I. User Guide

Welcome to Affinity Sports Online Registration and Team Management System, a web-enabled sports organization management system. This system will enable Association users the ability to administer and manage their Leagues, Clubs, teams, players, parents, coaches and administrators.

The following information provides users with a reference guide outlining the various functions of the Affinity System and how to use them.

A. Log on to the new Affinity System

• Access the system at: http:// [association url name]

• Enter Your Username and Password in the left navigation area shown below:

• Access is now provided to a system user based on permission levels established by the Association, League or Club.

B. My Account

The Affinity System provides a My Account login for every user of the system.

Based on the users profile this provides the ability to:

• Edit their user records,

• Children records,

• Add more family members

• Edit and update team rosters

• Reregister players for new seasons,

• Reregister players Tryouts and ODP.

• Create an Application as an Administrator

• If a Team Manager Role Register Teams to Tournament, Gaming Circuits

• Register events or classes

• Access Team Rosters

• Additionally users can access past seasons information.

• Print Forms

C. Consolidate Logins

TIP: Users that have more than one user account can consolidate their logins

which will create a drop down menu? This allows the user to switch roles without signing off the system.

To “Consolidate Logins” Click in the left navigation area Consolidate Logins enter the username and password for each role that has been created for you on the system. Click “verify” Button. Once you have added and verified all of your username Click the back Button to return to the My Account screen. Now you can simply move from role to another simply by selecting from the drop down in the left navigation area.

II. Introduction

This document provides a reference guide that can be used by system users to carry out duties and responsibilities of a sports organization.

The Affinity Sports Online Management System has been developed to provide many features, functions, and capabilities in terms of administrative flexibility, efficiency, customization, reporting, and software enhancements to both the Association and their members. For instance, software enhancements will no longer require downloading a separate software program and installing updates on your computer. The web capabilities of the system allow such actions to take place transparently to the user. Also, the system allows the printing of member passes and rosters directly at the league or club level. The system also is also capable of allowing a league to coordinate several simultaneous and different seasons. Finally, integrates all Sports Association member programs dealing with risk management, coaching education, ODP, State Cup, Tournaments and discipline to insure compliance with the Association’s business rules governing registration and membership.

Affinity Sports provides numerous features that many users will take advantage of, but other registrars will use the system to simply add players, teams, and administrators and print rosters and member passes. The depth to which a user will embrace the system is largely governed by his/her available time, computer expertise, and interest.

The Affinity System is constantly undergoing enhancements and improvements and as new features are brought online, users will be notified of these features by weekly email updates describing these updates and how they can be used.

This reference guide is divided into several sections dealing with configurations, player and administrators, teams, and reports.

Where necessary, a TIP has been added for additional information.

III. Affinity System

Once you login, your personal Welcome screen appears in the “Leagues & Teams” section of the system. From here users can manage and configure an Association, League or Club.

A. Basic Navigation

The system has several areas of navigation

• Top Tabs

o My Account: This is used to access the account information

o Leagues and Teams: This is used to access the District, Leagues, Clubs and Teams functions such as

District configurations

League Configurations

Club Configuration

Team Lookups

Players/Administrator lookups

ID Cards

Reports

Event Manager functions

o Administration: This is visible only to State level individuals and is used to access the Configuration functions for

State Organization

Business Rule

Seasonal configurations

Security Configurations

o Tournament: This is visible to those individuals that have the Tournament/Gaming module access.

• Left Hand Drop Downs

o Organization

o Season dropdown

Some additional functions available from top Tabs and Left Navigation include:

TIP: at the top left hand corner of the screen is a drop down box for SEASON. If your league is coordinating more than one season at a time, make sure that

the correct season is selected from the drop down menu in the left navigation area

B. Configuring the Association, Districts, Leagues and Clubs

This section will provide steps on how to set up and configure the Affinity System from the Association down to the club level.

The following key [ A=Association, D=District, L= League and C=Club] appears next to each specific function heading. This lets the user know if this function is available at their level to use.

• Login with the username and password that has been created for you.

• Association Users – Select “Administration” top navigation and Click “Association” left navigation to open the Association Information Screen.

• District, League and Club Users – Select “Leagues & Teams top navigation and Click “District”, “Leagues” or “Clubs” from the left navigation area.

This will open the information screen for an Association, District, League or Club and the user can now configure their seasons, play types, and age Groups. Additionally the Affinity System provides tools to manage online registration forms, add and customize screen content and the message templates for use with the email messaging features. The following steps and images will provide you information on how to configure and set up the Association.

