Congratulations on using The ScoreboardTM Sports Website Content
Management System. We have developed The ScoreboardTM
specifically with amateur sports associations such as yours in mind. We
want to make your job of managing hockey or baseball website content easier and faster.
Follow the help topics menu for help on each sports website control function.
You can also print this entire page for the full website help manual. If
you get stumped and can not find the answer here, send an email to
galen@sonntagsports.com.
If you have comments or suggestions on making The ScoreboardTM a
better sports website management tool, please send an email to
galen@sonntagsports.com.
This features places, edits, or removes news postings from the home page of
you site.
To Add a News Item, click the Add a News Item link in the top left of the
main area. Date to be Posted is the beginning date when the News Item will
be posted. To have the posting appear immediately, enter today's date, or
an earlier date. Enter a Date to be Removed to automatically have the
posting disappear from view. To leave the posting in place indefinitely,
leave these settings blank. You can place an announcement directly onto a
team's web page by specifying the team here. Leave this field blank to
have the posting appear on the site home page. Add your headline and your
message. You can use the format controls to add formatting to the message and
even to add links to pages in the site, external website links, and link to
files you have uploaded. If you want to link to a file, you will first
need to upload the file to the site. For more on uploading files, see
Add/Edit Files below. Once you have uploaded the file, use the file name from the
URL/Path field highlighted in the files listing and use this for the Link URL
setting.
Select the "Send Email to All" option to have the current announcement
sent to all email addresses in your organization. This includes all email
addresses associated with players, coaches, managers, executive and all who have
signed up to the email notification list. To send an announcement only to
selected members of your organization, see the instructions in
Send Email.
Add-Edit File
You can upload files to The ScoreboardTM system for later use,
such as for linking to important tournament draws, rules, etc. in a news
announcement or for posting player evaluation instructions. Select the
Browse button to begin the file upload and select the file you wish to upload.
You can upload images, pdf files, spreadsheets, and word documents. Do not
upload images you want to use in your image gallery.
If you upload a file with the same file name as an existing file, the previous
file will be replaced.
Files you may want to upload include your association bylaws, division play
rules, minutes of executive meetings, annual general meetings, etc. It is
best to upload these as pdf files but other file types are allowed.
Image Galleries
Manage the image galleries for the home page as well as review and manage the image galleries for all teams.
The table will display a thumbnail of all the images posted to the site and in
use, including all team image galleries. You can view the files in a
larger format by clicking the picture. The view includes the Division,
Level, and Team for each image. If this column is blank, then the image is
associated with the home page. The caption column displays the text that
is displayed along with the image. You can delete the image from the site
by clicking on the Delete button. This removes the image from the database
and it is no longer available to any users / viewers of the site.
To add a new image to the image galleries, click on the link which shows Add
a New Image. To add it to the home page image gallery, leave Division, Level and Team fields blank. It will automatically create a thumbnail image. The default thumbnail image size is 200 pixels wide. The main image will be created as an 800 pixel wide image.
You can change the sizes of the image and thumbnail images by changing the
appropriate setting. If the original image is smaller than the setting you
choose, it will remain in it's original size so that the image does not become
pixilated, stretched, or distorted. To add files for other sections of the site, such as header images and background images, go to Site Settings.
Send Email
One of the powerful features of The ScoreboardTM is the ability to
contact your members via email without needing to compile separate lists and cut
and paste to your own email program. There are three ways to specify the
recipients of your email. You can choose to send to all the emails for a
chosen team or teams, select individual emails from a complete list, or send to
the entire list of emails stored with your association. For all recipient
choices, you select the option then compose your email. Add the subject
line and then compose the body of the email. You can add formatting with
the format controls and even add links to pages in the site or external links to
other websites.
When you are finished composing the message, select the desired recipients
(or teams) and click the send button. The system will process the
information you submitted and send an email to all the recipients. The
"From" field in the email will be the email address that is set up as the site
administrator.
