This section describes one way to run a score room. Use it as a departure point for designing your own score room procedures.

This section includes the following topics:

• Score Room Mission
• A Score’s Journey

Score Room Mission

When setting up a score room have two goals in mind:

• Accuracy
• Efficiency

Accuracy is foremost. The suggested procedures invariably result in all scoring operations being done twice by independent people. These two people must agree on the resulting computation.

Efficiency is secondary to accuracy, however, it needs to be considered. Efficiency for a score room is normally defined as computing the final scores by the time that the tournament director expects them to be done. Work this out in advance with the tournament director. Typically at a tournament with 100 teams, final scores are available about an hour after the last team performs.

Typically, a score room provides the following services:

• Verifies that any scoring calculations done at the challenge sites are correct.
• Calculates the final scores for the tournament.
• Distributes the scores to appropriate parties.
• Stores the tournament paperwork.

A Score’s Journey

Let’s view these services by reviewing the flow of scores through a score room.

At the Challenge Site

Scores are generated at the challenge sites. The Team Challenge sites, in particular, produce a considerable amount of paperwork. To keep all of the paperwork in order, consider putting each team’s paperwork in a separate 9×12 envelope or a color-coded folder. These folders and envelopes start at the challenge site and can be used by the number cruncher to manage their work.

Send the following paperwork to the score room:

• Appraisers’ score sheets
• Calculation worksheets
• Prep area checklist
• Master score sheet

Although the remaining paperwork is not needed to compute scores, put it in the envelope so it is easy to find when you need it.

Instant Challenge paperwork is less voluminous. Normally a team’s Instant Challenge paperwork consists of individual score sheets and a master score sheet. Completed packets are often delivered to a common place in the Instant Challenge area so they can be retrieved by the score runner without disturbing the Instant Challenge sites.

Score runners pick up completed envelopes and deliver them to the score room where all the computations are reviewed.

Logging in Paperwork

Designate an inbox where new scores delivered by the score runners are deposited. Assign the role of Paperwork Manager to one of the score room staff. The Paperwork Manager performs the following tasks:

• Verifies that every piece of paper is for the correct team
• Reviews the paperwork packet that arrived to determine that all pieces are present
• Places the paperwork in the order requested by the Score Master, to speed checking
• Records on a master list that a complete packet has arrived

If parts of the paperwork are missing, send the packet back to the challenge room with a note explaining what is missing. Do this as soon as possible because the paper is easier to find when the trail is still warm.

The paperwork manager should set up a primitive filing system for all of the paperwork. Designate a student desk or shelf area for each challenge. Keep packets that have been checked separate from those that are not. Score checkers will continue to draw from the unchecked pool and computer operators will continue to add to the checked pool.

Checking the Raw Scores

A score checker recomputes all the calculations performed at the challenge site. They start with the values on each appraiser’s score sheets and recompute the combined values entered on the master score sheet.

Score checking is the most resource intensive activity in the score room. The number of checkers needed will vary depending on the size of tournament. A smaller number of checkers working all day is better than a larger number in shifts. A good estimate is one checker per 20-30 teams (per day if you have a multi-day tournament).

However, much of the score checkers’ traditional job can now be done by the DI Scoring Program. Consider entering the appraiser’s scores on a Detail score sheet with appraisers to minimize this difficult work.

Score checkers generally like to work on a given challenge for an hour or so and then switch off and work on a different challenge. Sticking with a specific challenge lets them become very efficient at that challenge. A change of pace is also refreshing, however, working on too many different challenges can result in getting their rules confused. A good compromise is to have score checkers work in pairs. They can swap challenges to stay fresh and provide a second opinion for each other.

It is vital that a score checker works on only one team’s scores at a time.

Resolving Scoring Disparities

If the score checker agrees with every value on the master score sheet, then the score checker initials the master score sheet, clips the paperwork together with the master sheet on top, and staples the master score sheet to the outside of the team’s envelope or folder.

If the score checker does not agree with one or more values, the discrepancies typically are one of the following three types.

An appraiser’s score is out of range.
The score checker should check with the Score Master to verify his/her conclusion.

If an appraiser or number cruncher has made an error, notify the Head Appraiser for the challenge. It is extremely important to get these cases resolved quickly.

The scores are not combined properly.
If a value on a score sheet varies significantly from the value computed by the score checker, then either the score checker or the number cruncher is confused about the scoring of the challenge. Check with the Score Master for his/her insight.

If there is a difference of opinion on how the challenge is scored, the Score Master should contact the Head Appraisers to resolve the problem. The issue might require that scores already received and processed be reviewed and revised.

There is a mathematical error.
A score checker can correct simple math errors. However do not erase any scores!

Check the math again and, if the number on the paperwork is wrong, draw a line through the original score, enter the corrected score, and initial the change. Complete your review of the team’s paperwork and then give the team’s paperwork to another score checker for a second opinion. To fulfill the requirement that all calculations are checked by two score room staff, the second score checker verifies the first score checker’s calculations.

If a pattern of simple math errors emerges, a gentle note to the challenge room is in order.