Note: Seasons, Play Types and Age Groups must be configured and activated at the Association level before the League/Club can designate their play levels and age groups for the season.

1. Association Information Screen

• Association Name:

o Define the Name of the State Association

• Association Short name:

o Define the Short name of the State Association. This is used by the system where the long Name will not fit the field.

• Active Teams:

o Displays the number of active for the all seasons

• Non-active teams:

o Displays the number of active for all season

• Domain Name (Host Header Detection URL)

o This allows you to define the URL for your Association.

o The format is:

XXXX.affinitysoccer.com

o Once defined the system will make the URL visible to the Internet.

• Accept Links Only from this URL

o Allows you to input a URL from where the user may link from to reach the Association URL. It will still allow a user to use the URL defined in the Domain Name field to link directly to the system, but it will not allow the user to link from any other URL except the one defined in this field.

• Allow Alternate Team Code

o Select Yes if you want the system to allow alternate Teams codes. The system creates unique Team codes and this allows you to have alternate Team codes.

• Allow Alternate League/Club Numbers

o Select Yes if you want the system to allow alternate League/Club numbers. The system creates unique League/Club numbers and this allows you to have alternate League/Club numbers.

• Activation required for Card Printing

o Select Yes if you want the system to require a Team to be Activated before cards can be printed.

• Use Payment Plans

o Select Yes if you want the system to allow the use of payment plans.

• Adult Age (the Legal Guardian Age)

o Defined in numeric format

o Enter the age for a player not to require a “Legal Guardian”.

Once finished configuring the system Click the Update Button to save.

2. Payment [A – L – C]

The screen below is used to configure payments for the Association. This same interface for the payment configuration is available to be independently configured at the League, Club and Module level.

The system provides for a downward configurations capability. This means that if the Payment is configured at the Association level and the lower levels are not configured then the configuration defined at the higher level will take precedence.

• Credit Card Configuration Section:

This configuration is used to define to the system the credit cards allowed for the registration process their respective rates and the Gateway processor that you want to use for the Transaction processing.

o Payment Type:

If the Payment Type check box is checked the system will check all of the payment types available for both Admin and User.

If only certain Cards are accepted then you need to select the Card types accepted and the define if both the Admin and User have access to the Card type for registration and payment management.

o Admin Column:

This is used to allow the internal administrators of the system such as League Registrars, access to using the respective card(s) to process a payment.

o User Column:

This is used to display from the Registration side the respective card(s) as an option.

o Percent Fee:

This is entered as a number with decimal and represents the percentage rate (i.e. entering 3.0 means 3%)

This is used to define to the system the Percent Credit Card fee that the credit card processor will be charging for the transaction.

o Fixed Fee:

This is entered as a number with decimal and represents the fee per transaction.

o Make Public:

This is used to make the Gateway Provider used by the organization available to be used by other users of the system.

o Active

Selecting this makes the Payment Processor Active.

o Auto Setup

Selecting this allows business units below the one you are configuring to have their payment setup be able to use the Payment Processor you are editing.

This is used primarily at the league level to make sure all the clubs below them get their payment information setup for them.

o Hide Fees

Selecting this configures the system to not add the Percentage Fee and the Fixed Fees to the Total payment as displayed on the payment page for the respective registration.

o Gateway Processor:

This is used to select the gateway transaction processor used by the organization.

If the ‘Use Public Processor” is selected then the system will use the Affinity Sports Credit Card processing Account to complete Credit Card the transaction

o Selector Processor

If the user select a Gateway Processor other then “Use Public Processor” then the Selector Processor field will display the additional information required to be completed.

The additional information relates to the Account information required by the various Gateway Processor.

• Electronic Check Section:

This configuration is used to allow Electronic Checks to be accepted by the system for the registration process their respective rates and the Gateway processor that you want to use for the Electronic Checks Transaction processing.

o Select the Payment:

If the Payment Type check box is checked the system will check all of the payment types available for both Admin and User.

By selecting Electronic Checks the system will allow the use of Electronic Checks for the respective registrations.

o The rest of the fields are the same as described above for Credit Card Processing.

• Manual Processing Section:

This configuration is used to allow for the Manual Processing to be accepted by the system for the registration process their respective rates for Manual Transaction processing.

o Select the Payment:

If the Payment Type check box is checked the system will check all of the payment types available for both Admin and User.

