Verifying Player Merge Steps (answered)

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shawnlee_43
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Verifying Player Merge Steps (answered)

Post by shawnlee_43 » Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:36 am

Greetings iScore minds. I'm prepping for our 2018 season and will be merging a number of data records from several seasons back (4 o 5 years). I'm hoping to confirm the process before jumping off the cliff. They way I have it currently setup, I've created a new season each year, then recreated the team each year, and then recreated the players. With that in mind, I've created an excess of admin websites too to match those teams. I'm finally ready to narrow down the data records, keeping my summer and fall leagues/teams separate of one another. With that said, I'll need to do what I'm explaining below twice, to manage 2 different sets of duplicates.

I know where the player merge option is and that part seems easy. But I want to guarantee I don't mess this thing up. The way I understand it, if I'm going to have separate teams/leagues for fall and summer, I'll then need to have admin websites for each.

Assuming I have this accurate, my guess is I'll proceed as such:

1. Access League Manager and select the Leagues to be included as part of the merge. This allows me to select my summer teams from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
2. Access Player Manager. Select a name and then choose to Merge. Find a matching name on the right. Repeat merging of names until there is one player.
3. Repeat Merge of players so all duplicate players are merged down to one.

That should complete the process correct? i'm terrified I'm going to ruin our history by merging, but this actually should be something SIMPLE to do, correct? Thank you for any input you can provide.
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OhioTex
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps

Post by OhioTex » Mon Mar 19, 2018 6:54 am

Will gladly help.. but lets clarify a few things first..

1) Do you have all your historic data on 1 device or multiple ( if so how many). , are you on apple or android devices?

2) You reference 'excess admin websites'.. that throws me off .. it should be irrelevant..

Are you talking about admin website at my.iscorecentral.com .. which is free and you can register to your email and then host multiple devices, multiple sports and unlimited teams and players under 1 account

Or Do you mean excess 'team web site subscriptions'. Which have form like Iscorebaseball.com/teamName and cost 20$ for a year subscription. You can assign different team to web site during year (eg spring high school, summer travel club, fall development team or different team each year.. if want to keep url)

3) leagues

The best practice is to use leagues to seperate seasons and years. Do you use leagues? If not i would suggest you tey them.. (you said you create seasons but never mentioned leagues or league manager..)..

4 ) merge what ?.. players? Or Teams? And why?

The only data i would be merging is players and then only if 100% sure represent the same person and i care about 'lifelong' stats for that player. Normally only worry for those on my team. And a few key opponent players

I would want to know why you want to merge a team?.. most find a seperare team each year best practice. Once you merge teams (or players) , you can never un merge. After merge a team roster management becomes harder to identify who played when - if over many years.

5)Do you ever use 'discover' for teams/games/rosters' if so, need to take extra precaution when merging to not break that linkage. The correct player needs to be in left side on merge to survive,
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OhioTex
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps

Post by OhioTex » Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:39 am

here is a common youth scenerio:

Parent wants to score kids games and track stats. Kid plays spring, summer, fall and the team changes some between seasons and year to year

Spring plays for school,
Summer plays for travel club
Fall plays for local development league

A core group of kids play together but each year and season, team sees some roster changes adds/remove players..

Each season create a new team in iscore, and build team roster by adding players from pick list. Unless truely new kid (aka freshman or transfer ) then add as new player. Then create leagues for season and assign team/players/games to leagues.


TEAM MANAGER
2016 Freshman High school team nane
2017 JV High School Team nane
2018 Varsity High School Team

2016 u15 travel club team name
2017 u16 travel club team name
2018 u18 travel club team name

League Manager contains:
2016 High school All
2017 High School All
2018 High School ALL

2018 HS pre season
2018 HS Non conference
2018 HS conference
2018 HS post season

2016 u15 summer all
2017 U16 summer all
2018 U18 summer all

2018 u18 league games
2018 u18 showcase abc
2018 u18 touney xyz

2016 Fall dev team
2017 Fall showcase tean
2018 Fall tourneys


I am diligent in all teams, and all games assigned to appropriate leagues.

