when the "Send Data to Muscleware" button is used, this information is transmitted to NPC News Online, and also the NPC Muscleware database for archiving.

These switches are very straightforward - simply enable them via the "Awards & Routines" tab of the "Settings" dialog, and flip them in the "REGISTRATIONS" tab.

For more information, see Section 4.4 (c).

6.7 Creating Final Placings Document


» Click here to see a Full Sample


Once all Event Scores are entered, the "Final Placings (with Overalls)" option will be enabled in the "Create Documents" dialog. This document is the "Final-Finals" document, that indicates all Scores, Placings, and the Overall Winners via highlight (and Pro Card winners, if applicable). It is designed to be provided to the Event Photographer immediately after overalls, so they have the information they need for photo submission to NPC News Online.

Note

Once the Event is complete, and as soon as you can get an internet connection, click the "Send Data to Muscleware" button at the top-right of the screen, or from within the "File" menu at your earliest convenience.

This is a direct data submission to the NPC for NPC News Online, and also to the NPC Muscleware servers for archiving of results & placings.

Important

Promoters are required to ensure Statisticians "Send Data to Muscleware" as soon as possible once the Event ends!

6.8 NPC Worldwide Regional Certificates



For Regional Events outside of the USA (or Events open to International Athletes), and per the rules of the NPC Worldwide for eligibility of Athletes wishing to compete in an IFBB Professional League Pro Qualifier, Muscleware Statistician automates the creation of NPC Worldwide Regional Certificates.

Certificates can be created for a specific Athlete by Right-clicking the Athlete in the Athletes grid (on the "ATHLETES" tab) and selecting "Create NPC Worldwide Regional Certificate".

Alternatively, Certificates can be created for all Athletes in the Event by using "Create All NPC Worldwide Regional Certificates..." in the "File" menu.

Note

Certificate document(s) will be created in the 'Document Output Path', as defined in the "Settings" dialog (see Section 4 above).

7. Advanced Modes

Events may be run in various formats, Category orders, and even split over multiple days. Muscleware Statistician provides the flexibility necessary to handle virtually any show format.

Tip

If you have any questions about how to accomplish what's necessary for the Event you're doing Stats for, please don't hesitate to contact us directly and ask for advice.

7.1 Unconventional Show Formats

All of the above documentation has been written largely under the assumption that Events are run "normally"/"conventionally". That is, a Prejudging portion followed by a Finals portion.

It's important to note that the "Create Documents" tool's first area provides a selection of Categories. As you may expect, this can be used to restrict the created document(s) to only the selected Categor(y/ies). This powerful feature allows Statisticians to create the documents for whichever group of Categories is necessary in the moment.

The Event File, ultimately, is a compact database file that is contributed to over the course of the Event. Muscleware Statistician can generate documents anywhere along the way, so long as the data required to generate the particular document(s) is available.

Statisticians can therefore handle shows in virtually any order necessary, over any period of time necessary (provided the Muscleware Event License is still valid of course!).

For instance, if Prejudging is happening for Male Categories on Day 1, and Female Categories on Day 2, the Day 1 Prejudging documents only need to contain the Male Categories. So, un-select the Female Categories in the "Create Documents" dialog prior to clicking "Create Documents", and the generated files will only contain the Categories necessary for Day 1. When generating the Prejudging documents for Day 2, un-select the Male Categories in the "Create Documents" dialog prior to clicking "Create Documents".

Important

If Categories are on stage and being Judged/Scored, while other Categories are still being Checked-in and Athlete data is being modified, you will require at least two Statisticians; One to complete the Check-ins, and a second to process the scores of the Athletes being Judged. If this is necessary, see Section 7.2 below for very important information about managing Event Files.

Alternatively, Muscleware can provide two separate Event Files. If this is necessary/preferred, contact us in advance of the Event Deliverables being generated.

7.1.1 "One Show" Format

If events are run in "One-Show" format (aka "COVID" format), be advised that the "Enter Overall Scores" dialog can still be used when only some of the "Prejudging" scores are entered. The software will present any overall blocks it can, provided it has sufficient information to do so.

In other words, as long as all of the necessary scores are entered in the "Enter Prejudging Scores" dialog at the moment an overall needs to happen, simply "Save" the scores in the "Enter Prejudging Scores" dialog, close it, and open the "Enter Overall Scores" dialog.