By selecting a Payment Type the system will allow the use of the selected Payment Type for the respective registrations.

o The rest of the fields are the same as described above for Credit Card Processing.

• Once all of the changes have been completed Click “Save Setting” Button

• If you do not wan to save the setting Click “Clear Setting” Button

3. Billing [A – L – C]

The screen below is used to configure the Billing information for the Association. This same interface for the Billing information configuration is available to independently configure the League, Club and module level.

The system provides for a downward configurations capability. This means that if the Billing information is configured at the Association level and the lower levels are not configured then the configuration defined at the higher level will take precedence.

This information is used by the system to Print on the Payment coupons for those individuals that are sending manual payments for the registration.

• Make Checks Payable to(Defaults to Association Name)

o This accepts alpha numeric characters

o It defines the Receiving Organization for the manual payment.

• Use Address below for billing (Defaults to Primary User.

o If checked the system will use the address provided below otherwise the system will default to the Primary User information as defined in the Security system for the information.

4. Co-op Agreements [A]

The “Co-op Agreement” screen is provided for Association’s who permit out of state player registration. Select “yes” next to the state(s) that you have an agreement with. [Association Only]

5. Registration [A – L – C]

Under the “Registration” tab there are several sub-tabs with functions to set up

And configure seasons, play types and age groups. The system also provides the configure the Online Registration process that includes adding customized text, selecting specific fields and creating custom fields specific to the Association.

Some of these areas are also configurable at the League and Club levels.

6. Registration – Creating Seasons [A]

The Affinity System allows the Association to create and activate several seasons at the same time. Creating seasons can only be done at the Association Level.

Select Registration – Season – Create

Select Season Type

Enter Season Name

Enter Season Start Date

Enter Season Last Date

Enter Application State Date

Enter Application Last Date

Enter Age Calculation Date

Enter Team Continuity # Player and Minimum #of Teams

Check boxes that apply to the Association

Click “Create” Button

The new season will now appear as a sub-tab under the main Registration Tab and will be viewable to Leagues and Clubs. Once Play Types and Age Groups have been created it will be necessary to activate the season, play types, age groups and assign documents/forms and ELA's associated with the season.

7. Play Configurations [A]

Once the season(s) have been created the next step is to configure the play types. This can only be done at the Association Level.

Select Registration – Play Config

Enter the Play Type – Example: Competitive

Enter the Play Type Code – Example: C

Check the boxes that apply to the Association

Click “Create” Button

8. Age Groups [A]

After all Play Types have been configured the next step is to create all age groups associated with each play type. This can only be done at the Association Level

Select Registration – Play Config

Select the play type(s) that have been created

Select “Age Groups”

Enter information in the age group screen that is required.

Check the Team Coach Requirements for your Association

Click “Create” Button

Select the “Age Group” tab to open a new age group screen and continue the process until all age groups have been configured.

Note: Only one age group needs to be created for both boys and girls.

9. Activating Seasons [A]

The screen below allows the association to select and activate the seasons that have been created. Leagues and Clubs have the flexibility to select specific play levels and age groups that only apply to their organization for an activated season.

Select Yes or No to activate the Try Out link

System icons indicate that at least one age group and one play type have been assigned to the season.

Click on the [ + ] to open the season

Assign PDFs and ELA’s by Clicking “ Assign PDF/ELA” Button

Check the boxes and for each play type and ages groups that need to be active for the season

Select if you want this season to appear on the public registration side

Enter Activate and Deactivate dates for public registration.

10. Registration – Fields [A – L- C]

The “Fields” area is used to customize the Online Registration process. Users can create and add instructional text to the registration screens. This feature is primary used by Leagues and Club who offer Online Registration

Select Registration “Fields”

Select from the drop down menu the online form you wish to edit

Field labels will be displayed and you can elect to show, hide or require a specific field.

Customize the text that appears that appear on the screen.

Note: HTML format is used to include line breaks, fonts, and font color.

When you have completed updating the specific field Click “Update” Button to save the changes.

11. License [Association Only]

Set up and configure coach license levels recognized by the Association.

Select Registration – Utility - License

Enter the License Level

Enter the License Code

Enter Expiration Period

Enter Expiration Period Quantity

Check License Required Boxes

Enter Passing Score [This is used with the Affinity System – Event/Class Manager.

