Smart Auto Assign proposes rosters for the divisions you choose in a registration program. You set up each division, run it and check the proposal, then commit it or reset it. Your live rosters don't change until you click Commit Assignments. It places players and coaches on teams; it doesn't schedule games.
Applies to: Administrators and Registrars, or a custom admin role with the AI Auto-Assignment permission · Organizations TeamSideline has turned Smart Auto Assign on for (it isn't part of a plan) · Youth, Adult and Youth & Adult Registration programs
Where: Programs > Manage Programs > (program) > 4 Rosters > Assign To Roster > Smart Auto Assign
Before you start
- Smart Auto Assign must be on for your organization. It isn't included in any plan: TeamSideline turns it on for each organization, and then admins with the Administrator or Registrar role can use it. If the Assign To Roster page shows a Smart Auto Assign tab, you have it. If not, contact TeamSideline Support.
- It works for Youth, Adult and Youth & Adult Registration programs. Team Registration programs use the Assign Teams page instead.
- Create your divisions. Add teams too, or let Smart Auto Assign create them for you.
- Archive the program's published Team Sites. Smart Auto Assign can't run, commit or reset while any Team Site in the program is published. You can publish them again after you commit. See How to archive a program and/or Team Sites.
- Leave out divisions with locked rosters. Smart Auto Assign doesn't check roster locks. It can add players to a locked roster, and Replace can take players off one.
- Check player information. Players need a birth date, gender and grade on their accounts. Missing information can't be balanced.
- Adult programs get even team sizes only. Adult enrollees have no age, gender or grade on file, so criteria don't change where they go.
Step 1: Open the Smart Auto Assign tab
- Go to Programs > Manage Programs and open the program.
- Click the 4 Rosters tab, then click Assign To Roster.
- Click the Smart Auto Assign tab.
The tab has three sections, Step 1: Configure Divisions, Step 2: Select Criteria and Set Priority and Step 3: Automate Roster Assignment, with the run buttons in a bar at the bottom. The first time you open it, nothing is set up and Run AI Assignment is grayed out.
Your settings on this tab are saved for each program, for you only. Other admins see their own settings, but you all share the program's one proposal. If a colleague already set up the program, set it up again under your own login.
Step 2: Configure each division
Step 1: Configure Divisions says which divisions to fill and how.
- Under Step 1: Configure Divisions, click Configure a Division.
- Fill in every field. All are required.
- Click Add. You'll see "The division has been added."
- Repeat for each division you want to fill.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Division | The division to fill. Each division can be set up once. |
| Offerings | The offerings whose enrollees go to this division. Each offering can be in only one division's setup. |
| Roster Min/Max | The number of players per team. Teams never go over the maximum. The maximum must be higher than the minimum. |
| Enrollee types | Who to place. Player is youth players, General is adult players, and Volunteer is coaches, assistant coaches, team parents and managers. |
| Keep families together | Yes puts enrollees from the same account, in the same division, on the same team. |
| Create missing teams | Yes adds teams when there aren't enough to hold everyone at the roster maximum. |
| Existing roster assignments | Keep leaves people already on a team where they are. Replace clears the division's rosters and places everyone again when you commit. |
To change a setup, click the Edit icon on its row. To remove one, click the Delete icon. If a criterion uses the division, change or remove the criterion first.
More about each setting
- Roster Min. Smart Auto Assign uses the minimum only to warn you when a division has more teams than it can fill. It doesn't hold back players to reach it.
- Volunteers don't count toward roster size. Smart Auto Assign spreads them evenly across teams by role, and it avoids putting one person on the same team twice in two roles.
- Use the same enrollee types in every division. Smart Auto Assign combines the types from all your divisions. If one division includes Volunteer, volunteers can be placed in all of them.
- Keep families together. Each family goes on one team with room for all of them. If no team has room, the whole family stays unassigned. A parent who volunteers goes on their child's team. See How to keep families together on rosters.
- Create missing teams. New teams continue the division's numbering: a division with 3 teams gets Team 4, then Team 5, skipping names already in use. They're added to the division when you commit. This setting is grayed out when Volunteer is the only enrollee type, because volunteers don't use roster spots.
- Replace includes coaches. Replace clears every player and volunteer already on the division's teams, even if you didn't choose Volunteer, then places them again.
Step 3: Add criteria
Step 2: Select Criteria and Set Priority says how to balance the teams. Criteria are optional. Without them, Smart Auto Assign only evens out team sizes.
- Under Step 2: Select Criteria and Set Priority, click Add Criteria.
- Choose a Criteria type: Age as of, Gender or Grade.
