Date Groups answer the question, "When will the games be played?" It corresponds to the field permits and the tie-pattern. The field permits provide a range of dates that games can be played. The date group tells the system exactly when games can be played. For example, the field permits provide a range and a holiday weekend may be included that you don't want games played. You would still include the date in the field permits BUT you would NOT include it in the date group. Even though it's available in the field permit games would not be scheduled because it's not in the date group. The tie-pattern uses the date group to figure out when games are being played. So the date group says: On day A - A1 vs A2 and A3 vs A4. When a schedule is created it translates Day A to the date in your date group. This allows the field permits to be more general.
Date Groups and field permits get a little trickier if you are scanning forward. If the system is scanning forward to find field space on other days available your field permits have to be more specific. For example, if your schedule is setup to scan forward 7 days but you are trying to NOT have games scheduled on a certain week your field permits must be doubled up. One permit would begin and end before the week you don't want games, and another permit would begin after the week games are not to be played and end when the season is over.
To create Date Groups for your League or Tournament, follow the steps below:
Log in and click on Elements
Click on Scheduling Administration
Click on Date Groups
Select the number of Date Groups you wish to add from the drop-down menu in the top left corner and click Add
Input a Seq number (indicates the order in which the list of Groups will appear) and Name for the new Date Group and click on Save
Click on the new link that has been created for your Date Group
Select the number of new dates you want to add from the drop-down menu on the right side and click Save
Fill in the dates on which you want games to be played and click Save
NOTE: There is no limit to the number of Date Groups you can create and there is also no limit to the number of dates that can be placed within any single Date Group