Time restrictions and priority days

Every season gets a default week calendar that defines when rounds can be played. Profixio League makes it for you from the start and end of the season period. Make this week calendar correct for your organisation and season: every league gets a copy of it, and each league can then adjust its own copy.

The playing times are valid for one season, so each new season gets new playing times. Each league can have its own time restrictions.

Time restrictions have three layers, each with its own screen on this page:

• Default time restrictions for the season – the week calendar every league starts from.
• League time restrictions – each league's own copy of the week calendar.
• Weekday priorities and times – which weekdays inside a week are preferred, and at what time of day.

Time restrictions mainly ensure that all teams in a league play their matches in rounds within a set time period.

• Profixio PRO, the play-order calculation, requires every team to play exactly one match in each round (except when the league has an odd number of teams).
• Profixio CUP, which positions matches on time and venue, uses the round's start and end time to initially restrict when a match can be played.

Once a schedule has been made and the matches are positioned, a match date can be set to any date you like, right up until you reschedule with a new scheme.

Open the menu "Default time restrictions for active season". The screen has four areas, numbered in the screenshot below.

1. Reset calendar – replaces your existing calendar with the calendar the system made. Use it only when your calendar is beyond repair.
2. Week list – in the example, week 40 is ticked as "Included", which means the week can have matches scheduled. Untick "Included" and the week is not allowed to have matches; typical examples are the weeks of the summer work break. By default the whole week can be used, but always subject to the weekdays set in the day calendar (area 3). Each week can also be restricted to certain dates: set them in the columns "Round earliest start" and "Round latest end". Use the calendar to the right to pick the dates, then the buttons below the calendar to save (see the arrows in the screenshot).
3. Day calendar – defines the possible playing dates within the week. This is the most important part of the screen; the priority rules are described under "Weekday priorities and times".
4. League grid – lists all leagues for the active season. You can change the name and more here. Make sure the match length is set for each league.

The playing time for each league is copied from what the organisation admin set in the menu "Access and settings" – "Organisation setup", on the tab shown below.

If you change nothing, the whole week is used, subject to the weekday priorities. You can restrict one week so it is not used at all, or so it is used only on certain days – typically when dates fall on holidays.

1. Select a row; each row is a week. Untick the checkbox if the week is not to be used at all. New Year's week is a typical example.
2. Select the playing date in the calendar.
3. Click this button to set the week's new start date.
4. Click this button to set the week's new last date.
5. Set the priority days in this table (see "Weekday priorities and times").

When a round has to be played inside a given time period, which weekdays should its matches land on? Some leagues play at the weekend, typically the top leagues, while others play on Wednesdays or Thursdays. You steer this with the "Priority weekdays" table, numbered 1 to 3 in the screenshot below.

1. Priority – set "Priority" = 1 for the best days to play, "Priority" = 2, 3 and so on for the next best days. Weekdays with priority 1 are the ones the calculation searches first; if nothing is available there, the priority 2 weekdays are used, and so on. The calculation always tries to use the days with the highest priority. Several days with the same priority are treated as equal. Weekdays with priority above 99 – that is, 100 and more – are not used in the match schedule at all; they act as restrictions and their rows are shown struck through. At least one day must have a priority below 100, otherwise the schedule cannot be made.
2. Preferable time – the preferred time of day for each weekday.
3. Available time – the time of day that is used when no positions are free within the preferable time. Available time is also the time limit the visualizer shows.

The available time start and end for each weekday is shown in the visualizer.

A schedule is divided into rounds. Typically all teams in a league level play one match in each round, and every round is assigned a week number. Two rounds can be played in the same week, but not on the same weekdays: round 1 can be played on Tuesday and Wednesday of week 45 and round 2 on Saturday and Sunday of the same week.

Open the menu "Basic data" – "Prepare schedule" and make the rounds.

1. The week number is shown for each round.
2. The active days are shown for each round and can be changed. In the example, the selected round is to be played only on Saturday and Sunday of week 18/2024.

• Making the rounds and generating the schedule: see "Prepare and generate the schedule".
• Reading the visualizer and its colour codes: see "Schedule views, visualizer and colour codes".
• The organisation and season settings the default calendar is built from: see "Organisation and season setup".
• Moving a single match after the schedule is made: see "Changing a match date, time, venue and teams".
• Play order and playkeys used by the calculation: see "Play order and playkeys".