Set Up Teams
Setting up a web page for a team is a very quick process. Because the
system is set up to take content (text, images, links, etc.) and display it in
the framework of the site, all that is required is for the website administrator
to set up a team username, password, and email address. This will give the
team manager or coach access to the team web page, allowing them to post news
and general information as well as upload images and manage the schedules for
their team. Each team requires a separate set up for username, password,
and email to ensure the access is only available for authorized team personnel.
A password is not needed to view the team content but is required to make
additions and changes. Choose the team to set up by clicking the Edit
button, add the user details, and click Save.
Edit Home Page
The Home Page is the first page of your site that is normally the page users
see when they access the site. This is where you can post general
information about your sports association and news updates on a timely basis.
Also included are links to the main image gallery and a menu to go straight to
team web page selections. From this control you can set / edit the welcome
message which is displayed below the site header. The General Information
1 and General Information 2 fields are displayed below the welcome message,
General Information 1 on the left side of the display area and General
Information 2 on the right side of the display. Edit directly in the form
fields, adding formatting or links as desired, then click the Save button to
make the new information live on the site.
Edit Division Pages
Division pages are set up similar to the main home page. To begin,
select the division you wish to modify and click the Select button. In
this control you can edit the welcome message specific to the division and the
General Information 1 and General Information 2 fields. Below these fields
you will find a listing of the news postings for the division. You can Add
a News Item, including dates to Post and Remove the information, the Headline,
and the body of the message. To edit an existing news item, click the Edit
button, make your changes, then click Save. To Delete a news item, click
the Delete button once. The posting will be deleted from the division
page. If you wish for a posting to appear on a future date, use the Post
date to identify the first date you want it posted. Specify a Remove date
and the posting will disappear from view on that date, but remain saved and
available for the site administrator. If you wish for a posting to remain
indefinitely, leave the Remove date blank.
Create Individual Players
To add a player to the system database, Select the Add a Player link,
complete the form, and click the Save Player button. Enter all available
information. If you do not have all the information to complete every
field, it can added later using the Edit Player function. To assign
players to the proper team, the teams will need to have been set up first under
Manage Teams. The system will allow you to choose
from all available teams.
View / Edit Players
You can make change to players simply by clicking the Edit link next a player
and changing the information in the form, then click Save to store the changes.
Change you make to a player here are effective for all other views of the same
player. If players have not yet been assigned to a team, but registered
using the online registration, only their division will be displayed. To
delete a player from the database, click the Delete button at the far right end
of the player information. We have placed the delete as far away from the
edit button to avoid accidental deletion of a player.
Import Players
If you have a spreadsheet file of players to add to the database, you can
upload the file. The file must be in exactly the proper format.
We have included a file in the proper format that is available for download.
To upload multiple players in batch mode, prepare a spreadsheet in the required format,
save it as a csv file (comma separated values) and then use the
form to upload. To ensure you are using the proper
spreadsheet format, please download and
use this file. Keep the column names in the same order and
in the first row. Do not add any additional columns and do not
delete any of the existing columns. After you have saved your
file in csv format, use the form to import. Please note
that this upload will create new data records for each player on
the list. Do not use this upload to make changes to existing
players. Make sure your division names, levels, and team
names exactly match those. On import, players will be matched to teams
that are already set up in the system. If the team does not exist a match
will not be made and the team in the import file will be ignored.
Manage Teams
From the Manage Teams control you can edit, add, and delete teams from the
system database. Deleting a team removes is from the database along with
all data stored with the team. To add a new team, click the Add a New Team
link and complete the form. Click the Save Team button when you are
finished. To change an existing team, click the Edit button, make
your changes and click Save. If you change a team's name, all the data
stored with the team will remain, including team and player stats. Only
the team name will be modified. Use the Delete button only if you are
certain you want to delete a team and all the data saved with a team (including
access to all the team stats).
Upload Teams File
You can upload a list of teams and their levels and divisions, by using a
specifically formatted spreadsheet file saved as a csv file. To ensure you
are using the proper spreadsheet format, please download and
use
this file. Keep the column names in the same order and in the first
row. Do not add any additional columns and do not delete any of the existing
columns. After you have saved your file in csv format, use the form to
import. Please note that this upload will create new data records for each
player on the list. Do not use this upload to make changes to existing teams.
