Hunting for Places in Queues

The hunting for places in queue agenda allows you to determine the order of people who register for a given event - called a time contest. A time competition can be a competition for theatre tickets, registration for a lucrative course, or limiting any offer in the Shopping Centre. Those interested in a given event are selected only on the basis of the time registration principle without any other criteria. The order of the applicants is therefore determined only by the time of clicking on the button to obtain the code.

Regular sales in the Shopping Centre or other registration methods in the MU IS are not usually adapted for timed competitions. However, the agenda of time competitions, built on the simple principle of a click competition, allows the system to serve hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of applicants in a very short interval.

Phase 1: obtaining the competition code

In the first phase, the entrant receives a ten-character random code free of charge at https://souteze.is.muni.cz/, which determines their ranking in the competition. This is the stage where the competition itself takes place, depending on when the code was generated.

Each code has a time stamp recorded on it, to 6 decimal places of a second, corresponding to the moment the user clicks on the button to obtain the code. This time stamp is therefore used to determine the order. The application will not allow any code to be generated for a given contest until the contest has started.

Phase 2: registration of the competition code

In the second phase, the contest code obtained must be registered at https://is.muni.cz/auth/souteze/registrace.pl.

By registering, the user both confirms his/her interest in participating in the competition and also finds out whether his/her code is successful. A successful code is one whose ranking is lower than the set capacity of the event. Registration for the competition takes place on an individual basis over a 24-hour period. Therefore, it does not matter when the contestant confirms the registration within the set 24 hours.

An unsuccessful contestant has the option to return to the application within the validity interval of their code, re-enter the code and test whether the ranking has changed. In the event of a vacancy, the code holder will be notified by email. However, the system will only send an email for the first code released in this way.

Phase 3: processing of the competition code

After a successful registration phase, the participant is entitled to to collect the prize in a timed competition typically 14 days. During this period, for example, he/she must pick up tickets or pay for the service in question at the Shopping Centre. When making a purchase, the participant presents the competition code.

If the competition code is not used within the time limit, the code becomes invalid and the capacity becomes available for other entrants, who are automatically notified by email and thus become eligible to register again under Phase 2.

The competition ends when all codes meeting capacity have been processed or the competition end date has been entered. Available capacity is offered on a rolling basis according to interest. If there is sufficient capacity, codes generated several days after the start of the competition may also be eligible. Conversely, in the case of regular time contests, capacity will typically be exhausted within one or a few seconds.

The time contest itself is held at https://souteze.is.muni.cz/. The interested party first selects the contest for which he/she wants to get the code and enters his/her UIN. The UIN is not checked in any way when obtaining the code, but the code can only be used by the person with this UIN.

To obtain the code, the user must first enter the contest. If the competition has not yet started, the system will offer a link "Try to enter the competition again". Once the competition has started, clicking on this link will give the candidate the option to "Get the competition code". In order to obtain the required competition code, the button must be clicked as quickly as possible.

You will need to copy or print the competition code. Please note that when the page is refreshed, the user will receive a new code, which has a worse time stamp.

Contestants must not use any means to obtain the code that would place an unreasonable load on the school's computer network or computer systems. It is possible, however, for a person other than the person with the UIN to press the button to obtain the code after completing the correct UIN. However, only the owner may register the code in Phase 2 after entering his/her password, which must not be communicated to any other person. It is also possible to request more than one code at a time, but only one code per UIN can be registered in Phase 2.

The validity of the competition code is always 24 hours. Within this interval, the participant has enough time to register the code, regardless of the specific time at which he/she registers.

However, the validity of the competition code does not start immediately after it has been generated, but only after a certain period of time. This time delay is random (typically a few tens of minutes), allowing to spread the load on the system and ensure that all requests are processed continuously.

In the second phase, the obtained competition code must be registered, which allows the user to confirm his/her interest in participating in the competition and to see if his/her code is successful (its ranking is lower than the set capacity of the event).

The registration for the competition takes place in an individual period (the exact validity of the code is known to the competitor when it is generated and cannot be changed) always 24 hours. Therefore, it does not matter when the contestant confirms the registration within the 24 hours. Only one competition code can be registered per UIN.

Only codes that have been evaluated within the capacity as first ones can be registered. Other codes are pending to see if space has become available. Each competitor has the opportunity to return to the computer within the validity interval of the code, re-enter the code and test whether the ranking has shifted.

When registering, the participant can choose which capacity is used in the competition. (For example, in a competition for tickets to a theatre performance, one contestant can receive a maximum of 2 tickets. Therefore, when registering, each participant chooses whether to use 1 or 2.) It is also possible to cancel the code in the registration application if the participant is no longer interested in continuing in the competition. This will free up the capacity occupied by the participant more quickly.

The time contest agenda keeps track of several possible contest code statuses:

• unranked – The competition code has been accepted, but its ranking within the other codes has not yet been determined. In this state, you must wait until the code is valid. At that time, the code will already be ranked.
• successful – The time stamp of the code matches the required capacity. In this state, the contestant must confirm the registration by pressing the Register button.
• unsuccessful – The validity of the contest code is verified, but the capacity of the contest does not allow this code to succeed due to the success of codes with a lower time stamp. An automatic email will be sent if space becomes available.
• invalid – The contest code can no longer be used in the contest. The code has expired or another code with the same teachings has been registered.
• registered – The competition code has been successful in the time competition and its registration has been confirmed by the owner. In order to successfully complete the competition, you must now pay for or collect the competition item.
• processed – The prize in the competition has already been claimed.

The time contest agenda does not specify how the prize is to be claimed. Proof of a successful code may be required when making a purchase in the Shopping Centre, or the code may be required when collecting tickets in person etc. The specific rules for the claiming of the prize are always determined by the organizer of the time competition.