Import Athlete Roster

This is a great feature for moving new or updated administrative information from one TFTM Database to another, for moving athlete administrative information from the WIN-TM Database to a TFTM Database, or for moving athlete administrative information from the Sports Business Manager Database to a TFTM Database.   Click Here for more information on the Sports Business Manager.

From the T & F TEAM MANAGER Main Menu Bar, click on File then Import then Athlete Roster.  TFTM will first ask you to select the Drive, Directory, and File Name of the file you wish to Import.  If the athlete file is on a diskette, put the diskette into your Drive A and select A from the Windows Open dialog box.  TFTM will select all the files with the following file extensions - TCL from a TFTM Database, TCL from a  Business Manager Database, and ZIP.   Pick the one you wish to import and click on OK.

If you selected a ZIP file, TFTM will unzip that file into a temporary directory named ZipTemp and then ask you to choose from the list of files that were extracted.

Check the Data

After you have selected the file you wish to Import, TFTM will read the file and make various integrity checks.  These checks are important because you do not want to import "bad data".  At the conclusion of the data integrity checks, TFTM will display information about the file that was selected including who created the file and when it was created.

Ready To Import

At this point in the process, TFTM is ready to import Athletes and integrate them into your TFTM Database.  If this information has been exported from another TFTM Database, you have the option to "overlay" or "update" administrative information about an athlete.  For example, a parent volunteer has updated e-mail or contact mailing information about a number of athletes and has exported this information on a diskette and provided that diskette to you.  Now as you import this information, TFTM will update any existing information about an athlete as well as add athletes that are new to your team.  This is a great way of updating administrative information that can be moved from one TFTM Database to another.

In general, we recommend you click on OK and accept the defaults.  But if you have an empty database (no athletes have been entered), click on the Add New Teams/Athletes check box and TFTM will populate your Database with the team and athletes included on the Meet Results file.  Normally, we DO NOT recommend that you check this box because you may introduce duplicate athlete names.  For example, if the athlete in your TFTM Database is named "William Bates" and he was entered as "Bill Bates" in the Meet Manager Database, TFTM will not find a match and add him if you selected the Add New Teams/Athletes check box.  Now you have duplicate records for essentially the same athlete.

If you wish to import Competitor Numbers, click the check box Include Competitor Numbers.

How TFTM Matches Athletes

When you import Athletes, TFTM goes through the following process to find a correct match for each athlete being imported into your Database.

       TFTM looks for a match of Last Name, First name, Gender, and Team.  If all of these match, then TFTM imports the data for that athlete.  If not, then TFTM checks the "Add New Athlete Box".  If it is checked, then a new athlete is added.  If it is not checked, this record is not imported and is put on the Exception Report list.

Exception Report

You will be notified if TFTM was not able to import all of the data in the selected file and then be given the option to review a list of the information that was not imported and the reason why it was not imported.