Assign Players to Teams
To make assignment of players to teams easier, you can assign multiple
players to their respective teams with this control. A list of all players
is shown along with their current team assignments based on all teams that are
set up in the system. to assign a player to a team, use the team drop down
menu to choose the proper team. Once all the team / player assignments
have been completed, click the Submit Updates. The players are sorted by
birth dates which should match up with your sports association divisions in the
system.
Edit Executive
You can maintain a posting of your sports association executive. To add
a new executive member, click the Add a New Member link, complete the form, and
click Save. To list a position as "Vacant", simply add the position with
"Vacant" as the name and provide the appropriate position. Existing
positions can be modified by using the Edit button or deleted with the Delete
button.
Edit Team Personnel
Most often team personnel will be managed by the individual teams, but you
can add / change / delete team personnel with this control as well.
personnel.
Upload Team Personnel File
A list of team personnel can also be uploaded using a specifically formatted
spreadsheet file saved as a csv file. To ensure you are using the proper
spreadsheet format, please download and
use this file. Keep the column names in the same order and in the
first row. Do not add any additional columns and do not delete any of the
existing columns. After you have saved your file in csv format, use the form
to import. Please note that this upload will create new data records for each
person on the list. Do not use this upload to make changes to existing
Edit Email List
A separate email notification list is available. There is a link on the
website home page where members can add themselves to the list. You can
manage this list here with the ability to Edit records, Delete records, and Add
new records. When you choose to send an Email announcement to all members
using the Send Email function, this list is included. If these members
also have an email associated with a team list they may receive multiple copies
of the same emails.
Add / Change Schedule
One of the most powerful areas of The ScoreboardTM is the schedule
management system which stores schedules in a central database which is used by
multiple divisions and teams. The master schedule view shows all scheduled
events for all teams in all divisions. It includes all events, such as
games, exhibition games, and practices entered by individual teams as well.
You can make changes to any scheduled event here and it will be reflected in all
schedule views including individual team views. Click Add a New Schedule
Event to begin and complete the form. For practices or non-game events,
list your team as Home team and leave the Away team blank. If the Home or
Away team is not a team from your website system, use the field to the right of
"or Enter Team". Start times should be entered. If a specific end
time is not required, you can leave the End time fields blank. Click the
Save button when you are finished to store the event. If you need to edit
an event, click the Edit button to the right of the listing, make your changes,
and click Save to store the changes. Changes and additions made here are
effective for all views of the schedule event. Use the Delete button to
remove an event.
Upload Schedule File
When uploading a schedule file, always use the correct format. It is best to begin from the supplied template which can e downloaded to your desktop, add the schedule information to it, save it back to your desktop and then use it for the upload.
There are a few key points that will make your file upload worry free:
Use the save Division names with proper case as you used to set up your association divisions. You can upload a file with multiple divisions.
Use the save Levels (or tiers) names with proper case as you used to set up your association divisions. You can upload a file with multiple levels.
Your upload will automatically apply the current season so this data is not included in the file.
Enter the date as YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY is the 4 digit year, MM is the 2 digit month, and DD is the 2 digit day. Enter this as a text field and do not reformat the column as a date field. When the file is saved as a csv, all the formatting is lost.
Add the start time as text with a colon seperating the hours and minutes. Use a 12 hour clock. Enter the am or pm in the next column.
Add the end time as text with a colon seperating the hours and minutes. Use a 12 hour clock. Enter the am or pm in the next column.
Use the "type" column to indicate whether the event is a Practice, Tryout, Game, or Meeting. These are the default setting but you can manually add other event types, such as Team Windup. Avoid using special characters.
Avoid using special characters in the Home and Away columns.
Avoid using special characters. You can use the '#' symbol to indicate a field number.
Set Active Season
Information on players, coaches, schedules and stats are tracked per each season. At the beginning of each season, the website administrator will need to set the season to the new season. This control is simple use, just click the Set Active Season from the Adminstration Menu and enter the new season. This is also the first step in setting up your website for the upcoming season. The whole routine for this can be seen in Season Preparation.
