The IC Tracking strategy your tournament uses will likely depend on the size of the tournament and the support staff you have in instant challenge beyond the IC Appraisers.


The more teams and steps you use, the more time you will spend advancing teams using panes.  You also need to think about who has a device to advance a team to the next step using the Resource Area.


Scenario #1: no IC Tracking


You don't have to do IC Tracking at all.  If your tournament does not have internet access to the Resource Area, you can't use this feature.


Scenario #2: limited tracking and no Mobile Scoring 


You might have internet access at your tournament but are not using Mobile Scoring.  In this case you might have a CheckIn / CheckOut station where your teams check-in and check-out.  In this case you would likely want to use the steps:


Unknown => Check In => Done


The officials at the CheckIn and CheckOut station can use the Check-In pane to move teams from Unknown=>Checked-In as they arrive and Checked-In=>Done when they leave.  Officials running instant challenge, the Score Room, or the Tournament Director might have a tablet that will allow them to see the state of the teams.


If your tournament is larger (over 100 teams), you might have additional officials in Holding and/or Chill-out that can track teams going through these steps.  In this case, add the additional steps.  The officials will need a device such as a tablet or laptop to transition the teams to the next step.


Scenario #3: limited tracking with Mobile Scoring


Mobile Scoring needs internet access so it can build on Scenario #2.  It can also take advantage of a mobile client feature.  If you are doing Mobile Scoring in IC, the mobile client will advance a team to the next step when an Appraiser submits scores for that team.  If the steps you chose include Chill-Out, the mobile client will advance the team to Chill-out when IC scores are submitted.  Otherwise it will advance the team to Done.


Scenario #4: Global Finals 


Global Finals is a tournament with over 1000 teams doing Mobile Scoring and with officials running each of steps.  With so many teams to manage, it uses the full set of steps:


Unknown => Checked-In => Holding => In-IC-room => Chill-out => Done


There are officials at check-in and check-out to track the teams into and out of instant challenge.  Tracking teams leaving holding lets us know who is in each of the instant challenge rooms.  The mobile client will advance teams to Chill-out as scores are submitted eliminating the need for IC Appraisers needing to do this.