TSA Swim Team Manager user guide

This guide is for all TSTM administrators what needs to be done at what time throughout a season.  Team admininstrators come and go.  The purpose of this guide is to help them to learn and manage their TSTM team site smoothly.  It may take a new admin 15-20 minutes to read through various documents.  Once doing that, the admin should have a good understanding what features the system offers and how to do most of the tasks.  Doing things as designed in TSTM could save you and other volunteers a lot of time comparing to using traditional manual processes.

All new admins are highly recommended to read through the basic admin guide page at:

http://tsaswimteam.com/admin/guide.jsp

Feature list:
http://www.tsaswimteam.com

Close and Reopen the season:

Before a new season starts, an admin must close the previous season and reopen the season on the Season Setup page.  This cleans up all past seasonal data and prepare for the new season.  Once a new season is open, please use the above guide to prepare the site for a new season.

Team due and the premium options:

On 6/20 (at 3:00AM), team due and the premium features will be locked in for the season.  Before this date, please double check the premium option setting on the Team Setup page (only super admins have access) and make sure all active swimmers are accurate (e.g. no duplicates, which may cost team extra unnecessarily).
http://tsaswimteam.blogspot.com/2012/08/tstm-premium-features.html

Collaborating with Hy-Tek:

For teams using Hy-Tek, after all swimmers are registered online (mid to late May), you should export swimmer roster from TSTM and import it into Hy-Tek.  Please read the following link for details.

http://tsaswimteam.blogspot.com/2012/09/synchronizing-swimmer-roster-in-tstm.html

Volunteer assignment:
There are two volunteer assignment options in TSTM.  One is first come first serve.  The other type is to allow families to specify their preferred job types and which meets they are available to work.  Actual assignment is assigned by admins or the system (auto assignment).  This option is on the Team Set up page.  If you want to use the second option, there is a guide for it.
http://tsaswimteam.blogspot.com/2012/02/automatic-volunteer-assignment-based-on.html

Automatic line up:

Before a meet, if your team plans to use the automatic line up function, please follow the directions in the following blog.

http://tsaswimteam.blogspot.com/2013/04/automatic-line-up-seeding-function.html

Printing functions:
With the result from an automatic line up, you can also print main event heat sheets and TSA meet sheets.  Please read directions below.
http://tsaswimteam.blogspot.com/2012/02/printing-features-for-tsa-swim-team.html

Import meet results:
After a meet, you can either enter the meet results at the TSTM web site, or if your team uses Hy-Tek to collect meet results, you can import the meet results from an exported Hy-Tek meet result file (.cl2 or .zip).

Import meet results in .CSV file format:
http://tsaswimteam.blogspot.com/2013/07/meet-result-in-csv-file-and-import-meet.html

Create Hy-Tek compatible meet entry file:
http://tsaswimteam.blogspot.com/2013/07/meet-entry-export-for-tsa-championship.html

Still have questions:
Feel free to send me an email.

Automatic line up (seeding) function conforming TSA rules

Properly line up a meet is always a time consuming task.  I was told that coaches spent many hours working on this before a meet.  TSTM has a built-in function that can automatically calculate line up for a dual meet based on swimmer's past performance in a matter of seconds.  The results are based on past personal best and conform TSA max 3 main events per swimmer rule.  For top swimmers that are good at all 4 strokes, the program will attempt to drop a stroke so that the overall time is best benefiting the team.  Swim up is also supported as a premium feature.  Swimmers will be considered in the line up process only if they select the meet in their meet selection page.  Relay line up also honors swimmer's selection.  If you don't see your favorite swimmer to show up in a main event or relay, please check if that swimmer selects to participate the meet and relays.  Please inform families that it is very important to keep up with the meet attendance selection so the line up process can be more accurate.

To use to automatic line up feature, here are the steps.

Log in and go to the admin area (click the Team administration link at the top of the page)

Click menu Meets->Line up.  You will see a new window popup with swimmers' personal best from past meets in the current season.  Line up for the season's first meet requires results from the time trial.  Otherwise, the system has no data to base on when calculating the line up.

Click on the "Line up" link at the upper left corner of the page.  You should see the page with the following content.

