meshO Manager

Appearance

The event dashboard ​

Audience: Timing operators watching and running the event on the day.

The dashboard is your home base while an event runs — open it on the operator's screen and leave it up. It's the landing page for an event and gives you, at a glance, the event's status, how many competitors are still out, the health of your radio network, and one-click access to the jobs you do most. This page explains every card and indicator, and what to do when one changes colour.

The top bar: status and event controls ​

The strip across the top of every event page (not just the dashboard) carries the event's lifecycle:

  • Status chip — the event's current state:
    • Setup — not started yet (you're still preparing it)
    • Live — running; the chip pulses
    • Testing — running in test mode (see below)
    • Stopping… — on its way to finished
    • Interrupted — it was live when Manager was closed or the computer stopped, and hasn't been resumed
    • Abandoned — an interrupted event you chose not to resume
    • Complete — finished
  • Event clock — the running event time, shown while the event is live.
  • Live standby chip — when a second computer is keeping a live copy of this event, a chip says whether it is up to date. See Live standby.
  • The primary button changes with the state: Start event (in setup), Finish event (while live), or Resume event (for an interrupted or abandoned event, alongside Mark finished). Once an event is complete there's nothing left to do, so Close becomes the primary button and Restart event sits alongside it as a quiet, secondary option. Close is always there and takes you back to the events list; it doesn't stop the event.
  • Replay appears on an event that has captured data to replay, when no event is live; this is a testing/training tool rather than something you use on the day. While a replay runs, the replay controls sit in the bar and the finish button reads Stop replay (or Exit replay once it reaches the end).

Starting and finishing ​

Start event first runs Manager's pre-start checks. If they find anything — no courses, classes or competitors, classes with no course, or starts that go into the forest together — they're listed under Event validation warnings, and you can Continue anyway or go back and fix them. Another event already being live doesn't stop it: both run (see Two events live at once). The one thing that does is a replay, which has to be stopped first.

An event dated in the future asks Start event in test mode? before it starts. A test-mode event runs exactly like a live one — downloads, radio punches, screens — so you can rehearse the day; the chip reads Testing and the finish button Finish test.

Finish event asks you to confirm. If anybody still has no settled result — no status, still on course, or a radio finish whose card hasn't been read — Event not finalised appears instead, listing them with the buttons that settle them. See Settling everyone first.

If Manager is closed while an event is live, the events list offers to resume it next time Manager starts. Decline, and the event is marked Abandoned; you can still Resume event or Mark finished from its app bar later.

Restarting an event you've already finished ​

Finishing an event isn't final. If a competitor walks out of the forest after you've closed the event off, open the event and click Restart event in the app bar. Manager warns you first, then takes the event live again so you can download the card, fix the result, and finish it a second time.

This works however long ago the event was — you can restart yesterday's event tomorrow morning. Reading a card late doesn't distort anything: the card holds the times of day the competitor actually punched, so their result comes out the same as it would have on the day.

Two things to know:

  • Another event can be live at the same time — see Two events live at once below. The one exception is a replay, which runs on its own.
  • Remember to click Finish event again when you're done, so the event goes back to being finished.

Note: An event that never ran and whose date has passed is the one case Manager won't start — there's no Start event button for it. Change the date first (Event details on the dashboard), then start it.

Two events live at once ​

Two events can be in progress on one Manager at the same time: a morning race whose last runners are still out when the afternoon race starts, or an MTBO and a foot-O on the same day. Start the second event as usual; the first carries on.

For the setup — how Manager tells the two events' runners apart, and what to check before the first start — see Running two events at once.

  • The radio network is shared. meshO Prime feeds every live event that uses it. A punch is stored in both events, and counts only in the event whose run it is: the one where its card is entered, or, for a card entered in both or neither, the one its start or check punch belongs to.
  • Each download desk reads into the event it has open. If the card belongs to the other live event, the result says so — This card is entered in Afternoon race (Jane Smith) — with a link to that event's download page. Read the card again there.
  • The radio card download station (cards read over the radio at the finish) sends each card to the live event where it is entered. If both events have it, the event where that runner has not downloaded yet wins, and after that the most recently started event. A card entered in neither goes to the event that adds competitors for unknown cards, if only one does, and otherwise to the most recently started event.
  • Finishing one event leaves the other running: its backups, its live results export, its liveresultat publishing and its radio feed all carry on.
  • Screens follow the most recently started event unless they are set to one: when the afternoon race starts, the leaderboards and other screens not set to an event move to it. The spectator site, the kiosk and the info displays ask which event to show.

A replay can't run while any event is live, and no event can start while a replay runs. A live standby follows every live event, and a take-over takes them all — see Live standby.

The event header ​

The header across the top of the dashboard identifies the event: its name, date, and a row of attributes — event type (individual / relay / team), competition level, discipline, and whether it's an individual or mass start — plus an Eventor marker if it was imported from Eventor.

