About HEMA Scorecard

Navigating Scorecard

This video explains how to navigate and find information in Scorecard, from match results to event schedules.




Match Scoring

This is an example match with fencing footage and the table operations, captured in preparation for Queen of the Hill 2024.

Thank you for checking out HEMA Scorecard. You've found your way to the Participant User Guide. Here you will get a how-to on how to navigate through the most important features of HEMA Scorecard. If you are an event organizer looking for help, please click on the "Event Organizers" tab above this paragraph.

Events

Choosing An Event

The landing page shows recently-completed, active, and upcoming events in chronological order (1). If an upcoming or active event doesn't appear here, it is either hidden by the event organizer or is not being hosted by HEMA Scorecard. If the event you are interested in has already occurred, you may need to navigate to “All Events” (2), which is sorted by event name as a default.

Event Information

When you choose an event from the landing page, you will see all the different tournaments offered at the event (3). If the event has concluded, you will also see the top competitors in each category (4). The event organizer may have also provided information about the event on this page (5).

Underneath the Event Information tab (which is underneath the “Menu” tab if you are on a mobile device), you will have more options for event information. All events will have an Event Roster (6) which will show all individuals registered for the event. The event organizer may also choose to use features like Schedule (7) and Tournament Rules (8). If the Schedule feature is used, you will also have the ability to look at Individual Schedules (9).

Event Roster

The Event Roster (6) will have basic statistics on those who have registered for the event. It will contain a full list of all the participants as well as their school, and will be sorted in alphabetical order by first name as a default.

Schedule

The Schedule (7), if an event organizer chooses to use this feature, will contain information about which events, classes, workshops, etc are occurring during which time slots and at which location(s).

If the Schedule is populated, you can also view Individual Schedules (9). These will show you all commitments you have made for a tournament– tournament entry, judging, instructor roles, etc– in chronological order. You can select your name from a drop-down list of event participants (10) to view your schedule.

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Tournaments

You may view an event's tournaments by either clicking on them on the landing page (3) or by navigating to them underneath the “Select Tournament” menu (11).

Selecting a tournament will bring you to the Tournament Roster page where you can view everyone in the tournament, in alphabetical order by first name. You are also able to navigate to Pool Rosters (12), Pool Matches (13), Pool Standings (14), and Finals Bracket (15).

Pools

Clicking on Pool Rosters (12) will bring up a list of the pools and their participants. The pool number and location can also be found here (16). Additionally, at the bottom of the pools list is an option to create a filter for specific schools (17). Applying this filter will show only those pools that contain members of the school that’s being filtered on.

Navigating to Pool Matches (13) will bring up a list of the matches for each pool. Typically tournaments will run through the matches in the order they appear in this list. Scores for the matches will be updated in real time on this page, and once a fight has concluded the winner will be bolded. You are able to click on the specific match to get more details for that match (18). Note that there is also an option to create a school filter (17) at the bottom of the page.

Once pools have concluded, Pool Standings (14) will be finalized. This will show the standings of competitors after coming out of pools. The individuals who came first in their pools will be italicized. There will be a solid black line in the table which indicates the cutoff for finals. At the bottom of the table is a link that can be clicked which will explain the way the standings were calculated (19); different tournaments will have different algorithms for calculating their standings.

Finals

Clicking on Finals Bracket (15) once pools are over will show a bracket that is populated in real time with the progression of finals. Competitors will see which ring they need to report to to the left of their names in the bracket (20). Information about individual matches can be seen by pressing the “Go” button (21).

Matches

Pool Matches (13) can be seen in greater detail by clicking on the match number (18). Finals Matches (15) can similarly be viewed by pressing the “Go” button (21) on the bracket. Once on this page, you can see a running score (23) with the time elapsed (22) for the match updated in real time after each exchange is recorded. This page may also contain video for the match if a link has been provided to one.