Select line up options:

Select a meet that you plan to line up for.
Select the maximum events a swimmer can swim in the meet.  Note that even if you choose 4, all swimmers can only swim maximum 3 main events.  The 4th event will be arranged in heat 2 or later.  For 6&Under swimmers, their maximum events will be the selected number minus 1 because they don't swim butterfly.
Select maximum how many relay teams you want to generate (in the case of a large team that may have too many relay teams)
If your team does line up based on previous meet result instead of personal best time, check the checkbox "Use previous meet result".
When choosing "Use previous meet result", select "Use PB if NT" to use personal best time to be the default times when the swimmer didn't attend the previous meet.
Check the "Swim up" checkbox if your team needs that feature for relay line up (premium option)
Select the number of lane the pool has.  The system may already select it for you, but do double check it.
Select the lane type (odd or even).  The system may already select it for you, but do double check it.

When all options are set, click on the "Line up" button.

Wait up to 30 seconds, you should see the line up results coming back.  Line up results can be displayed by the order of swimming (heat) or by swimmer name.  You can click on the "Load/List by name" button if you want to see the results sorted by swimmer names with their heat, lane and stroke assignment.

To override automatic line up results, there are two things you can do.  One is to use the pusher list to eliminate certain swimmers from swimming a particular stroke.  To access the pusher list, you click on the Menu Meets->Setup.  On that page, find the meet you are working on and click on the 4th icon to open the pusher list.  On the pusher list, select an age group you want to work on.  When the swimmer names show up, you can click on their number to remove a swimmer from the meet (absence) or click on the name under a stroke to remove that swimmer from attending that event.  Then re-run the line up routine and the program will consider your pusher list selection when doing line up.

I am not recommending this second option because it is not easy to use, but you can manually edit the line up results on the web too.  Click on the "Edit/Refresh" button, then you can double click on a heat or lane for a swimmer and override it.  Once you start doing manual editing, you will have to manage the line up to meet TSA rules.  The system will no longer track that, so please be very careful if you have to use this option.

Important: If you made manual changes after an auto lineup, please click on the "Load/list by name" button on the lineup page to verify if you have any conflicts. Any items displayed in red must be fixed.

Once you are satisfied with the line up results, you can publish it (upper right corner) so the team members can see it.  You can also withdraw a published line up by Unpublishing it.  Team members can view the line up from their Meet selection page.

With the line up results, you can also print main event ribbon and TSA meet sheets.  On the Meet Setup page, click on the ribbon icon for the meet.  You will see a new window open with several functions.  You can print personal best ribbon labels after meet result is entered, print main event ribbon label and TSA meet sheets (blue or pink) before a meet.  Download these files from the web site and open them in Word or Excel to print.

Synchronizing swimmer roster in TSTM and Hy-Tek

To better utilize the features of TSTM, teams using Hy-Tek software should do the following once a season. This can save a lot of typing work in Hy-Tek.  It should be done after all swimmers are registered online.  Without synchronizing data in the two systems, it will be hard for later operations such as importing meet results from Hy-Tek to TSTM.  Manually entering results in both systems is NOT fun!

Here are the steps:

1. Wait until all swimmers are registered online in TSTM.

2. In TSTM, choose a swimmer numbering method and assign swimmer numbers.
Team Administration->Swimmers (menu)->Assign numbers->Choose a numbering method.

3. Export swimmer roster from TSTM to Hy-Tek format files.
Team Administration->Swimmers (menu)->View roster.
Click on the link "Export roster" at the upper right corner of the roster page.

4. Download the exported file (full_roster.hy3) to your local hard drive.

5. Start Hy-Tek Team Manager
Backup your Hy-Tek database (just in case you need to rollback any changes).
File (menu) ->Backup -> Choose a location to backup your Hy-Tek database

6. Import swimmer roster
File (menu) ->Import-> Athlete rosters.
Use the file selector dialog window, navigate to the full_roster.hy3 file downloaded from TSTM.
On the import dialog window, make sure the checkbox "Overlay existing administrative information" is checked.
Click the OK button to complete the import.

Now you should have the swimmer data synchronized in both systems.  Later in the season, if there are any roster changes, such as adding a new swimmer, you can do the above process again or manually make changes in both systems.