Verifying the Scores

The calculations performed by the number cruncher and checked by the score checker vary for each challenge and each tournament. The rules of each challenge state the items the appraisers are to score and the range of points that can be awarded for these items. The challenge rules also specify how these items are combined.

To properly check a set of scores, the checker must understand the following rules:

• The types of items that can appear on a score sheet
• The format used on score sheets for indicating the valid values
• How to combine the scores from multiple appraisers
• How precise calculated scores need to be
• Which calculations are performed by the number cruncher and which are performed by the DI Scoring Program.

Armed with this knowledge, the score checker checks that:

• Each value assigned by an individual appraiser is in range (unusual values, such as a score of zero, must be explained)
• Scores for subjective items are averaged properly, rounded correctly, and recorded on the master score sheet.
• Scores for objective items are identical for all appraisers and are accurately recorded on the master score sheet.
• Deductions are accurately recorded and explained on the master score sheet.
• Sub-totals (the white cells on the master score sheet) are computed properly.

When using the DI Scoring Program, the score checker might not need to verify, combine, or scale any values, or to compute raw totals or scaled totals.

Data entry is more efficient if the envelopes or folders are sorted into separate Team Challenge and Instant Challenge piles, and further sorted by challenge level and order of performance.

Off to the DI Scoring Program

After a packet is certified to be correct, it is passed to the input queue for the computer operators to enter into the DI Scoring Program.

The computer operators must check for the initials of the score checker who verified the scores. If a folder arrives without initials, it should be returned to the score checkers.

Two different computer operators type the scores into two different computers. Having two people enter scores independently catches typing and transposition errors. Having two computers assures that a computer malfunction does not delay the final scores.

The method for entering scores in the DI Scoring Program is discussed in the Enter Scores section of the DI Scoring Program Help file.

It is best if the operators enter scores independently. If one reads the scores and both enter the values read, you don’t get the full benefit of independent data entry.

The DI Scoring Program has a Check Scores feature that verifies that the values entered in two computers are the same. This feature can be used to check scores for each challenge level or scores for all challenge levels in the tournament. Use it early and often to catch data entry errors.

Some score rooms like to review the entered scores with the Head Appraiser for the challenge level. The entered scores can be printed in an Entered Scores Report or an Appraisers’ Detail Scores Report. Both of these operations are performed from the challenge level window.

After scores are entered, the score packets should be filed in the paperwork manager’s file system so they can be retrieved at a later time, if needed.

Computing Final Scores

After both the Team Challenge and Instant Challenge scores have been entered for all the teams in a challenge level, the final scores for that challenge level can be computed.

Programs like the DI Scoring Program compute the final scores in a matter of seconds. If you are performing this operation manually, follow the rules described in the Scoring Rules section. Have two different people calculate the scores independently and compare results using a procedure like the one suggested for score checking.

You can tell by looking at the Tournament Summary Window or challenge level window in the DI Scoring Program that a challenge level is ready for final scoring. In the Tournament Summary Window, the values of both TC Inc and IC Inc are zero for the challenge level. In the challenge level window, the check boxes in the TC done and IC done are checked.

The Complete a Challenge Level and Complete the Tournament sections explain how to view and print the final scores. Since printing takes time, print the results as soon as they are completed. The Printed column in the Tournament Summary Window records the time at which a Final Scores Report was most recently printed for a challenge level.

Releasing Paperwork

Paperwork should remain in the score room under the watchful eye of the Paperwork Manager until the tournament and the award ceremony are complete. If officials need to review paperwork, they should come to the score room to find the paperwork. Lost scores are a major headache.

A procedure should be established for any paperwork that leaves the score room. Limit the people who can remove scoring paperwork from the score room to the Tournament Director, the Head Appraiser, and the Score Master. If you are using the DI Scoring Program, the procedure should include raising an issue in the team’s folder (see Track Issues).

The Paperwork Manager should create a separate log that documents score packets leaving and returning to the score room. When paperwork leaves, add a note to the Paperwork Manager’s tracking sheet indicating who requested the scores and the date and time they left the score room. When scores are returned, make a special note in the log if any of the scores were changed. Each change should result in the old values being crossed out (again, no erasures) and initialed. Returned scores must be reviewed by the score checkers once more.

When the tournament is over, put the paperwork and any removable media with the tournament archive in an archive box and give it to the Tournament Director. (For more information, see Build an Archive.)

Releasing the Appraiser Teams

The appraiser teams at the challenge sites finish scoring the team performances long before the scores are checked. If a discrepancy is detected in the scores, the score room must be able to contact the appraisers at the challenge site to resolve it.

To deal with this situation, the appraiser teams should not be released from the challenge site until the scores for their challenge level(s) have been cleared by the score room. The Score Master informs the Head Appraiser for the challenge level when this condition has been met.

Archiving Paperwork

Questions about how the tournament was scored sometimes arise after the tournament is over. Occasionally, officials must the review the scoring information managed by the scoring program. To deal with this possibility, build a scoring archive, keep a copy, and give a copy to the Tournament Director and to the Score Master for next level of competition.