When finished the overall, "Save" the scores in the "Enter Overall Scores", and switch back to the "Enter Prejudging Scores" to continue on to the next category.

If you have any questions about how to accomplish what's necessary for the Event you're doing Stats for, please don't hesitate to contact us directly and ask for advice.

8. Additional Help + Support

Thank you for using Muscleware Statistician!

If you have additional questions that were not answered in this documentation, please don't hesitate to contact us.

We are constantly developing new modules and optimizing existing features. If you have any comments, suggestions, feedback or thoughts, please let us know!



9. Revision Notes

What's new with Muscleware? Below are our "Revision Notes" where we document new features and updates related to Muscleware Statistician.

Note

To determine which Revision of Muscleware Statistician you have installed, open the software, go to the 'Help' menu, and select 'About Muscleware Statistician'.

Tip

The latest version of Muscleware Statistician can be installed via muscleware.com/download

23.07.13
  • Building on the recent 23.06.07 update, Revision 23.07.13 contains additional Data Submission (i.e. 'Send Data to Muscleware') optimizations, offloading much of the necessary data processing from the local machine to the remote Muscleware server. These optimizations make the data submission process faster, and with fewer potential points of failure (for weak Wi-Fi connections)

  • Page Numbers have been added to Output Documents. Additionally, Font Sizes and Vertical Padding has been adjusted to make Documents easier to read, and potentially reduce total page count by limiting the vertical height of data blocks

  • The Red Grid Row Background that indicates when Member Numbers are missing has been carried over to the 'Registrations' data, limiting the need for Statisticians to switch back and forth between the 'Athletes' and 'Registrations' grids
23.06.07
  • The Unified Membership System Member Details Lookup Tool provided as a link within the Event Deliverables is now also available directly from within Muscleware Statistician!

    The tool provides the ability to find any member, via Member Number, within any of the 3 membership systems - NPC (USA), NPC Worldwide and CPA. Once found, the tool displays member details, current membership status, and contest history of the member.

    These details can be used to verify membership status, and also eligibility for particular class and category types, and qualifications for Pro-Qualifying events.

    The Member Details Lookup Tool can be accessed via the 'Details' button on the Add or Edit dialogs for both Athlete and Registration records.

    NOTE: The Member Details Lookup Tool requires an internet connection

  • Google Chrome is no longer required to be installed to render PDF documents. Muscleware Statistician now includes a built-in PDF generation engine that not only removes the necessity for Google Chrome, it also creates PDF documents faster and with more consistent output across various computers, operating systems and environments.

  • One of the Prejudging Documents has always been the original Crossover Report that may be used by the Judges to "double check" their scores in scenarios where Athletes compete in multiple classes within the same Division together.

    Now, the Finals Documents contain the automatically populated Crossover Conflict Report, which additionally indicates where there have been conflicts with Competitor placings across classes within the same Division.

  • 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons now appear on either side of the 'Filter (Athlete #)' area in the Toolbar. These buttons can be used to step through the Athletes one by one, via their Athlete/Competitor Number, while viewing the Athletes or Registrations grids.

    Additionally, keyboard shortcuts exist to control these - holding down the 'Control' key, and using the Left and Right arrow keys will emulate clicking the buttons as well. The Escape key can be used to clear any existing Filter, and return to the comprehensive view of all data.

  • For situations where multiple Event Files may be being used (for instance, a Natural Event and an Open Event on the same day), the Documents Output Path can be set on an Event-by-Event basis.

    In other words, the Output Path Override can be used to have the Created Documents for one Event go to a particular directory, and the Created Documents for another Event go to a different directory.

  • The 'Most Recently Used' (MRU) dialog (which can be displayed if the software is run without launching via an Event File, from the 'Recently Opened Event Files' item in the 'File' Menu), now lists only existing Muscleware Event Files that have been opened in the past month.

    This reduces Application Startup time by limiting the files being analyzed when Muscleware Statistician is opened, and also provides only the most relevant list of recently used files.
22.08.08
  • Category Lock button added to Edit Registration Dialog. By default, the Category Lock button is active ("locked"), which causes the Class dropdown to only load the Classes within the Category/Division of the original entry. This abbreviates the total Class list to only related Classes, reducing errors when making class changes within a Category/Division.

