Repairing Duplicate Results

Once in a while, the same result gets saved twice for the same judge. FTN then counts that judge's ballot twice, which inflates rankings, speaker points and ballot counts. The Repair Duplicate Results tool finds these exact copies and removes the extras. It's one of the advanced pair/section tools.

How you might notice the problem

• A competitor's speaker points or rankings look too high. For example, a bye round is counted twice.
• A team shows more ballots for a round than there were judges, such as 2 ballots from a one-judge round.
• When you run Results > Debate Speakers, a red warning says WARNING: Duplicate speaker scores detected. These rankings may be incorrect. It lists each problem, for example Sarina Wang (Open Lincoln-Douglas): round 3, ballot 318, judge 1 has 2 scores for this speaker (bye round). It also links to this tool.

That warning only checks speaker scores in debate and BP prelims. The tool checks a lot more, so it's worth running before you print awards even if you haven't seen a warning.

What counts as a duplicate

A duplicate is two or more saved results that match on all of these:

• the same ballot
• the same judge
• the same competitor or team
• the same values (win/loss decision, rank, points and any other scoring details)

FTN keeps the first copy and removes the extras. It checks the whole tournament at once, prelims and elims, in debate, IE, BP, Congress (judge scores) and Readers Theater. Bye rounds are included. When a debate entry gets a bye, FTN credits it with a win and a B for each speaker's rank and points. If that bye credit was saved twice, the tool removes the extra.

What the tool leaves alone

• Different judges. On a panel, each judge's result is separate, even when the judges agree. Split decisions such as 2-1 aren't touched.
• Different competitors, teams or rounds. Only copies for the same person or team on the same ballot count.
• Copies that don't match. If the same judge has two results for the same competitor or team on the same ballot but the values differ, FTN can't tell which one is right. It lists them under Some results need review and leaves every copy in place. See When results need review below.
• Results that don't belong to a current pairing, such as a ballot code that isn't paired or a competitor who isn't on that ballot.
• World Schools scores and Congress parliamentarian rankings. These aren't checked.

Where to find it

Go to Admin > Pair/Section > Advanced and click Review Results.

Step 1: Review the duplicates

There's nothing to select. The page checks the whole tournament as soon as it opens, and opening it doesn't change anything. If there's nothing to fix, you'll see No identical duplicate results were found.

If FTN finds duplicates, it tells you how many can be removed and lists them in a table, one row for each result that has extra copies:

• Event, Round and Ballot: where the result is, for example Prelim 3 and ballot 318.
• Competitor / Team: who the result belongs to.
• Result: what kind of result it is and which judge gave it, for example Speaker score (judge 1) or Team decision (judge 2). IE and Congress results show as Entry score, BP and Readers Theater team results as Team score, and the loss recorded against the empty side of a debate bye as Bye decision.
• Score kept: the rank, points or decision that stays. B means a bye.
• Extra copies: how many copies will be removed.

In this example, Sarina Wang's Round 3 bye was credited twice (her speaker score and her win), judge 2's ballot in a Parliamentary Debate round was saved twice, and one IE rank was saved twice. Judges 1 and 3 on that Parliamentary Debate panel aren't listed because their results weren't duplicated.

Step 2: Click Repair Duplicate Results

Click Repair Duplicate Results below the table. There's no second confirmation, so check the table first. FTN removes the extra copies right away and shows a green message, for example Removed 5 duplicate results. Rankings will now use the corrected results. Below it you'll see No identical duplicate results were found.

FTN checks again when you click. If anything changed after you opened the page, such as another ballot coming in, it stops with The results have changed. Review the current duplicates before repairing them. Nothing is removed. Look over the updated table and click the button again.

When results need review

If a Some results need review box appears, the same judge has two or more different results for the same competitor or team on the same ballot. Each line shows the event, round, ballot, judge, competitor or team, and which values differ, such as Points or Win/loss decision.

FTN doesn't change these, even when you click Repair Duplicate Results. Check that judge's original ballot to find the correct result. If you need help removing the wrong copy, contact FTN support with the details from the box.

What FTN changes (and what it doesn't)

• Only the extra copies are removed. The copy that stays isn't changed.
• Rankings and ballot counts use the corrected results right away. If you ran Results > Debate Speakers earlier, run it again.
• FTN clears its saved result downloads (speaker awards, event results, sweepstakes and school results), so they're rebuilt with the corrected numbers.
• Anything you already downloaded, printed or exported, such as awards or slideshows, still has the old numbers. Make it again.
• Pairings, judge and room assignments, and eBallots aren't changed. No emails are sent.
• The repair is recorded in the tournament's audit log (Admin > Pair/Section > Audit Log) as Duplicate Results Repaired, with who did it and how many results were removed. See Change Log & Audit Log.

Undoing it

There's no undo button. Each removed result was an exact copy of one that stays, so no score, rank or decision is lost. Only the double counting goes away. FTN also saves a copy of every removed result with the audit log entry, so if you think something was removed by mistake, contact FTN support.