In the very near future we are going to be able to grade some team games for NGS. Swiss Teams and Multiple Teams will be graded and will be done by looking at the cross-imps (or butler imps) that the scoring program produces for the individual pairs. There will be some discipline necessary in Swiss Teams, such that if the orientation of a pair changes the TD will have to make some changes before the round is scored. The first team game graded will be the Scarborough teams event.
In order to accommodate the grading of teams we have had to specify an upgrade to the XML file format, which we call USEBIO XML - which stands for "Universal Standard for Exchange of Bridge Information Over XML", but we use USEBIO for ease. In any organisation technical advancement usually means that some existing standards need to change. In this case the XML file we need requires extra information from scoring programs. If your club does not wish to make team games acceptable to NGS then nothing has to be done as your existing scoring program will continue to have their files accepted by the EBU in what has become "the usual" way. However, it is worth reminding you that if you remain on what we now call version 1.0 you will be excluded from this advance and other technical advances as time goes by.
If you wish to move forward you will need to ensure that your scoring software provider produces files to the USEBIO 1.1 specification. They can contact our office for more detail as required (michael@ebu.co.uk).
At the time of writing only the JS suite of programs from Jeff Smith comply with USEBIO 1.1. If you wish to have team games graded or use other software that complies with USEBIO 1.1 you may need to switch to JS Software or ask your current supplier to upgrade their offering. Details of Jeff's software are available at this link - http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jasmith
I hope this helps - please call or write to us if it is not clear enough for you.
