Transporting a league between a bowling center and league secretary is a very simple process, with a minor amount of care necessary to assure proper handling.
The first thing that is mandatory is that the center and league secretary must be on the same major version. As an example, if the center has BLS-2023 and the secretary has BLS-2022, then the league data can not go back and forth. Data can only be upgraded, not downgraded.
The other thing that occasionally is required is that both the center and secretary need to be at least at a similar version number. Example would be if there was a bug fix that affected the data and was fixed in 35.03.01, then it would be important that both the center and secretary be at least at 35.03.01 or newer.
To go from league secretary to center
League Secretary will do the following after the week has been prepared:
- From within the league, go to UTILITIES > BACKUP > LEAGUE (or if the league is closed, MAINTENANCE > BACKUP > LEAGUE) and save the backup on a USB Flash Drive.
- If emailing the league to the center, use your Email program and attach the backup file to the email to send to the center. Otherwise take the flash drive to the center.
Note: While the center has the data from this point, any changes you make to the league will be lost if the center makes changes, imports scores, etc. Wait to make any changes after the center has done their work with the league and has backed up the league using the below steps and you have restored the backup.
Center would do the following after receiving the backup file:
- Center would Backup the league if it already is on their BLS as a precaution. UTILITIES > BACKUP > LEAGUE (or if the league is closed, MAINTENANCE > BACKUP > LEAGUE)
- Center would Delete the league in BLS so that data files are not mixed together. With the leagues closed, go to MAINTENANCE > DELETE > LEAGUE
- If the league backup was emailed, the Center would open the email and save the backup file attached to the email sent from the secretary to the Windows desktop. If BLS is on another computer than the email program, then the Center would copy the backup file to a flash drive and then take the flash drive to the BLS computer and then copy the backup file from the flash drive to the desktop.
- Center would Restore League from the Secretary Backup. With the leagues closed, go to MAINTENANCE > RESTORE > LEAGUE
The same process can be done when going from center to league secretary.
To go from center to league secretary:
From within the league, go to UTILITIES > BACKUP > LEAGUE (or if the league is closed, MAINTENANCE > BACKUP > LEAGUE) and save the backup on a USB Flash Drive.
If emailing the league to the secretary, use your Email program and attach the backup file to the email to send to the secretary. Otherwise take the flash drive to the secretary.
Secretary would do the following after receiving the backup file.
- Backup the league if it already is on their BLS as a precaution. UTILITIES > BACKUP > LEAGUE (or if the league is closed, MAINTENANCE > BACKUP > LEAGUE)
- Delete the league in BLS so that data files are not mixed together. With the league closed, click MAINTENANCE > DELETE > LEAGUE
- Restore League from the Secretary Backup. With the leagues close, click MAINTENANCE > RESTORE > LEAGUE
Note: Why delete a league before restoring a backup? Think of eating dinner at the dinner table and leaving the remaining food and dishes on the table. The next day, you bring your dinner and dishes to the table and you're now mixing today's and yesterday's meals and dishes together, which is not only messy, but could be dangerous to accidentally get food poisoning. By deleting the league before restoring the backup, you are essentially cleaning up yesterday's table, wiping it clean and allowing today's meal and dishes to be on the table.