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Table of Contents:

  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Getting Started
  • Setting Up An Event
  • Concluding An Event
  • Event Status
  • Creating Tournaments
  • Adding Event Participants
  • Setting Up Tournaments
  • Injuries / Disqualifications

    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • How do I get my event set up? Send the following information to ac.nilknarfnaes@ameh
       ‣ Event Name
       ‣ Start Date
       ‣ End Date
       ‣ City
       ‣ State/Province
       ‣ Country
    • Why should I use HEMA Scorecard for my event? What a great question!
    • Why can't I use any of the menu options? Most likely you are not logged in. If you leave your computer unattended for too long your session may expire and you will be logged out. At this point you can navigate to pages and view results, but not modify anything. Log in again using the button in the upper right.
    • Does this work with HEMA Ratings? Yes!
      If you go to Stats/Analytics > Export Results you will be able to download your event information in a format that matches the HEMA Ratings Submission Tool. (You don't even have to be logged in to export your results.)
    • Can I use a different type of ranking? Probably. All ranking algorithms need to be coded into the system prior to the start of the event. It is best to give the HEMA Scorecard team as much notice as possible about the specific details of how you wish to score your event.
    • Why don't you have <this> feature? There is a good chance no one has asked for it yet. Let the team know exactly what you want and it changes may be able to be made in a very short period of time.
    • I want more detailed stats on my event. That's not a question, but I like where you are heading. Get in contact, we are happy to get you the information you need.
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    Getting Started
    Selecting an Event
    Once arriving on the main page you will be prompted to select an event. To switch to another event select ‘Change Event’ from the top navigational bar.
  • Note: If you have logged in as event staff or and event organizer you will be logged out once you switch events.

    • Logging In
    The Log In button is located in the upper right hand corner of the menu. This will take you to the log in screen where you can log into your even as staff or event organizer. To log out click the Log Out button, located where the log in button used to be.

    Switching Tournaments
    Once you have selected an event you should select which tournament you wish to view. This is a drop down option in the upper left corner of the menu bar. The current tournament will be displayed. Click on the tournament name to display a list of all the tournaments in the event.
  • Note: If no tournaments have been created yet this option will not appear.

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    Setting Up Your Event

     The tools to set up and customize your event are available through the drop down menu Manage Event.

    Setting Passwords
    The first step to setting up your event is changing the password from the one your were given. This is available through Manage Event > Event Settings, located on the bottom of the page.
    There are two different types of log in, Staff and Event Organizer. Staff have limited access, and are only able to score matches but not perform tasks such as adding/removing fighters, changing event information and creating pools.

    Setting Defaults
    The Manage Event > Event Settings page also allows you to configure the default settings for your event. This only affects the settings on any newly created events. If, for instance, your tournament will be using the colors red and gold you can change the default so that all new tournaments use these colors, rather than having to change each tournament individually.
    These settings can be individually changed for any tournaments you create, this gives you the option to save time if you are creating multiple tournaments with the same settings.

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    Concluding Your Event

     Your event is over. You've made it through! But it's not quite time to collapse and forget about everything until next year. You need to finalize the tournament results so the people will be able to quickly see the event placings for all tournaments. (And the HEMA Scorecard staff stop bugging you to make sure it is completed)

    Go to Event Status > Final Results in the upper navigation bar. This will display a list of all events, and their final results. Because you haven't done anything you will see a lot of 'Results Not Finalized'. Naturally you should click on the Finalize Tournament button to capture the final results.

    If there is an elimination bracket the software will then automatically assign the final results. For other tournament types a list of positions will appear, for you to select fighters in ranked order. It is only necessary to specify the top 4 for display purposes. Populating the list further is only necessary if you wish to have more detailed final placings for things like team point calculations.