    If the Class is being changed to a different Category/Division, the Category Lock button may be clicked to deactivate ("unlock") it, which will load all Classes for the gender of the original entry into the Class dropdown.

  • Head Judge Name field added to the Send Data to Muscleware confirmation dialog.
22.07.31
  • A new Test Judge system has been created to allow Test Judges to be defined and their scores to be recorded. Test Judges are defined on the 'Scoring & Score Calculators' tab in the 'Settings' dialog. Once defined, a 'Test Judge Scores' button appears on all Prejudging Score Calculators, which presents a Test Judge score entry dialog. For more information, see Section 4.2.1 above.

  • Several data processing and user interface optimizations have been completed. All data grids load and refresh up to 4x faster, even on PCs with older/slower CPUs and/or less RAM!

  • Athlete Member Numbers (NPC Numbers, NPC Worldwide Numbers & CPA Numbers) can now be added and/or updated directly from the 'Edit Registration' dialog. This allows Statisticians to add or correct Member numbers from the 'Registrations' tab without having to switch to the 'Athletes' tab to do so.

  • Column Sort Order now persists between grid refreshes. Adding or editing Athletes and/or Registration data no longer reverts grid data back to default sort order.

  • Athlete names entered in Cyrillic letters are now automatically converted to Latin-alphabet name equivalents, making results data compatible with all membership systems, the new Athlete history and qualification tracking system, and the NPC News Online database engine.

  • Per the NPC, the Final Results PDF no longer displays total scores. Only final placings, competitor numbers and Athlete names are displayed in the PDF report.

  • Per the CPA, Contest location (City, Province) has been added to the header area of the Final Results PDF for Canadian Physique Alliance events.
22.03.20
  • Updated IFBB Pro League / NPC Fitness Scoring procedure and calculations are now supported. In the 'Enter Prejudging Scores' dialog, there are two calculators - one for Round 1 (Two Piece), and a second for Round 2 (Routine). Only when both rounds are entered and calculated will the Prejudging scores be calculated and weighed, per NPC specification.

    (Round 1 scores are weighted normally, and Round 2 scores are multiplied by 2. The final calculated score is the sum of the two).

  • The Enter Scores dialogs now use a 'tabbed' interface to reduce the amount of scrolling necessary to locate particular Categories and Classes. Along the top of the dialog, a button for each Category is displayed. Clicking the button loads the Classes for that Category.

  • When 'Create Documents' is used (for NPC Worldwide or CPA events), the software checks to make sure all Athletes appearing in the Documents being created have Membership Numbers entered. As Membership Numbers are required to be entered/corrected prior to submitting final results via the 'Send Data to Muscleware' button, if any are missing while Documents are being Created, a warning dialog appears to notify the Statistician.

  • All file exports now support UTF-8 character encoding for accent characters and diacritics in Athlete names (particularly useful for non-English names & regions).

  • The 'Send Data to Muscleware' function now includes a confirmation dialog to prompt additional review prior to submitting data to the organization offices.

  • If an Athlete Number filter is being used, and 'Add Registration' is selected, the Registration editor automatically selects the filtered Athlete, so a class to add can be selected immediately.

  • The 'Recently Opened Event Files' option has been moved to the 'File' menu, and can be used opened if no Event File was opened to launch the software.
21.11.28
  • On application startup, if no Event File was launched/opened, a 'Recently Opened Event Files' dialog appears that lists the 5 latest files opened.

    This feature is designed to reduce confusion, particularly when Statisticians are leaving Event Files in their 'Downloads' folders (and sometimes even have multiple copies downloaded), rather than copying files to a safer location (such as the Desktop).

  • Muscleware is now a verified software publisher approved by Microsoft. Muscleware Statistician is now digitally signed with an Authenticode security certificate that will prevent download and security warning dialogs that used to be displayed prior to the official certification.

  • The 'Crossover' Report has been more accurately / intuitively renamed to the 'Crossover Conflicts Report'.
21.10.20
  • Recorded Training Webinar now available online! Link in the Documentation above!

