Since we announced the launch of Tourneytopia.com, we've still been very busy tidying things up. We've done builds just about every night since then, and sometimes first thing in the morning if we found a critical issue.

Well, I'm hoping that will slow down now. When we launched, we still had a few minor issues and features we wanted to get done, and tonight, I feel like we've got them all done. Don't get me wrong, there's still things we want to do. But most of that relates to either brand new features or changes to the current features to make it support more than just March Madness. So, given how busy we've been, we've decided to shelve any new features until next year, and put off making it more generic until April.

So, what does that mean? It means we're now feature complete for 2006! I listed out the major new features a while ago, but here's what we've added recently:

• Improved What-If Scenarios: First, what we need to answer exactly what "What-If Scenarios" are. Once the tourney gets to the final four, the scenarios become active. Last year, all we did was show them for that week between the final four being set and when the first final four game was finished. After that, it was disabled again. This year, we still show them, and incorporate the actual results into the scenarios - so you track as the final four and championship games complete which scenarios are still valid, but also see what could have been. By the way, I always fall into the "what could have been" category - there's usually a scenario where I can finish in second or third, but it never comes to pass.
• Licensing can be purchased directly from Tourneytopia.com. You can initialize a purchase directly from the Tourneytopia.com. We aren't completely automated - we still have to add your license once we are notified, but by this weekend, we are hoping to have it completely automated. The good news (if you want to look at it that way!) is that most people don't make their purchase until the week before the tourney starts or the week of the tourney so it shouldn't affect too many people (although, orders are starting to come in!).
• We made a change in how we handle unlicensed entries. Before, if an entry came in and it took you over the number of entries you had licenses for, then that entry was saved, but not visible on the site. That can get confusing for users who don't (and shouldn't have to) know anything about how it's licensed. They wonder what happened to their entry. Well, now they'll be able to find their entry. It just won't be scored or ranked. But users can still see it, and edit it before the tourney starts.
• We also have made quite a few minor UI improvements, including some basic formatting of grids, removal of an unneeded page, and a few others. Nothing major here, but the changes give it a better feel.

So what's coming from Tourneytopia.com? Not much new over the next few weeks. Our focus now is sales and support, and we'll fix bugs as we find them. Then, it'll be time for March Madness - my favorite time of the year!

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