Click “Create” Button and Select the License and continue until all license levels have been created.

12. Disciplinary [Association Only]

Configure and set up the Association disciplinary types. The check boxes provide flexibility for the Association to override Assign, Activate and Print parameters for a season.

Enter a Disciplinary Type

Enter the Type Code

Check the boxes that would apply to the association

Click “Create” Button

Continue this process until all Disciplinary Types of the Association have been created.

Edit and Delete functions can be utilized as needed

13. Risk Status [Association Only]

The Affinity System provides an Association the ability to configure and mange the Risk Status of their administrators. To create Risk Status and Status Codes, Click on the Risk Status sub-tab.

14. ID Cards [Association Only]

A default system card type is provided by the Affinity System. ID Card templates are in html format and it recommended that customizations be performed by Affinity Sports.

15. Custom Fields [A – L – C]

Custom Fields can be created at the Association, League and Club levels. These custom fields are part of the Online Registration process and can be created for players and administrators.

Select Registration – Custom Fields

Enter Field Title

Enter Field Type using the drop down menu

If a Text Box is selected input the field size

If check boxes, radio Buttons , or drop down menus are selected as the field type options, enter the option text and Click “Add Option”. Continue until all options have been entered.

Check the boxes to select how the Custom Field will be applied.

Click “Create” Button

Custom Fields that has been created will appear on the opening Custom field screen and can be edited or deleted at any time.

16. Security – Users [A – L – C]

Add users to the Association, District, League and Club User information can be edited or deleted from the system at any time. Complete the blank user form and Click “Create” Button

17. Security Roles

Affinity Sports has created several user roles to be utilized. Security roles can be created at the Association, District, League and Club levels. Association created roles and system created roles can not be changed by a League or Club. Check or uncheck boxes to modify permissions and Click “Save Settings” Button

18.Teams [A-L]

Selecting the Team Tab will return a page with a set of search Criteria’s. The search criteria’s are used to retrieve the teams that need to be Moved to another club or Migrated to another season.

This function is based on the user’s role on the system, therefore based on the role the user may be able to Move and/or Migrate only certain information.

The function allows the authorized user to:

• Move teams from one club to another.

• Migrate teams, administrators and players and any combination thereof to another season.

• Migrate all Pending administrators

• Migrate all Pending Players

• The Migrate function allows the user to have the same teams available from one season to the next.

• Using the Migrate function the system will automatically advance the Age of the Team according to the Age group Calculation configuration for the respective season.

• If the Move function is selected the system will regenerate the appropriate Team code based on the District, League, or Club.

To use the function:

Define the search criteria using the drop down menus for each field to search for a set of Teams or enter a team name or ID # to search for a specific Team.

Check the boxes on the left hand side of each team(s) to move or migrate and Click “Move Selected” or “Migrate Selected” Button. This will return the Move or Migrate page.

19. Move Teams [A – L]

Click the Team tab

Use the selection criteria to find the Teams to Move.

o Based on your authority you will only be able to retrieve the teams that you are allowed to move.

Use the Check Boxes on the Left Hand Side of the listing to select the Teams to be moved.

Once the Teams are selected Click the “Move Selected Teams” Button

Based on your authority Select:

o Select the League

o Select the Club

o Select Play Levels

Click “Save Move Request” Button to continue the move teams process.

The system will ask for a confirmation before the move function is performed.

20. Migrate Teams Players and Administrators [A – L- C]

Important Rule: The Migrate function cannot be reversed from the User Interface side. If you migrate Administrators, Players, or Teams and need to reverse the Migration you must call the customer Support line to have the Migration Reversed.

Click the Team tab

Use the selection criteria to find the Teams to Migrate.

o Based on your authority you will only be able to retrieve the teams that you are allowed to Migrate to the new Season.

Use the Check Boxes on the Left Hand Side of the listing to select the Teams that you want to Migrate.

Once the Teams are selected Click the “Migrate Selected Teams” Button

Select the season from the drop down menu you want to migrate to.

Use the select all to migrate all Administrators, Players and Teams or check the individual columns to migrate any individual or combination of the three items to the selected Season.

If not satisfied with the selection Click “Cancel Migration Request” Button

Otherwise Click “Save Migrate Request” Button

Verify that the team data has been migrated to the new season by performing a search in Team Look-up. If only players or Administrators have been migrated then perform a Player or Administrator Search using the Player Lookup or Administrator Lookup function to find the individuals migrated.