Officials can request (self-assign) games once you add official roles to each division and publish the division's games through a date. Each official also needs an Approved For entry that matches the games.
Applies to: Admins and assigners · Officials module (all plans) · League and program divisions
Where: Schedules > Officials Management > Assignments (Assignment Summary), Officials and Configurations
Note: You can't publish individual games. You choose which divisions are open for requests and publish their games through a date.
Step 1: Add official roles to each division
- Go to Schedules > Officials Management > Assignments.
- On Assignment Summary, check one or more leagues in League, choose the Schedule and click Update. Status Through is optional: it limits the game counts to games on or before that date.
- In the division table, click the Edit icon (pencil) next to the division you want to set up.
- On the Roles tab, select the Role Name and whether the role is Required, then click Add.
- Repeat for each role and each division that should be available for requests.
What you'll see: the role in the division's list. The number of roles you add decides how many officials can request each game: each role is one request slot, so if you add the same role twice (for example, two Base Umpire roles), two officials can request that game.
The Role Name list shows only the roles for the league's sport. To add one, go to Schedules > Officials Management > Configurations, click Add Role in the Roles section, choose the Sport, enter a Role Name and Role Description, and click Add.
Step 2: Publish the games
Officials can view and request a division's games dated on or before its Published Through date.
Many divisions at once
- On Assignment Summary, click Publish Through Update.
- Choose the Publish Through date.
- Under Divisions, check All Divisions, or expand it and check a league (which checks all its divisions) or the divisions you want.
- Click Save.
One division
- On Assignment Summary, click the division's Edit icon and open the Publish Through tab.
- Choose the Published Through date and click Save.
What you'll see: "Published Through date updated." The date shows in the division's Published Through column on Assignment Summary. Publish Through Update lists the divisions of your current leagues. If you save with no date, the date is cleared and officials can no longer request those divisions' games.
Step 3: Confirm what each official is approved for
- Go to Schedules > Officials Management > Officials and click the View Official icon next to the official.
- In the Approved For section, click Add Approval.
- Choose the Sport, Role, Level of Play and Gender (All matches any gender), move the age groups from Available to Approved For, and click Add.
Or, in Approved For Profiles, click Add Profile to give the official a set of approvals you saved under Approved For Profiles on the Configurations page.
Officials see a division's games only when an approval matches the league's sport, a role the division uses, and the division's level of play, gender and age group (set on the division's 1 Configuration > Display page). Their Status must also be one with Assignable ticked.
Control how requests are confirmed
You decide whether an official's request is confirmed automatically or waits for an assigner to review it.
- Go to Schedules > Officials Management > Configurations.
- In the General section, set Auto Confirm Request. Yes: an official's request goes straight to Confirmed. No: the request stays Requested until an assigner confirms it with the green check (Confirm Assignment) or deletes it on Assignments > Admin Assignments.
- Optional: set Max Requests Per Day (Unlimited, or 1 to 10). An official can't request another game on a day when their Pending, Requested and Confirmed assignments already reach that number.
- Click Save.
What you'll see: "Save Successful."
Auto Confirm Asgmt is a different setting. It confirms the games an assigner assigns, without waiting for the official to confirm them, and doesn't affect requests.
What officials do
Officials sign in on your organization's website with the email address on their official profile and open Officials Management > Request Assignments, or use the TeamSideline app. Available Assignments lists the games they can request; the green check mark requests one. Their requests show under Requested Assignments on their Assignments page until they're confirmed.
If it doesn't work
- Officials can't see any games, or don't see Officials Management. Check the division's roles and Published Through date, the official's Approved For and Status, and the email they sign in with. See Why can't an official see games to request, or the Officials menu?
- "Select at least one division to update." On Publish Through Update, check at least one division.
- "The Role Name field is required." or "The Required field is required." Choose both before you click Add.
- The role you need isn't in the Role Name list. Roles belong to a sport. Add the role for the league's sport on Configurations (Step 1). A league whose sport is Other needs roles with the Sport Other.
- There's no Edit icon or no Publish Through Update button. Your admin role doesn't include officials configuration or Publish Through Update. Ask an Administrator.
Good to know
- A Pending, Requested or Confirmed assignment holds its spot, so a game another official has requested stays unavailable until that request is deleted or rejected.
- Published Through controls only what officials can request. Games you assign appear on the official's Assignments page whatever the date.
- The website and the TeamSideline app offer officials the same games to request.
- If your officials work for several associated organizations, Auto Confirm Request and Max Requests Per Day are set for each one under Administration > Associated Organizations instead.