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    Event Status
    Participants / Schools
    To view the registration summary of your event, go to Event Status > Participants/Schools in the upper navigation menu.
    This will display a summary of:
    1. Total Event Participants
    2. Tournament Registrations
    3. Attendance by School

    Tournament Stats
    To view the registration summary of your event, go to Event Status > Tournament Stats in the upper navigation menu.
    This will display a summary of:
    1. Total tournament exchanges
    2. Percentage of exchanges by tournament. (Clean hits, doubles, etc...)
    3. Point values awarded by tournament (Number of exchanges to each target)

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    Creating Tournaments
    New Tournaments
    The next step is to create one or more tournaments for your event. This is done through the Manage Event > Add New Tournaments page.
    Remember: you can't do this unless logged in as an Event Organizer.
    When adding a tournament you will have several options to specify. First is the tournament prefix, gender, material, and weapon. Prefix, gender, and material are all optional fields, and may be added to further differentiate events (ie. Beginners Synthetic Longsword, Women's Steel Longsword, Invitational Longsword).

    Tournament Type defines what type of event your are running. The options are:
  • Results Only - Only list the participants, and the final placings of the tournament. Useful if you have an event you don't wish to use HEMA Scorecard for, but would like the event participants to see their registrations in the software.
  • Sparring Matches - Most HEMA tournaments. This is any tournament where people (or teams) face each other in matches. (This includes the old Pool & Bracket, Direct Bracket & Pool Sets modes)
  • Solo Scored - An event where the participants compete for individual score, such as a cutting tournament.
  • Meta Event - A tournament which doesn't have any results of it's own, but calculates based on the placings in other events.

    • Doubles/Afterblows specifies the afterblow model that will be used in scoring.
    • No Afterblow allows for only points to be awarded to one fighter, or a double hit to be awarded.
    • Deductive Afterblow allows for afterblows that deduct points from an initial attack. Both the original
      • score and the value deducted by the afterblow are entered by the scorekeeper.
    • Full Afterblow is for rule sets that score the points from the afterblow and original attack equally.
    Ranking Algorithm determines how fighters will be ranked based on the performance in their pools. Should you wish to use a algorithm not listed please contact us to code it in for you.
    *note* When calculating pool results all pools will be normalized to the same size. By default this size is 4, but can be changed in Manage Event > Tournament Settings.

    Editing Tournaments
    To edit the details of a tournament you have created you go to Manage Event > Tournament Settings. This shows you a list of all tournaments you have created. Click on Edit Details to show the tournament details, and make any changes.
    Normalize Pool Size is the 'average' pool size you plan on having. HEMA Scorecard will automatically normalize pool sizes so that there is no unfairness between fighters fighting in pools of different sizes. The normalization size changes the pool size that participants are scaled to. A size of '4' would scale the results of all fighters in 5 person pools down to the equivalent of a 4 person pool. A size of '5' would scale up all the results of fighters in 4 person pools.

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    Adding Event Participants

     Participants are added to the event in Manage Fighters > Event Participants. Remember, you can't do this unless logged in as an Event Organizer

    On the Event Roster page there is a button labeled Add Event Participants. This will open a form to add new participants.
    1. First select the school/club from the drop down menu, or Unknown if the school/club is unknown.
    2. Select fighter(s) from the drop down menu
      • If a fighter is not in the drop down menu it means they have not participated in a HEMA Scorecard event before. Enter their first and last name in the text entry fields provided.
        HEMA Scorecard uses the same fighter database across multiple events and it is extremely important that fighter information is entered accurately. Please use a fighter's proper name and ensure the spelling is accurate (nicknames are fun, but this isn't the place).
    3. Select which tournaments the participant is competing in. This can always be changed at a later date.
    4. Click Add New Participants to add the participants to the system
    5. Once you are done, click Done Adding Participants to hide the form.
    Adding New Schools
    To add a new school click on the Add Schools button next to Add/Remove Event Participants. Please enter the information as accurately as possible, as future events will use the information you enter for this school.
    • Currently event organizers can not edit a school's information. If there are changes which need to be made please bring them to the attention of the HEMA Scorecard team.

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    Setting Up Your Tournaments

     Once a tournament is created and fighters have been added to an event it is necessary to set up each tournament.

    Remember to make sure that you are entering information for the correct tournament!