Only Players on My teams that i will need lifetime stats get merged and critical review of leagues b/c normally i access their stats by team for a given season (league) . That also provides context . Stats for fall vs summer vs school . Different caliber of play.
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shawnlee_43
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps

Post by shawnlee_43 » Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:58 pm

Thanks for the follow up. Here's what I have for answers to those questions:

1) Do you have all your historic data on 1 device or multiple ( if so how many). Are you on apple or android devices?
A1) We use two devices. Most of the history I'm looking to merge is on one device, Android. My Open (18) is on another device, Apple, and both devices are linked to the free admin website.

2) You reference 'excess admin websites'.. that throws me off .. it should be irrelevant..
A2) I apologize, you are correct, I'm throwing you off. I was referring to the $20 website for posting stats. I have a bunch of them because of creating what essentially is duplicate teams year after year. I should be able to tidy these up after I merge. I was just concerned about how they would be the only thing left hosting my stats after I mess around with merging on the devices.

3) Leagues
A3) From my Android device, I have the following that represents a new league each year for Summer and Fall Ball, with two different teams playing Summer ball. They are listed as follows:

NTABL Fall Ball (Brazos) 2014
NTABL Fall Ball (Brazos) 2015
NTABL Fall Ball (Brazos) 2016
NTABL Fall Ball (Brazos) 2017

NTABL Masters League 2016
NTABL Masters League 2017

NTABL Veterans League 2014
NTABL Veterans League 2015
NTABL Veterans League 2016
NTABL Veterans League 2017


4 ) Merge what ?.. Players? Or Teams? And why?
A4) The goal for this merge would be to show that 'Shawn Lee' has been a player for Dallas Spirits (35) and Dallas Spirits (45) squads for each of the four seasons under the NTABL Leagues as shown above. They way I did it each year was I created a League, created a Team, and created the Players. The year would end, I'd create a new League, new Team, and repeat creating new versions of Players for that new team. So I've duplicated everything start to finish for 4 years using iScore. The goal would be to merge records so when we visited player stats, a true annual history of their statistics would be displayed.

If I'm understanding your reply, it looks like the only thing I really need to do is access League Manager, highlight the leagues I want to be in play to produce a pool of Players, and then access Player Manager to merge duplicate names. The player on the left I'm keeping would have duplicate player names on the right merged into it, until one name remained. Does that sound accurate? If so, does it matter which one I keep? If they are all the same user, the result should be just to keep the name once. To try to make sense of my madness, I'll use myself. I have played in each summer league and for both of the summer teams each year. So if I access League Manager, I flag these Leagues:

NTABL Masters League 2016 - Dallas Spirits (45)
NTABL Masters League 2017 - Dallas Spirits (45)
NTABL Veterans League 2014 - Dallas Spirits (35)
NTABL Veterans League 2015 - Dallas Spirits (35)
NTABL Veterans League 2016 - Dallas Spirits (35)
NTABL Veterans League 2017 - Dallas Spirits (35)

I then back out, access Player Manager and locate myself, Shawn Lee as a player. I am listed 5 times, which is a bit strange to me, considering I thought I'd show 6 times. Regardless, if I select Merge below, my name shows 5 times on the left, 5 times on the right. What's the proper process to keep one and merge the others into that one? That will be the consistent issue for most of the players who have been with the team the entire time we've used iScore. I need to know how to merge those names.

After that's all said and done, do I then complete a new Export? And before that, is there anything that should be done to have the current data I have saved somewhere in the event I need to return something I screw up? Thanks SO much for the help. Wish I had done this the right way from the beginning.
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OhioTex
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps

Post by OhioTex » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:55 pm

This looks lengthy, but i beleive after you read you will find the data merge to do is pretty simple and logical... just takes me some time to explain it by text....

SAFETY NET
  • basically each time you do an "iscore > option> export " you create a new 'back up ' on the free admin server. (over writing the previous backup).

    therefore, before you do a lot of data changes on your device, as a safety precaution, do an "option > export" to update the backup on the admin server. Then, make your data changes on your device but don't option export until you are fully satisfied your data changes are all good. If not happy with your data changes, you can restore your database to your last good backup by doing an "iscore >option > import". Once satisfied with all your data changes, don't forget to create a new backup. "iscore > Option > Export". These simple steps should give you piece of mind to be able to 'play around' with data changes.

    MAKE SENSE?