Please email me with any questions.

TSTM premium features

Premium features in general require more system resources during service time and/or extensive development work that may only benefit some of the teams.  The total cost will be automatically calculated for each team on the Team Setup page.

Current premium features:

- Send text messages to team members.  This feature allows administrators to broadcast text messages directly to members' registered cell phones so they can be notified with the most up to date information such as inclement weather.

- Display sponsor ads on  the front page with images, texts and URLs.  Please reduce image size to be no larger than 150 pixel per dimension.

- Export meet entries created by TSTM auto lineup program and and import into Hy-Tek Team Manager.  This is useful when the meet organizing party (Championship meet or dual meets)  requires meet entry in Hy-Tek format.

- Social event management and sign up.

- Volunteer positions can now be associated with two new meet types "Trial and Other" (in addition to Home and Away).  This should make admin's life easier when some positions are only created for a non-dual meet.  Each position is associated with a meet type.  The following is a chart that shows which type of position is available for which type of meet.

Meet type                Position for meet type
                    Home     Away     Trial     Other
Home              X            X
Away                             X
Trial                               X          X
Other                                                      X

- For non-dual meets (meet type: Other), teams can now ask swimmers to select the strokes they prefer to swim.  When a meet is set to type "Other", swimmers can do stroke selection online.  A report can be generated based on such data from the Meet report page (linked from Meet Setup page).

- Swim up: this is an option available on the Line up page.  When enabled, swimmers from lower age groups who are not lined up to swim relay in their own age group (due to not enough swimmers or too many relay teams) can be moved to a higher age group to be considered in a relay team.  The program uses personal best data and adjusts times based on distances so that various age group swimmers' time can be comparable during line up.  Due to various reasons, it may not create every relay team perfectly so validation from coaches and admins are recommended.

- Live data entry at the pool.  Enter swimmers' meet results through a mobile device so families can see their swimmers' result at the pool via browser on their mobile devices.  Only users with Coach, Admin or Super admin roles can enter results.  The URL to access the web interface is:

http://www.tsaswimteam.com/mobile.html

*Note*: You should NOT use this method as the only way to record meet times.  Please make sure that you have another method to record times (such as on paper) at the pool in case of technical difficulties (such as set up or network problems) or the web site goes down during a meet.

Get ready for the meets!

Teams did really well during the registration process and all data are pretty much online now.  I hope the web site can boost your team management efficiency.  Keep adding the extra number of hours you would have spent working the traditional way :-).  I may do a survey at the end of the season.

At this time of the season, you may want to review the following,

1. check your family list to see if any family is still unverified (grayed out).  These families might have lost (or didn't know where to look for) the email to verify the account so they could not log in.  As a Super Admin, you can verify these accounts manually and email them to log in and complete the registration.  There are not many such accounts, so don't be surprised if you don't find any.

2. The meets will start in a few weeks.  When the time comes that you don't want families to freely change volunteer positions, you should lock the season (on Season Setup page).  Once locked, families can only request switching of a job.  The original family is still responsible for that position until another family takes it over.  You can review if all families signed up required number of jobs on the "View family" page.

3. Browse the admin area and get familiar with various export files to see which ones you can use through out the season.  It may save your team volunteers a lot of time to use such export files.  If you plan to use the automatic line up program, please also check out the auto generated meet sheets (blue and pink TSA forms).  These forms are new features so please let me know if you find anything unexpected.

4. Experiment the swimmer numbering methods and pick one that works for your team.  If your team needs a method that doesn't exist, please let me know.  Once you decide on a method, you may want to clean up all swimmer numbers for now because if a new swimmer registers now, many swimmer numbers can be shifted causing confusions to the families.

A few new features added.

1. The system now supports Meter to Yard results conversion.  It determines the type of the pool by team and the meet type.  For example, a Home meet for a team that has a Meter pool, it will automatically assume the meet results will be in Meter.  Meter results are converted and saved as Yard results.  This way, all results are comparable and can be used for lineup purpose regardless of what type of pool a meet was held.  I need input from teams with a Meter pool how you publish the results to the team.  Are they in Meter or converted Yard results?  It seems to me posting converted Yard results makes more sense because  swimmers can easily compare with other Yard pool results to see their progress.