    Enter Fighters In The Tournament
    There are three ways to enter a fighter in the tournament.
  • Enter the fighter in the tournament when you enter them in the event.
  • Enter fighters in a tournament by using Tournament Roster in the lower navigational bar. This allows you to enter/remove multiple fighters at the same time. Note: This option will not appear unless you have selected a tournament.
  • Manually change the tournaments a fighter is assigned to by clicking Edit on the Event Participants page. A form will open to change a fighters name, school, or tournament registrations.

    • Create Pools
    If your tournament has pools, the next step is to create them. This is performed under Pool Rosters in the lower navigational bar. This is also where you can create multiple pool sets, or successive stages of pools.
    You will be greeted with 'No Pools Created', and the option to create more pools located at the bottom of the screen. Create as many pools as required. At this point the pools will be empty, and you will have the option to populate them with fighters entered in the tournament. As you enter fighters they will be removed from the list of eligible fighters.

    Larger Pools: If you wish to create a pool size larger than what is shown you will need to increase the maximum pool size. Read More
    Change Pool Order: To re-order pool number click Re-Order Pools. This will temporarily lock pool rosters from being changed, and give the option to change the pool numbers. Click Done to save these changes, or Cancel to discard.

    Pool Sets
    If your tournament has Pool Sets (people fighting in multiple rounds of pools) you also create these in Pool Rosters. In the bottom right of the Pool Management box you will see an option to Manage Pool Sets. You can then increase the number of Pool Sets your tournament uses.

    Creating/Deleting Brackets
    Click on Finals Bracket in the lower navigational bar. This will give you the option to create a new bracket. Enter in the desired bracket size in the field Number of Fighters

    Double Elimination - To make a double elimination bracket enter a number greater than 4 in the lower text field. This will create a winners bracket and a consolation bracket. The navigation options to the bracket will also change to Winners Bracket and Consolation Bracket.
    • Example: Double Elimination bracket for 16 fighters. Enter 16 in both fields.
    • Example: 16 person bracket with single elimination for first round and double elimination after that. Enter 16 for number of fighters and top 8 for the double elim size.
    (Technically the bronze medal match of a regular tournament is a double elimination bracket for only the top 4.)
    Deleting a Bracket - To delete a bracket use the delete bracket button at the bottom of the winners bracket page.

    Create Rounds
    For scored events, such as cutting tournaments, you will need to create rounds. This is done using Round Rosters in the lower navigational menu.
    You will be greeted with 'No Rounds Created', and the option to create more rounds. Create as many rounds as your tournament requires, and use the selection boxes to add all fighters to the round.
    After a fighter has completed their round they will be eligible to advance to the next round and appear in the selection boxes. Additionally fighters in the drop down list will be sorted by score in the previous rounds.

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    Injury / Disqualification
    Withdrawing Fighters
    Fighters can be added/removed from a tournament at any time prior to their matches. However if a fighter has already begun participating they should not be removed from the tournament. If a fighter can not continue their pool or bracket (eg. Injury or Disqualification) they need to be withdrawn. To do this, go to Manage Fighters > Withdraw Fighters in the upper navigation menu.
    This will display a list of all competitors with toggle switches next to their names. Select the desired options and click Update List at the bottom of the page

    Remove From Scoring
    Use this option if a fighter has not completed all of their matches. This will make the matches 'not exist' for scoring calculations, but the results will still be viewable in the match list. Pool Sets - If running a Pool Sets based tournament make sure you are currently in the pool set from which they are being removed. This will remove them from the scoring for this set, but not affect the scoring of previous sets.

    Remove From Finals
    If a fighter has completed all of their pool matches but can not participate in the elimination bracket (such as being injured in another tournament) use the Remove From Finals toggle. This will keep all pool matches, and standings, unaffected. The fighter will simply be removed from the list of fighters in the bracket menu, and the seedings of the other fighters will be adjusted to reflect this.

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    Running Pools

     If you didn't create your pools when you set up your tournament, you need to do so before you can fight any matches. More Info

    Select Matches
    To see pool matches select Pool Matches on the lower navigational bar. This will display all matches currently scheduled for the pools. Matches not yet completed are displayed in a lighter color, and completed matches are fully shaded. Click on the match number to go to the match scoring page.