MAIN POINT
  • I like your league use and creating a new team each year is fine.
    (I personally use 1 team a season and would not recommend merging teams)

    Where you hurt yourself is creating a brand new player (eg shawn lee) for each new team roster each season vs picking the pre existing player (shawn lee) from list of players in your player manager list. However this is relatively easy to fix, just takes some learning and then a few repeat keystrokes
To Merge Players
  • Do a Safety net Back up (Option > Export)
    1) Turn on "ALL league" (this overrides all other league settings and reveals all the data on your device. )
    2) go to Payer Manager, scroll through names, you will now see every player in your data base, (regardless of league assignments) .. including any "multiple" versions of a player like "shawn Lee"
    3) now you can Merge any multiples down to one player . (I would focus on the few you really care about, like yourself and your current team players). since you do not use "Discover" . which player is in right and left column is not critical for you.. Just keep merging until down to one version of Shawn Lee
    4) When you are down to one version of player ( shawn Lee) .. double check he has all appropriate leagues assigned to him
    5) after doing 1 player, before doing more, I would encourage you to now play around and see the effect.. go back and look at each team rosters for that player and see that He is still on the expected teams. and test viewing his stats with various league settings from All to select ones. to see how this new singular shawn lee works
    6) repeat merge for other key players you desire
    ....
    x) when satisfied, do and (Option > Export) to update your back up database on admin site.
technical note:.
  • Iscore creates a hidden 'unique identifier' for every element (player, team, game etc). you can not see this unique identifier but it is how the program keeps multiple players separate from each other (Shawn Lee 's version 1,2,3,4,etc) . this unique identifier is used in data sharing mapping and discovery player/team/game mapping. Since you do not use 'discover' for players , it is less critical to you to make sure you retain the 'correct' shawn lee on left when doing a merge. b/c When you merge players the surviving (player on the left) identifier is retained and the player on the right identifier is lost forever. Since you do not use 'discover' for players , it really does not really matter who is on left for you. If you did use discover players, I would find the team/player used in discover and add a note to his name (like master ), and then I would know which player to put on the left in Merge
    MAKES SENSE? Let me know if more questions


MULTIPLE TEAM Web Site Subscriptions
  • * team web sites provide you a unique URL for a Year example url://iscorebaseball.com/TEAM-NAME
    * your entire iscore Database is stored on the Admin server, and updated/replaced each time you do an iscore app > option > export.
    * the team web site subscription pulls the data from the Admin Server (that is why you have to Option > Export to update your team web site data after a scored game).
    * you can change which team is assigned to which team URL any time you want, on the Admin Web Site (my.iscorecentral.com Account tab. )
    * you can thus use multiple teams in a year if you want as well as renewing your URL year to year with new subscription.
    MAKES SENSE? Let me know if more questions
LEAGUE TIPS
  • I like your use of leagues, a few side notes:
    a) you can add /remove and reassign leagues at will. I find in my current season i tend to make a few extra leagues for use in season analysis and then delete them post season.
    b) when data sharing League assignments do not transfer
    c) when you crate a new player or team or game, it "inherits" and leagues that are enabled at the time
    d) if you Assign a team to a new league, (team Manager > Team > League) the program will ask you if you want to assign current roster players to the league too.
    e) You will find iOS program has a more robust League Manager assignment interface, in iOS You can do it all from in League Manager > then select a League > and then you can check assignments by tab Player, Team and Game. In android you still have to to assign under team manager > team > league, and player manager > player >league , and game Manager > game League. )
OTHER REFERENCE READING

Here is "how to" use "data sharing" to move data on your second (apple) device to your main (android ) device.
http://iscoresports.com/baseball/kb/faq ... _share.php


Here is a 'how to' for changing the team associated with team site
http://iscoresports.com/baseball/kb/faq ... ewteam.php


Here is a company FAQ on using 1 team for multiple years
(note: i personally prefer 1 team per season, but if you want a team for multiple years/season.. here is a how to..)
http://iscoresports.com/baseball/kb/faq ... o_year.php
Last edited by OhioTex on Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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shawnlee_43
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps (replied, pending user reply back - if need)

Post by shawnlee_43 » Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:04 pm

THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!!! OhioTex, you are magnificent!! I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to do this work. If you're ever in Dallas, please let me buy you a beer. You can find me simply by googling my team's website!!
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OhioTex
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps (replied, pending user reply back - if need)