The Event details button (top-right of the header) opens the event's settings: its name and date, starts, radio controls, backups, printing, hire items, live results, extensions and more. See Editing event details.

Edit dashboard, at the right of the header's details line, lets you rearrange the tiles below — see Arranging the dashboard.

If this computer has just taken the event over from another one, a panel under the header lists what is still to do by hand.

Always-on tiles ​

Three tiles are always available.

Event data ​

A count of everything you've set up — controls, courses, classes, competitors (or teams for a relay), and clubs. It's your at-a-glance check that setup is complete: a zero where you expect a number means something hasn't been imported or created yet. Click any count to jump straight to that list, and use Import (top-right) to bring in more data. See Importing event data.

Competitors ​

The headline numbers for the race in progress:

  • Total — everyone entered.
  • Not started — everyone who hasn't started. Before the first start that's the whole field; by the end of the day it's the no-shows, plus anyone already marked DNS, Not competing or Cancelled. Started and Not started always add up to Total, so marking a no-show DNS moves nobody between them.
  • Started — how many have started.
  • On course — how many Manager believes are still out on the course, including anyone who has checked in and not come back. This is your safety number.
  • Pending — runners who have crossed a radio finish but whose card hasn't been downloaded yet, so their result is still preliminary. (Only shown once radio punches are arriving.)
  • Finished — competitors who are back with a status: OK, MP, DNF, DSQ, overtime or not competing. Pending runners are counted here too, since the radio saw them finish; Pending tells you how many of those still need their card read.

A live mini-chart below the numbers tracks the On course count over time, so you can see the field flow out and back.

Not started, On course and Pending are clickable — they're drawn as coloured, raised buttons whenever they have something to show. Clicking opens the list behind each. At zero they look like the plain counts either side of them, so a coloured button always means there's a list to open.

The counts stay on one line whatever width you drag the tile to — they shrink, and their labels drop, rather than wrapping. Not started is the one that gives way: it isn't shown once the tile is too narrow to fit its label in full, since it's the only number you can work out from the others (Total minus Started). Widen the tile to bring it back. (It's measured against the label as your language actually writes it, so the width it needs differs between languages.)

Click Not started for the list of everyone yet to go out: name, card, class, start time and status. The Status column is what separates the two kinds of name on it — a blank status is somebody nobody has accounted for yet, while DNS, Not competing or Cancelled is an absence you (or a course closure) have already dealt with. Click a name to open their record.

Safety — is everyone back? On course is the number that matters at the end of the day. While it's above zero, click it to open the On course list and work through who's still out, who has finished but not downloaded, and who never started. The full procedure — including reading start/finish station memory and clearing no-shows — is on its own page: Safety check: accounting for everyone. Click Pending to see the preliminary-result runners due at the download desk. For every other place the same picture surfaces, see Seeing who is still on course.

The other tiles ​

The rest of the dashboard depends on which features the event uses. A tile that only does something while the event is running — a card download, a radio punch — stays on the dashboard in setup and after the finish, but goes quiet and says so, rather than disappearing.

TileWhat it showsWhen it's there
Quick competitor actions (Quick actions when the tile is narrow)Search and open a competitor; change their card number or class; print their splits; allow a punching start; + to add a competitorAlways
Download cardReader connection and live card downloadsAlways, except during a replay; quiet unless the event is running
Radio controlsmeshO Prime's connection, punch activity over the last 30 minutes, and each meshO Control's health and alertsThe event uses meshO Prime for radio punches
Radio punch forwardingOutbound forwarding status — Active/Disabled, with Sent and Queued countsThe event uses meshO Prime and has Forward radio punches on
SIRAP punch listeningInbound SIRAP punch source — Listening/Stopped, the port, and a Received count that restarts when an event starts accepting punchesThe event has Accept SIRAP punches on
SpectatorsHow many people are watching now on the live screens, with the last 60 minutes as a sparklineAlways; quiet unless the event is running
LiveresultatWhether the competition exists, whether it is listed, and whether uploads are getting throughThe event publishes to liveresultat
Recent downloadsThe last cards read, newest first — the time, each competitor's name and statusYou add it yourself (see below)
Pending downloadsWho the radio saw finish and hasn't downloaded — the finish time, their name, and how long they've been waitingYou add it yourself (see below)
Extension tilesWhatever an installed extension contributesAn extension that provides a tile is enabled for the event

A few of these have their own pages:

  • Quick competitor actions is the fastest way to fix a single competitor's card or class without leaving the dashboard — for deeper edits, open them in the Competitors list. The printer button beside the search prints the selected competitor's splits, once their card has been read — see Printing splits. When you are done with one runner, click the × in the search to clear them and type the next name. Press Ctrl+F (⌘F on a Mac) anywhere on the dashboard to put the cursor in the search, ready to type a name. The eye button beside the search opens the competitor's full record. With a SportIdent reader connected, click into the Card number box and insert a card to fill in its number, rather than downloading it. At an event where allocated start times win, an Allow punching start button also appears for a runner left on the event's setting, so a runner who was late to the start through no fault of their own is timed from their start punch — see Punched starts.
  • Download card is a compact version of the full Card downloads page. A reader connected here is the same reader the Card downloads page and the SportIdent station page use, and downloads register from anywhere, so the tile updates even when you're elsewhere. When cards are waiting for an owner, the tile says how many, with Show to list them.
  • Radio controls is your radio-network health panel. While meshO Prime isn't connected it shows Prime's state — Searching, Lost, Offline or Not configured — with a Diagnostics button. Once Prime is Online it shows a bar chart of punches over the last 30 minutes, a coloured dot per meshO Control (green when heard in the last two minutes, orange after two, red after five, grey if never heard), a count of low batteries, and the alerts for each unit: battery low or critical, connection lost, weak signal, no location. The arrow at the top right opens the Radios page. See also Radio punches.
  • Spectators is a summary of the Spectators page under Event live — see Spectator analytics.
  • Liveresultat is covered in Publishing live results online.
  • Extension tiles come from add-ons you've installed — see Installing extensions.

Recent downloads — a tile you switch on ​

Recent downloads starts off the dashboard, because the Card downloads page already lists every download in full. Add it when you want the last few in the corner of your eye: click Edit dashboard in the event header, choose Add tile → Recent downloads, drag and resize it where you want it, then click Done. It stays there for next time.

The tile shows one card per download, newest at the top: the time it was read, the competitor's name and their status chip. Click one to open that competitor's record, which is where you change a class or fix a mis-punch — the same dialog you get from the Competitors list.

It shows exactly as many as fit in the tile and no more — it never scrolls, and never cuts a name in half. Make the tile taller to see further back. Narrow it and the time drops off, so names keep their room; widen it and the time comes back.

A card that hasn't been matched to anybody yet shows its card number and an Unassigned chip instead. Click that one and you land on the Card downloads page with the card already open, ready to give it an owner — every card in the tile goes somewhere.

Like the Download card tile, it stays on the dashboard but goes quiet when the event isn't running — cards can only arrive while the event is live.

Pending downloads — the tile the download tent watches ​

Pending downloads is the mirror image: not the cards that have come in, but the ones that haven't. It lists the runners a radio finish saw come back whose card has never been read — the people who walk off towards the car park with it still in their hand.

It starts off the dashboard too, because the Pending downloads info screen is where the tent usually watches this list. Add it the same way: Edit dashboard → Add tile → Pending downloads.

Longest wait at the top. Each row carries the time the radio put them across the line, their name, and how long they have been waiting since — counting up once a second, from the event clock. Click a row to open that competitor's record, which is where somebody who never came back is marked DNF, or the wrong card number that is why nothing was ever read against them gets fixed.

Runners still on course are deliberately not on it, exactly as on the info screen: they are a different problem — somebody who may still be running — and on the same list they would bury the two or three names the tent is actually chasing.

--:-- means Manager cannot say, not zero. A runner whose finish time it never recorded, or an event with no clock running, shows the sentinel rather than a number. Their name is still on the list; that is the part that matters.

Like Recent downloads, it sizes itself to the tile — as many whole rows as fit, never scrolling and never half a name — and it stays on the dashboard but goes quiet when the event isn't running.

Arranging the dashboard ​

Click Edit dashboard in the event header to rearrange the tiles. While editing you can:

  • drag a tile to move it, and drag its edges to make it wider, narrower, taller or shorter;
  • Hide a tile you don't use;
  • Add tile to bring back a hidden one, or add one that starts hidden, such as Recent downloads or Pending downloads;
  • Reset layout to go back to the default arrangement.

Click Done when you're finished. The arrangement is kept in this browser, and it's the same for every event you open on this computer; another computer has its own.

Reading the colours ​

Colour is used consistently across the dashboard so problems catch your eye:

  • Green — healthy or live: a live event, a connected reader (Listening), forwarding that's Active, controls reporting in normally.
  • Orange / yellow — attention, not yet a failure: punches Queued for forwarding, a control on low battery (25% or less), weak signal or quiet for two minutes, an interrupted event.
  • Red / grey — stopped or finished: an abandoned (red) or complete (grey) event, a critical battery (5% or less), a control not heard for five minutes, or (grey) never heard at all.

When the Radio controls tile flags low batteries or a silent control, treat it as an early warning and check that unit before it costs you punches.

What isn't on the dashboard ​

A couple of common jobs live elsewhere, by design:

  • Marking competitors DNS in bulk is done from Competitors → Actions → Set competitors DNS…, not here. See Safety check.
  • Re-checking a download, overriding a status, or editing punches is done from the Card downloads page or the competitor's record — see Resolving issues on the day.