  • User Interface colors now match Athlete Check-In Sheet colors for situations where multiple events are occuring simultaneously.

  • Accent/Diacritic characters in walk-up Athlete names now converted to standard ISO-8859-8/UTF-8 character encoding for compatibility with online and offline database engines.

  • When custom fields are collected on online entry forms by Promoters, and selections have been made to include them on the "Create Documents" dialog, the output document is renamed from "Competitor List & Schedule" to "Competitor Bio Sheet".
21.09.15
  • New "Export Class Counts" report creates an export file that lists all classes defined for the event, including the Athlete count for each class.

  • Minor updates made to file & data security functions.
21.08.04
  • The "REGISTRATIONS" data is now sortable. The data can be sorted by any column, either in ascending or descending order, by clicking the column headers. To reset the sort back to the order of the show schedule, click the area where the column headers and the row headers intersect.

  • "Send Data to Muscleware" function has been updated to support additional environment, network and user permission configurations.

  • Minor updates made to the MC Sheet to support events with very large classes.
21.07.03
  • Overall Group Sheet - The ability to print overall group sheets has been added to the "Enter Overall Scores" dialog. This is used for events that are being run in "One-Show" a.k.a "COVID" format, where there is no opportunity to create the MC Sheet, since the judging and awarding is all done at the same time. This allows the Statistician to print a sheet that contains the Athletes who are in the overall, so the MC has this information to announce while the Expeditors are rounding up the Athletes for the overall. For more information, see Section 6.6

  • Athlete Bio Sheets - If Promoters have instructed Muscleware to collect custom/non-standard data on event entry forms (such as Occupation, Trainer Name, Gym, etc.), there is a selector in the "Create Documents" dialog that allows Statisticians to select the relevant data fields for inclusion on the Competitor List & Schedule. This document, if re-generated for the Finals portion of the show, can be used as a supplemental document to the MC Sheet, allowing the MC to make personalized Athlete announcements. For more information, see Section 6.5.3
21.06.06
  • Automatic Tie Breaking - Ties can now optionally be broken automatically with a built-in Tie breaker. The software isolates the Athletes involved in the tie, calculates each individual Judge's relative placings of the Athletes (their placings with respect to each other), and determines the appropriate score adjustments necessary to break the tie. If the relative placings in a 3-way or 4-way tie, produce another tie, the software will advise a manual score review with direction from the Head Judge.

  • Automatic Crossover Conflict Detection - Generating the Crossover Conflict Report, after scores have been entered, will create a Crossover Report that is automatically populated with the final placings of the Athletes in the Crossover blocks. Additionally, conflicts within the Crossovers are indicated in Red.

  • "DONE" switches in the "ATHLETES" grid have been mirrored in the "REGISTRATIONS" grid, allowing the switches to be used the same way from either view. Toggles in either grid will be reflected in the other.

  • "NOTES" can now be edited from the "REGISTRATIONS" grid. Data entered will be applied to all associated Registration rows (class entries) for the Athlete, and also reflected in the "ATHLETES" grid.

  • "Show IFBB Pro Card Winner Switches" checkbox added to "AWARDS & ROUTINES" Tab. Switches appear in the "REGISTRATIONS" grid, and modify the Final Results document to indicate which Athlete(s) have been awarded IFBB Pro Cards.

  • New "OVERRIDES" tab in the "SETTINGS" dialog:
    • The "Show Manual Overall Override Switches" option has been moved from the "SCORING & SCORE CALCULATORS" tab to to new "OVERRIDES" tab.

    • Three new override options have been added:
      • "Disable 'True Novice' Overalls"
      • "Disable 'Novice' Overalls"
      • "Disable 'Masters' Overalls"

      When used, these options disable the Score Entry areas, Overall Scorecard generation and the Overall Blocks in the MC Sheet for the disabled selection(s).

    • Event Date Override added, and is designed to be used at events that span over multiple days, to control which date is printed on output reports.

  • Scorecard Design Updates
    • Category & Class names are now above the scores table in a larger font
    • Judge Name and Signature fields have been removed
    • Athlete count has been moved to the lower-left of the scores table
    • Scorecards are now numbered in order. Scorecard number appears at the bottom-right of the scores table

  • The "Final Results with Overalls" document can now be created for any combination of selected Categories (not all Categories need to be selected to produce the Final Results document).
21.04.06
  • A "DONE" column has been added to the "ATHLETES" area, with "YES"/"NO" switches, to act as a status flag for keeping track of which Athletes / sheets have been processed at Check-ins.