    Pool Standings
    Pool standings are viewed by selecting Pool Standings from the lower navigational bar. This displays a list of fighters ranked by your chosen ranking algorithm. Note that if not all matches have been completed the software will automatically scale the results to the Normalize Pool Size. The pool standings are updated on the completion of a match.

    Pool Sets
    If running an event using pool sets (fighters fighting in multiple rounds of pools) the available sets will appear directly under the lower navigation bar. Information for whichever pool is selected will be displayed.

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    Running Elimination Brackets

     If you didn't create your brackets when you set up your tournament, you need to do so before you can fight any matches. More Info

    Populating a Bracket
    If you haven't added any fighters the bracket will appear as an empty structure, with drop down menus of tournament fighters. If the event has had pools the fighters will be ranked in order of pool performance. From here create the desired bracket match ups and click Add Fighters at the top of the screen, or Add directly beside the match.
    • Note: If fighters have been pre-advanced and have not had their opponents determined it is also possible to add only one fighter to a match and add their opponent at a later time.
    Removing Fighters - To remove fighters from a match select the check box next to the match and click Clear Selected at the top of the page.

    Bracket Helper
    A handy feature of HEMA Scorecard is the Bracket Helper. If the bracket helper is enabled it will automatically make suggestions about pool seeding and advancements. To enable click on Enable Bracket Helper at the top of the page. If a bracket is empty it will suggest seeding based on pool results. (Don't try this if you have a direct bracket tournament. It will seed based on the fighter's names!) As the matches progress the Bracket Helper will then suggest the advancements though the bracket based on match winners.
    • Note: The bracket helper will only make suggestions, it will never add or remove fighters from the bracket. The tournament staff must click the appropriate button to actually add fighters.

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    Scoring Matches

     In scoring a match you are presented with the ability to enter values for the score of each fighter, and if the deductive afterblow model is used to specify the value of the afterblow. The history of all exchanges in the match are displayed at the bottom of the page.

    Exchanges
    Each exchange can be one of the following:
    • No Exchange: If no item is selected the exchange will be 'No Exchange' and no score is assigned to either fighter.
    • Clean Hit: Select a score for one of the fighters.
    • Afterblow: When using deductive afterblows select a score for a fighter and select the afterblow value. For full afterblow rules select scores for each of the fighters.
    • Double Hit: Select the double hit switch if the exchange is double.
    • Penalty: Selecting the penalty switch will change the scores to negative values to asses a fighter a score penalty.
    • Clear Last Exchange: Removes the last exchange inputted.
    ENTER ALL DATA IN THE SOFTWARE
    Make sure to enter all no-scoring exchanges and no quality hits. If there is a hit with a value of 2 and an afterblow deduction of 1 do not enter a clean hit of 1 point.
    You may not think this is important, but I do. Having good quality tournament data is the reason I put so much time into developing free software for you to use. :)

    Concluding Matches
    The buttons to conclude a match are located in the upper right corner of the page. Once a winner has been determined for the match select the appropriate button. If the fight has reached the maximum number of double hits a red Double Out button will appear, to conclude the match as a double loss.
    Selecting Re-Open Match after a match has been concluded will re-open the match to the last recorded exchange.
    • Important: You must make sure table staff know to conclude all matches. If a match is not concluded properly the scoring calculations will not function properly, and the Bracket Helper will not know which fighters to advance.

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    Scored Events

     If you didn't create your rounds when you set up your tournament, you need to do so before you can fight any matches. More Info

    Scoring Competitors
    To begin to enter scores for competitors click on Round Matches in the lower navigation menu. This will show all created rounds, and the competitors in each. To score a competitor click on the button labeled Go next to their name.
    This will open the scoring page. To begin with you must add cuts to the competitor. Use the Add More Cuts menu option to add as many cuts as desired. (More can be added at any time)

    Once the cuts have been added you must assign score deductions before the score is calculated. Enter the desired values, or leave the field blank for a no deduction. Then click Update to add the deductions.
    • Note: The score is not calculated until deductions have been assigned. Adding cuts does not affect the score, and the round is still incomplete.
    Modifying Deductions - To change a deduction simply change the score value and click Update. Any cuts which have no new information entered will retain their original value.

