Atlas / tournament documentation
Running a tournament on Atlas
Reference documentation for Atlas, Meridian's software for running a debate tournament: one page for each admin screen, the tasks that span them and the reference tables.
Atlas is Meridian's software for hosting and tabulating a debate tournament. A director uses it to take entries, collect fees, seat judges, pair rounds, gather ballots, publish standings and close out the record. These pages document every screen of the tournament admin, the controls on each, the messages each returns and the jobs a director does with them.
How these pages are arranged
- One page for each screen. Each page states what the screen is for, who can use it, every control with its on-screen label, the tasks done there as numbered steps, and the messages the screen can return with what to do about each.
- Task index. Task index lists each job a director does, in the order a tournament runs, and names the page that holds the steps.
- Reference. Roles and permissions holds the matrix of what each role can do. Settings reference lists every setting with its default. The Glossary defines the debate and tab terms the product uses.
- Current behavior only. The pages describe the product as it is. Where a control exists and nothing reads it yet, the page says so.
Who uses it
| Role | What the role does in Atlas |
|---|---|
| Organization owner or admin | Sets up the organization, creates tournaments and runs every tournament the organization hosts. |
| Tournament admin, tab and compliance seats | Run, tab or review one tournament. Roles and permissions lists what each seat can do. |
| Coach | Registers entries from one account, shares claim links with students and pays for the cart. |
| Competitor | Registers or claims an entry, checks the pairing, reads results and files a dispute. |
| Judge | Signs up, files availability, a paradigm and conflicts, then enters ballots. |
| Observer and the public | Read released pairings, results and the bracket, within what the director chooses to publish. |
The order a tournament runs
- Create an organization and finish its setup.
- Create a tournament from a starting preset.
- Read the Overview screen, which reports what is blocking the next step.
- Configure the tournament in Setup and define its rooms.
- Open registration and manage the field in Registration and field.
- Add and approve judges, and run the check-in desk.
- Run each round in Rounds and pairing, then collect ballots and settle disputes.
- Read standings, set the break and elimination rounds and record awards.
- Finalize and close out the record in Results and closeout.
A first-time director can start with Getting started, which gives the shortest path from sign-up to a first released round. Questions that belong to no one screen are in the FAQ.
All pages
- Getting startedThe shortest path from a new account to a first released round, with a link to the page that covers each step in full.
- Task indexEach job a director does, in the order a tournament runs, with the page that holds its numbered steps.
- Organization and accountCreating an organization, its five setup steps, the organization console, roles, profile, logo and colors, Stripe payments and the people who administer it.
- Creating a tournamentThe create form, its eight presets, every field with its limits, and exactly what a new tournament starts with.
- Overview screenThe status board at the top of the tournament admin: its phases, counts, next moves and handoff rows.
- SetupEvery Setup section and setting: dates and clock, events, rooms, ballot, rounds and break, standings, registration, and the settings that are saved but not acted on.
- RoomsHow to define rooms, import many at once, set capacity and notes, retire a room, and how Rounds and online meeting links use the list.
- PrintingThe Printing settings screen, the blank ballot sheet it feeds, and what each of the five printing options changes on paper and on postings.
- Registration and fieldThe Field screen: its rail, the Registrations and Invited views, payments, the waitlist, invitations and the competitor record.
- JudgesThe Judges view of Field: the roster, the steps a judge must finish before being seated, availability, conflicts, households, nominations and removal.
- Check-inThe check-in desk, the self check-in switch and the roster freeze: who is in the building, how arrivals are recorded, and what freezing the roster does.
- Rounds and pairingHow a director builds, checks, releases and runs a round on the Rounds screen: draws, sides, byes, judges, rooms, the release check and every message it can return.
- BallotsWhat a ballot contains, how the tab desk watches the queue, nudges judges, enters and corrects ballots, and what each state and message means.
- DisputesHow a competitor questions a recorded result, how the tab desk claims and rules on it, what each outcome records, and what a ruling does not change.
- StandingsThe Standings tab: how entries are ranked, what each tiebreaker means, how drops and adjusted totals work, who sees standings, and every control on the screen.
- Breaks and elimination roundsHow a break is chosen and seeded, how to generate the first elimination round, advance the bracket round by round, and publish the bracket.
- Awards and announcingThe Awards and Announcing tabs: how speaker awards are ranked and saved, what the announcing stage shows, and when awards become public.
- Results and closeoutThe Records screen: the audit trail of manual decisions, the closeout band that finalizes a tournament, the closeout packet and ballot exports, and what Finalize changes.
- ComplianceThe Compliance Reports screen, the read-only compliance seat, and how policy agreements from competitors and judges are recorded.
- AnnounceSend a notice to competitors, judges, coaches and parents, and set up the pending payment reminder email.
- Users and rolesWho holds an admin, tab or compliance seat on a tournament, how seats are added, changed and removed, and who may manage them.
- Exports and importEvery file the tournament can export, the spreadsheet import wizard step by step, and the validation messages that stop an import.
- ObserversEnroll observers, log their requests to watch a released pairing, and record each side's approval.
- SponsorsReview sponsor applications, approve or reject them, and see how an approved sponsor reaches the public page.
- Public page and helpThe Public page hub of links, the in-console Documentation page and bug report, the Quick-start walkthrough, the search palette, and the Preview participant views panel.
- Roles and permissionsWhat each role and seat can do on every tournament screen, with the refusal each one meets.
- Settings referenceEvery tournament setting, what it does, its default and the screen that holds it.
- GlossaryDebate and tab terms used in the tournament product, defined in plain words.
- FAQShort answers to questions that belong to no single screen, with a link to the page that holds the detail.