Registration Settings
The registration system is designed to allow you to control all the settings
such as special fees, division fees, posting information files, and more.
The user form includes the important user tips next to each form setting.
In order for you to use the online payment collection system, you need to have
your own Pay Pal account set up. Then
all you will need to enter here is the email account associated with your Pay
Pal account. The registration system does not charge any usage fees over
and above the fees that Pay Pal will charge on transactions. These are
outside of The ScoreboardTM and not included in the pricing of The
ScoreboardTM
When members register online, they are automatically added to the player
database for your viewing and tam assignment. Each registration will
create an email to the person listed as registrar for your association. If
you choose "yes" for Coaching Applications, then you can also receive coaching
applications online.
View Registration Report
Reports for all members registered online can be viewed. You will
require the username and password to access the reports. If you require
the report in another format, such as in Excel, you can select the cells of the
table and copy/paste them to your spreadsheet. The report is formatted to
allow for easy copy / paste function.
Coach Evaluation Settings
The Coach Evaluation module lets you determine the questions and question
formats for use in evaluating coaches in your sports organization.
When making changes to any questions, keep in mind your past data will be saved
according to past questions and question types.
View Coach Evaluation Report
Coach evaluation reports are avialble in a number of views. Select the view you wish from the selection links at the top of the page. Keep in mind that any questions where the responses are text based or comment fields can not be calculated as an arithmetic average and the resulting summry will be a blank or zero value.
Site Settings
The Site Settings controls allow you to change the colors and settings of
various display elements of the site such as background colors, text colors,
header images, and more.
Choose a Theme
Themes are pre-designed color schemes which have been built with a specific
sports theme in mind, inspired by portions of baseball fields and hockey rinks.
The theme can be considered a starting point. You can modify the settings
of a theme which will save them as your unique sports website style.
Select the theme from the drop down list and click Set Theme. On the next
screen, click the message that states "Click Once to Activate". As we develop
more themes they will be made available in the drop down list.
Header Settings
For header setting you have the options to Set Header Text which is the text
that will be displayed in the top area of the sports website. Use the
format controls to change the appearance and layout of the text. You can
also set the header background color and the header text color.
Upload Header Image
You can set the header image, the image at the top of the screen, to an image of your choice. The top 125 pixels of the image will be shown and the image will automatically be resized to 1440 pixels wide, or the current width of the image, whichever is smaller. You can optimize your own image by creating a file which is 125 pixels high by 1440 pixels wide before the upload.
On initial set up of your site, Sonntag Sports Management will help create
your first header image file at no charge and upload the file for you.
Set Backgrounds
Set the background colors for the main areas of the site with these controls.
The navigation menu, main body, right margin, and footer background colors can
all be selected and specified individually.
Set Text Colors
Set the text colors for the main areas of the site with these controls.
The navigation menu, main body, right margin, and footer text colors can all be
selected and specified individually.
Season Preparation
For each new season, you will need to prepare your website with the following steps:
Set active season
Set up for preseason registration
Input / upload teams
Input / upload coaches
Assign players to teams
Set up team website admins
Input / upload schedules
Likely these steps will occur over time and not all at once. After you have set the active season, registrations will occur and be stored for that season. The number and level of teams will need to be determined through your sports association tryout process and then teams can be entered into the system. Coaches can then be entered and assigned to teams. At the point when teams have been selected, players can be assigned to teams. Assign admin usernames and passwords to designated team officials and they can add their own team specific information. Schedules, when available, can be formatted and uploaded.
This process likely occurs over several months, from before registration date, to the beginning of the season when schedules are set.
Advertising Terms and Conditions
Sonntag Sposts Management has sole rights to position contexual ads, of any type, on the pages and to alter the ads at our sole discretion. All ad revenue will be retained by Sonntag Sports Management. Due to the low cost of use of The Scoreboard TM, contextual ads will be positioned within the display as a default setting.
If you have comments or suggestions on making The ScoreboardTM a
better sports website management tool, please send an email to
galen@sonntagsports.com.