Post by OhioTex » Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:15 am

glad to help....let us know if it solved your needs..
you have been a loyal iscore user for a few years and want you to get the most out of it as you can.
(by the way, no plans to be in Dallas but i am a UT Longhorn alum. now living in Ohio State buckeye land). /Charles
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shawnlee_43
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps (answered)

Post by shawnlee_43 » Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:25 pm

Go Big 10! I'm from Wisco. Thanks again. I'm going to tackle it this weekend.
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shawnlee_43
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps (answered)

Post by shawnlee_43 » Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:01 am

Greetings OhioTex - I completed the merging of players today and uploaded the data (Exported). My links to review stats for individual players are failing and I'll look at them later. However, don't I HAVE to merge teams? If a player is sitting on several different versions of the Spirits, like so:

NTABL Veterans League 2014 - Dallas Spirits (35)
NTABL Veterans League 2015 - Dallas Spirits (35)
NTABL Veterans League 2016 - Dallas Spirits (35)
NTABL Veterans League 2017 - Dallas Spirits (35)

How can you see lifetime stats? You link teams to your Team Websites, and that would mean I'd have to have one setup for each year, right? So really, I just want ONE Dallas Spirits team, and then you link that one team to one Team Website at my.iscorecentral.com, and that link would then be embedded to my real website, correct?

I feel like I have a disconnect on individual player lifetime stats now. It doesn't find them anymore. It appears I killed my links...

This used to show individual stats, albeit for the one time that one created player was on, but now that they are merged, the link is dead:

http://iscorebaseball.com/player_stats. ... 827906abcf
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OhioTex
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Re: Verifying Player Merge Steps (answered)

Post by OhioTex » Mon Apr 02, 2018 12:00 pm

Lets pause a minute and make sure fully communicating..

there is a difference between accessing data on your mobile (android) device and a web site subscription. Remember your mobile device is the "data master" you own the data and it resides on your device and you have full access to your data from your device (and email capability) (the web is for backup storage). But If you want data access by web site, you need to purchase a web site subscription. (i think you know all that already) . but did you know , there are actually two kinds of web site subscriptions, Team Web Site subscriptions (20$/year) and Player Spotlight Web site subscriptions (10$/year) -- depending on you unit of focus- team or player. Both can be purchased from the my.iscorecentral.com admin web site.


Lets level set on your PLAYER merge data clean up before we talk about the Team Data

PLAYER DATA
on your device with All League Enabled..
a) did you finish all your player data merges in Player Manager? . (e.g.: Shawn Lee, and others.. )

b) are you satisfied on your device, do lifetime stats, look right for the player (e.g.: Shawn Lee, all years, leagues, games etc. all there as expected,)?
( view with All League Enabled: Player Manager > Player > Player Stats > and EMAIL if want. )

c) If you want web site access for Lifetime Player Stats (All League: Player Manager > Player > Player Stat )- you would purchase a Player Web site Subscription (10$/year). http://www.playerspotlights.com

(Caveat on Player web sites.They are very similar to team web sites (simple update with option export and sortable and drill down on stats for the Defined Player ) but a bit less developed. in general terms, Player web sites are on (v1 ) while team web sites are on v3+. There are some features on Team Web Sites that never got adopted on Player spotlight sites (example: log off button, League selector, hit charts, extended stats, stat selector) you can read some more on this thread. viewtopic.php?t=11139 )


TEAM DATA
* as you know, Team Websites are focused on a Team and only 1 team. stats are for games played by players on that team . but only that team.
* you are right, you do not "see lifetime stats" across teams. to do that you would have to played on same team whole time.
* you can merge teams into one. but once you do you can NEVER EVER GO BACK .
* I personally like to keep Teams separate year to year. b/c of the change in Roster from year to year with adds/drop/ changes.
* merging teams would be just like merging players, but have to be extra careful to keep your final master team on the left in every merge. and then that team would be the one you assign to team web site. team web site would only disguise games by LEAGUE not year. (you would have to create leagues for that)
* although on device you can enable multiple leagues at once.(example, one for year and one for conference games). and filter team stats by time, oppoent or last x games played on team site you can use enable one league filter at a time.

NEXT STEP
Before you go embark on a path of no return - merging teams , I wanted to be sure 1) the player data merge on device is "cleaned up" las you wanted 2) you understand the 10$ Player Spotlight option and 3) you started to think about and understood some of the pro/con tradeoffs if you merge teams.


I will pause here and let you reply back
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