2. There is a new basic Forum feature from the admin menu (Other->Forum).  This is intended for all team admins to share ideas and experiences about using the system and/or managing a TSA team in general.  At this time the forum threads are created by me.  If you think of an interesting topic that is not listed, please let me know and I will add it.  I'd appreciate it very much if you can spend a few moments to wrote a paragraph in the customer feedback thread.  I may use that as user testimonials and publish somewhere on the web site.  Thank you very much in advance!

3. Teams now can have an optional slide show (up to 7 images of identical size) on their home page.  The images will fade out and in during transition.  This is part of the premium options (free in 2012).  Manual set up is needed.

Some of you asked about how many teams are using the system.

There are 6 new teams joining this year in addition to the 3 teams that used the system in the past, total 9 teams so far.  I am really excited about the growth rate.  I hope more teams will adopt it in the future and reduce more team volunteers' workload.  If you like the system, please share the web site info with other TSA teams.  Your words weigh much more than mine.  Thank you!

April update

Here is an update of recent changes.  Please take a look to see if you can take advantage of the new features.

New account requires super admin approval:

This optional setting is on the Team Setup page.  When it is turned on, if a user registers a new account, instead of receiving an email to verify the account, an email will be sent to the team email address (configured on the Team Setup page).  After receiving this email, the team administrator (must be a Super Admin) can go to the View family page and verify the new account (will be shown as grayed out).  To activate the new account, select the checkbox for the account, then scroll to the bottom of the page.  In the dropdown box, select "Lock / Unlock (Verify)" and click the Submit button.  Upon approval, the new account owner will be notified through email that the account has been activated.

Super admins can use the same method to help users to verify their accounts when they don't know how to or have lost the verification email.

Batch set meet attendance selection:
Some teams want to default meet attendance selection to "Yes", then manually de-select for those who will not attend a meet.  On the Meet Setup page, there are two new links "Attend all meets" and "Remove all meet selections".  The first link allows an admin to set every swimmer on the team to attend all meets for which they have not made selections.  The second link clears all existing meet selections.  DON'T use the two links if your team requires swimmers to make their own attendance selection.

The swim suit order feature during registration can now be customized to fit your team's needs for ordering items such as T-shirt per swimmer.  You can define the item's label on the Team Setup page.  Item sizes and prices can be defined on the Season Setup page.  The selected sizes for swimmers can be viewed in the Swimmer list pages.

Super admins now have a 2 hour session time out limit instead of the 30 minutes for regular users.

Supporting SMS text message to team members:
Admins can now send short text messages to cell phones through SMS (Admin menu: Other->Send messages).  Select the checkbox "Send text message" at the bottom of the page.  This allows instant broadcast of messages to team members (e.g. when weather is unpredictable before a meet or practice).  To be able to receive text messages, families must select their cell phone providers on the family info page.  Text messages can not be sent to users who have not selected their cell providers.  This optional feature is part of the premium options and will be charged separately (from 2013).  For 2012 season, it is free for all teams.

Thanks!

A few update: emergency contact, school calendar and hide team store

A few updates:

Teams can now collect family emergency contact and school track info during the registration process.  The emergency info is optional and can be turned on/off on the Team Setup page.  School track info is on the swimmer page.

The emergency info, together with other family contact info, will be displayed in a new report.  It is under the Family menu -> View detail list.  This list is only available to super admins.

The swimmer school calendar info will be displayed in some of View swimmer lists, roster, as well as the roster export file.

If your team doesn't use the team store, you can now optionally hide the store menu by turning off the option on the Team Setup page.

For automatic lineup function, a new option is added to allow the seeding process to be based on the previous meet result instead of personal best times of the season.  On the lineup page, check the "Use previous meet result" checkbox to enable this feature.  When unchecked, seeding will be based on personal best times.

For teams that ask families to choose volunteer preferences (not actual jobs), please use the automatic volunteer assignment based on user preferences.  There should be a "+" icon at the top of the assignment page to start the auto assignment.  The icon is only available if your team asks families to choose preferences, not actual positions. 

For teams that used this web site last year, please don't forget to Close and Open the season on the Season Setup page.  This will clean up the seasonal data and prepare the site for the new season.