    Round Standings
    To view the round standings click on Round Standings in the lower navigation menu. This will display a ranked list of the competitors from each round, and the competitors which have not yet completed the round.

    Round Advancements
    To add competitors to the next round click on Round Standings in the lower navigation menu. As a competitor completes the previous round they will appear in the selection options to be added to the next round, sorted by score.

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    Table of Contents:


    (under development)
  • Tournament Divisions

    • Tournament Divisions

    The Tournament Divisions feature can be used when you have multiple tournaments in Scorecard that represent splitting the participants from a single higher level "container".
    For example "Longsword - Tier A" and "Longsword - Tier B" might be the results of separating "Longsword" into two tournaments based on participant skill.

    You can manage the Divisions by going to Event Organization > Event Settings > Tournament Divisions.

    Make sure you have created all your tournaments before trying to set up the divisions.

    Create/Manage Divisions

    The first tab allows you to create your Divisions. To add a new divisions look for the blank entry with "Add new division" as the placeholder text. Enter the division name ("Longsword" in our example). Then click the down arrow to the right of the name to open a list of tournaments that exist in the event, and check the tournaments which will be part of the division.
    The tournaments will show up in the order you have specified based on the Event Settings page. There is currently no way to custom order the divisions. (work in progress, harass me if it becomes important and I haven't done it yet. )

    Note that the Division itself is only a way to group tournaments together, and can not hold entries of it's own.

    Division Tournament Entries

    The Division Entries allows you to clean up your Event Registrations interface if you have a lot of tournaments, and are using divisional placeholder tournaments.

    "What is a divisional placeholder tournament?"
    If you are doing skill divisions in your tournament, but aren't dividing the participants until closer to the event date, you can create a dummy tournament to take all the entries. So in addition to the "Longsword - Tier A" and "Longsword - Tier B" there would be a "Longsword - Entries" tournament created. The whole function of the "Longsword - Entries" would be to hold the registrations for the longsword division until you decide to split the entries into the two tiers. (At which point the Entries tournament may be deleted.)

    "What is a divisional placeholder tournament?"
    If you are only entering people directly into "Longsword - Entries" and never Tier A/B you can check off Tier A/B and they won't show up on the list of tournaments to enter people into when you add them to the event. You can still, of course, add them to the tournament through that tournament's registration page. The Division Entries only exists to help clean up the lest on the Event Registrations page by removing tournament you will never be adding entries to there.

    Sort Fighters in Divisions

    The Sort Fighters feature is only usable if you are taking the entries from one tournament in a Division (the donor tournament), and splitting the field into the other tournaments in the divisions. You also need to enter ratings for all your fighters in the donor tournament so that the software knows how to split them.
    For our example "Longsword - Entries" is the donor tournament.

    In order to enter fighter ratings navigate into the donor tournament and go to Tournament Information > Fighter Ratings to enter the numerical rating, with higher being better. You can use any type of numerical rating. HEMA Ratings will be the most common way, but you could also give everyone a number from 1-5.

    Once you have a donor tournament then select your Division to Seed and Donor Tournament from the drop down. This will populate information about the entries in the donor tournament, and give you boxes to specify the rating cutoff for each of the tournaments in the division. As you enter numbers the graph will change to show you the distribution of the fighters in each tournament. When you are satisfied click Submit to move the fighters over.
    There is no Undo on this operation. Naturally you can move them all back individually as you would normally add/remove people from a tournament.

    Note there is an option to remove all fighters from the donor tournament when you do this operation, or to leave them in. If you want to clear out all the 'sorted' fighters check the box directly below where you entered the ratings.

    "Does this work for sorting people into sub-tournaments after they fight, based on standings."
    No, not at the moment. Harass me if this is a priority for you.

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    HEMA Scorecard
    Developed by Sean Franklin
    A SwordSTEM project
    you found me
    Supported by the
    HEMA Alliance