- In Applies to divisions, choose the divisions, then choose its Priority: Critical, High, Medium or Low.
- Click Add.
Each criteria type can be used once, for as many divisions as you like.
| Criteria | What it balances | Where the information comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Age as of | Average age on each team | The player's birth date, counted on the offering's Age As Of Date, or on the day of the run if the offering has none |
| Gender | The mix of boys and girls on each team | The gender on the player's account |
| Grade | Average grade on each team | The grade on the player's account. Pre-K and kindergarten count as below first grade |
When two criteria pull in different directions, the higher priority wins. Smart Auto Assign never goes over the Roster Max, and it keeps team sizes as even as it can.
What Smart Auto Assign doesn't use
It doesn't read special requests, comments, enrollment fields or custom fields. It can't honor friend, coach or school requests, or player evaluations. Place those players with Drag & drop after you commit.
Step 4: Run it
- In the bar below Step 3: Automate Roster Assignment, click Run AI Assignment.
- If warnings appear, read them and close the message. Then click Run Anyway to go ahead, or Cancel to change your setup.
- Wait for the run to finish. The page refreshes itself.
Before a run starts, you may see these warnings, one for each division they apply to:
| Warning | What to do |
|---|---|
| "(division) does not have enough teams for its enrollees at the configured roster maximum (2 more team(s) needed)…" | Add teams, or set Create missing teams to Yes. If you run anyway, the players who don't fit stay unassigned. |
| "(division) has more teams than its enrollees can fill at the configured roster minimum…" | Remove teams, or lower the Roster Min. If you run anyway, some teams finish below the minimum. |
| "(division) has no criteria configured, so enrollees will not be balanced by age, gender or grade…" | Add criteria in Step 2, or go ahead. Teams are filled to even sizes only. |
| "(division) is set to REPLACE existing roster assignments…" | Go ahead only if you want the division's current rosters cleared when you commit. Replace also takes coaches and other volunteers off their teams and places them again. |
The run works in the background and usually starts within a minute. While it runs, the page says "The AI Auto-Assignment run is processing in the background.", refreshes every 10 seconds, and locks your setup. You can leave the page, but no email is sent when it's done. To stop a run, click Cancel AI Assignment; it stops after the division it's working on.
Step 5: Review, then commit or reset
When the run ends, a message sums it up, for example "Smart Auto Assign is complete. 120 enrollees have been proposed for teams and 4 were left unassigned." The proposed rosters appear in Step 3:
- Proposed enrollees have (proposed) after their name.
- New teams appear as Team 4 (Proposed), Team 5 (Proposed) and so on.
- Each team shows its counts and averages, like "(Staff: 1, Players: 12, Avg Age: 9.4, M: 6, F: 6)".
Then choose one:
- Commit Assignments saves the proposal to your rosters.
- Reset Assignments throws the proposal away. Your rosters stay as they were.
Neither button asks you to confirm, and you can't undo a commit. Until you commit or reset, your setup stays locked and you can't run again. For what to check first, see How to review, commit, or reset a Smart Auto Assign proposal.
If it doesn't work
- "You have published Team Sites for this program. To use AI Auto-Assignment, please archive any published Team Sites. They can be republished after roster assignment." Archive the program's Team Sites on its 5 Team Sites page, then come back.
- Run AI Assignment is grayed out. No division is set up yet, a run is in progress, or a Team Site in the program is published. While a proposal is waiting, Commit Assignments and Reset Assignments show instead.
- "An AI assignment is already running for this program." Someone already started a run for this program. Wait for it to finish.
- "Roster maximum must be higher than the roster minimum." Raise the maximum, or lower the minimum.
- "This division is used by one or more criteria and cannot be removed. Remove or update those criteria first." Edit or delete the criteria in Step 2 that apply to the division, then delete it.
- The page unlocks with no message. The run found nothing to place, or it didn't finish. Check that the division has unassigned enrollees, and teams or Create missing teams set to Yes, then run again. If it keeps happening, contact TeamSideline Support.
Good to know
- Smart Auto Assign doesn't schedule games. Advanced Scheduling's Auto Assign, a different feature, is the one that places a division's games at fields and times.
- Neither the run nor a commit emails families or coaches. They see their team when you publish Team Sites.
- Try one division first to see how it works.
Related articles
- How to review, commit, or reset a Smart Auto Assign proposal
- Roster sizes and missing teams in Smart Auto Assign
- How Smart Auto Assign uses your data
- How to keep families together on rosters
- Roster Assignment FAQ
- Troubleshooting Roster Assignments
- How to assign players and coaches to teams (Assign To Roster)
- What is Advanced Scheduling and how to set it up (home fields, availability, Auto Assign)