When making significant changes to your settings or for new organizations, testing your settings will help you to avoid stress and scrambling to make corrections on rodeo days. Note, making sure that your settings are correct is the responsibility of the account admin for your organization. The testing procedure described below is quite extensive as it covers much of the end-to-end nature of the software.

Test Rodeo Recommended Procedure

You will also find this information in the User Guide, found from the Main Menu as Dashboard > User Guide, and scroll down to to the section labelled Test Rodeo Overview.

We strongly recommend that new associations run a Test Rodeo prior to the beginning of their rodeo season. This Test rodeo is useful for becoming familiar with the system and also as a means to test the outputs. It is far better to discover that something is not set properly, such as payout split formulas, during a Test Rodeo than on a live rodeo weekend. When running the Test Rodeo, please remember that the system is “live” which is why we recommend that you either use fake members in the Test or use members who’s emails go to the person/people who are running the Test rodeo. If needed, you can add numerous fake members with the same email address. Also, if you are taking online payments for memberships and/or rodeo entries, the payment system is live, so avoid processing payments for the test.

1. Begin by adding (registering) some new members, between 10 and 20. Do this both from the public side and from the Admin side to test the membership fees charged. After you have added members, be sure to go to the Members – Manage Members page and set their Membership Paid Date to make them current paid members.
2. Add a Rodeo. Use the settings that you will use most often, including the rodeo format settings. Name it Test Rodeo, or something similar so you can easily distinguish. Make sure you set the rodeo entry dates so that your test period is included. If you are currently in your rodeo season, we suggest that you click on the settings to Exclude From Rodeo Counts and Exclude From Standings. This will prevent these values from being updated during your testing and possibly displaying confusing information to your members.
3. For the test, it’s easiest to just stick to 3 events, a timed event, a team event, and a rough stock event.
4. Enter members into events from the entry form on the public side and by using the Admin Entry Override. Make sure you enter a few members manually through the Admin side as well, in Rodeo Setup -Manage Rodeo Entrants.
5. Make a few edits to a few entries, moving a member from one event to another and also changing a team member in a team event.
6. Generate the rodeo draw.
7. View the Draw Preview.
8. Change the rodeo to Show Draw on Web.
9. Go back to Manage Rodeo Entrants and make a couple edits/changes.
10. View the Draw Preview again to verify changes.
11. Change the rodeo to Show Draw as Official on Web.
12. Generate all the tools you will need such as Judges Cards, Day Sheets, Announcer Sheets.
13. For each event, enter some typical scores in Enter Results – Unofficial. Double check the payout and points calculations.
14. Look at the results in Rodeo Results Preview.
15. Change the rodeo to Show Results on Web.
16. Go back to Enter Results – Unofficial, and change a score, resubmit, check the payout and points calculations.
17. Verify the changes in Rodeo Results Preview
18. Use Review Results – Official to review and mark the results as official.
19. Change the rodeo to Show Results as Official on Web.
20. Check the Season Standings in Season Standings Preview. Note, if you had clicked on the settings to Exclude From Rodeo Counts and Exclude From Standings, click them off now so you can view the Standings with the Test rodeo included.
21. After you have completed all your testing, edit the rodeo one last time and click on the settings to Exclude From Rodeo Counts and Exclude From Standings.