  • The legacy "CLASS NOTES" column has been removed from both the "CLASSES" area and the "REGISTRATIONS" area, and has been replaced by the new "ATHLETE NOTES" column. Athlete Notes are intended to be the officially measured height/weight of the Athlete. Athlete Notes are edited from the "Edit Athlete" dialog, and appear in the "REGISTRATIONS" area to provide a reference when editing Athlete Classes.

  • The "ATHLETES" data is now sortable. The data can be sorted by any column, either in ascending or descending order, by clicking the column headers.

  • "Manual Overall Override Switches" have been added to the "REGISTRATIONS" area, and are shown/hidden by way of a checkbox on the "Scoring & Score Calculators" tab of the "Settings" dialog. These switches allow the Statistician to specify additional overall winners, on top of what the software calculates based on overall scores. For more information, see Section 6.6.1.

  • Edit dialogs for the "ATHLETES", "REGISTRATIONS", and Statistician-defined "CLASSES" can be accessed by simply 'double-clicking' the rows.

  • The 'Enter' key now advances the focus on the Score Calculators (moving downward).

  • The "Send Data to Muscleware" has been updated to not only return all results/placings data to the NPC Muscleware servers, but also specially formatted data is returned to NPC News Online to support results upload into the NPC News Online website.
21.03.06
  • "Class Schedule Editor" added to the Settings dialog, allowing the Show Day Class Schedule to be modified by Statisticians! See Section 4.3 for more information
20.10.29
  • User Interface
    • Live Scorecard Calculator validators. During the process of entering scorecard scores, entered scores are now validated "live", so errors/mistakes can be identified even before "Calculate" is clicked.
    • Keyboard shortcut to "Copy-Right" scores. When entering scores in the Scorecard Calculators, hold down the "Control" key and use the right-arrow button to copy the current score to the next Judge's card.
    • Documents folder can now be opened immediately via a button presented on the confirmation message after "Create Documents" is used

  • Reports
    • Option in the "Settings" dialog ("Scoring & Score Calculators" tab) for whether or not to create Scorecards for classes containing only 1 Athlete.
    • New Expeditor Sheet! Expeditor Sheet is generated as part of the Prejudging Documents and includes all individual Athlete schedules for the Event, empowering Expeditors with the information they need to organize Athletes.
    • MC Sheet
      • Awards settings introduced in the "Settings" dialog ("Awards & Routines" tab) that can be used to set each class to either Awards for top 5 Athletes or top 3 Athletes. MC Sheet is reflected accordingly.
      • "All Athletes Perform Posing Routines (in Applicable Categories)" checkbox added in the "Settings" dialog ("Awards & Routines" tab) that augments the MC Sheet to respect whether only the top 3 or 5 Athletes perform posing routines, or whether the Head Judge or Promoter has opted to allow all Athletes to perform their Posing routines once.
      • Overall Classes are now shown on the MC Sheet

  • New Tools for "One-Show" Formats
    • The "Placings Preview" dialog now has an "Export for Print" button that immediately creates a printable PDF of the current class placings.
    • "Enter Overall Scores" dialog now includes a "Print Overall Scorecards" button (to the left of the "Scorecard Calculator" button) that allows Overall Scorecards to be printed for the given class immediately. This is extremely helpful in "One-Show" formats, where Statisticians don't have the luxury of a break between Prejudging and Finals to print the Overall Scorecards.

  • Additional Updates
    • First Name / Last Name have been separated on CSV data export
    • New "Send Data to Muscleware" button makes the process of uploading Event data a "1 click" process.
    • New "Request Live Support" button opens a remote desktop connection tool and presents an ID number that can be text messaged to Muscleware Support to request a live support session (internet connection required, of course).
    • MWE (Muscleware Event File) is now a registered file type in Windows with a new file icon - Simply "double-click" to open your Event.
    • No more separate Muscleware License Files (MWL)... Licenses are now built right into Event Files!
20.07.26
  • Muscleware Statistician documentation introduced!