Officials Module overview: assigning games vs. letting officials request games

The Officials module gives you two ways to staff games, and you can use both at once: in the Assign model you choose the official for each game, and in the Request model you open a division's games and officials request the ones they want. Either way, officials confirm their games on their own Assignments page and report on each game afterward, and you pay them from those reports.

Applies to: Admins and Officials Coordinators · Officials module (all plans) · Divisions with game schedules

Where: Schedules > Officials Management > Officials, Assignments, Payments and Configurations

Set up once, whichever model you use

On Schedules > Officials Management > Configurations, add the roles your officials work for each sport (Roles section, Add Role; tick Enters Scores for a role whose officials report the score) and the statuses you use (Statuses section). Only officials whose status has Assignable ticked can be given games or offered games to request.
Add your officials on Schedules > Officials Management > Officials with Add Official, import them, or let them register with your self-registration link. Each official needs their own email address as well as a customer account with the same email, because it's the address they sign in with.
For each official, click the View Official icon and, under Approved For, click Add Approval to add the sport, role, level of play, gender and age groups they can work. Or click Add Profile under Approved For Profiles to give them a set of approvals you saved on Configurations. An official is matched to a game only when an approval fits the league's sport and the division's level of play, gender and age group.
Set pay rates under Payments > Payment Schedule.

The Assign model: you choose the officials

Use it when you want to decide who works each game. Nothing has to be published: games you assign appear on the official's Assignments page whatever their date. All of this is on Assignments > Admin Assignments.

One game: filter the games, click the blue person icon (Assign Officials) on the game, tick the role next to each official in Officials Selection, and click Assign.
Several games, same officials: tick the games, click Multi-Game Assign, choose the officials and click Assign.
Many games automatically: click Auto-Assign, if your admin role allows it, to queue a job for the leagues, divisions, locations, roles and dates you choose. It gives the games that have no assignments yet to available, approved officials, using the roles you've added to each division and spreading the games across officials. Check the results on Admin Assignments.

Officials Selection lists only officials who are approved for the game and free: an availability block, a location block or another game at that time keeps an official off the list. Override Availability lists every approved official. An assignment you make is Pending until the official confirms or rejects it. If Auto Confirm Asgmt is Yes on Configurations, it's Confirmed right away. Auto Reject Asgmt rejects assignments still Pending a set number of days before the game, so you know which games to reassign.

The Request model: officials request games

Use it when you'd rather let officials pick their games. You decide which divisions are open, and how far ahead.

Add official roles to each division. On Assignments (the Assignment Summary), click the division's Edit icon and add roles on the Roles tab. Each role you add is one spot per game, so add a role twice to let two officials request it.
Publish the games through a date. Set the division's Published Through date on its Publish Through tab, or set many divisions at once with Publish Through Update. Officials can request only games dated on or before that date. A division with no date is closed to requests.
Choose how requests are confirmed with Auto Confirm Request on Configurations. Yes confirms a request at once. No leaves it Requested until an assigner confirms it with the green check (Confirm Assignment) on Admin Assignments, or deletes it. Max Requests Per Day stops an official from requesting another game on a day when they already have that many.

Officials then open Officials Management > Request Assignments on your website, or use the TeamSideline app, and click the green check mark to request a game. They're offered only open spots in roles they're approved for, at times and places they haven't blocked. Every step and setting is in How to allow Officials to request Games.

What each assignment status means

Status	What it means	What happens next
Pending	An assigner (or Auto-Assign) gave the official the game, and the official hasn't answered.	The official confirms it with the green check mark or rejects it with the red X. A rejection emails the admin who made the assignment.
Requested	The official asked for the game, and no assigner has answered.	An assigner confirms or deletes it. The official can withdraw it with the red X (Delete).
Confirmed	The official is working the game.	It's final for the official, so changes go through you. It shows on the public schedule when the division's Show Officials setting is Yes.
Rejected	The official turned the game down or withdrew a request, or Auto Reject Asgmt rejected it.	The spot opens again. Assign the game to someone else.

Using both models together

A common mix: assign your most experienced officials to key games, then publish the division so other officials can request the rest.

Assign first, then publish. Pending, Requested and Confirmed assignments all hold their role's spot, so a spot you've filled by assigning isn't offered for requests. If you publish first, officials can request the games you meant to assign.
Assigning doesn't check open spots. Admin Assignments adds the official even when every spot for that role is already taken, for example by a request. Look at the game's officials before you assign.
Two separate confirm settings. Auto Confirm Asgmt covers the games you assign and Auto Confirm Request covers the games officials request, so you can confirm one kind automatically and review the other.
Publish in stages. Published Through is a date for each division, so you can open a few weeks at a time and keep later games for assigning.

After the game

Officials submit a Post Game Report from their Officials Management menu: whether they attended, comments, any questions you added, and the score when their role has Enters Scores ticked. With Auto-Post Scores on (Configurations), that score is posted to the game if the game has no result yet.
You review the reports on Assignments > Post Game Reports, mark the games officials worked Payable, and pay them with a batch payment. See How to pay officials: payment schedules, Payable games and batch payments.

Good to know

Officials see and answer their games after signing in on your website with the email address on their official profile, or in the TeamSideline app. Point them to the Officials Instruction Guide: how to view, accept, reject and request game assignments.
When Assignment Email is on (Configurations), officials get a daily email with their new and changed assignments. When Reminder Email is on, they get a reminder the day before each confirmed game. See When are Official Assignment emails sent out?
How you change or cancel a game decides whether its officials stay on it. See Officials Module - How to Cancel & Modify Games.
If a page or button described here is missing, your admin role doesn't include it. Officials Management, its Configurations, Payments, Publish Through Update and Auto-Assign are separate permissions, so ask an Administrator.
If your officials work for several associated organizations, Auto Confirm Asgmt, Auto Reject Asgmt, Auto Confirm Request, Max Requests Per Day and Auto-Post Scores are set for each one under Administration > Associated Organizations.

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