Q:

How much does it cost?

A:

Any organization may set up its own free website with sub-sites for as many sports as they wish. We call this "JV" service and it includes posting articles, news, schedules & results, venues, document uploads and picture banners. The venues application also generates a map.

Full-service, "Varsity SportsOffice" users pay a fee of $1 per player per sport season, plus our breakeven costs to process credit cards (about 2.5%), to utilize our powerful database services. These services include online registration; collection of fees into their bank account and bookkeeping reports; "slicing and dicing" players into league/division/team structures; distribution of players onto teams by random assignment, assignment by skill rating or manually from printed lists; great communication tools; generation of schedules; uniform readouts and other services, along with all the JV services listed above. This is less expensive and requires much less Admin time that owning your own Merchant Account. For an organization charging $60 for a sport season, the cost of our services is around 4%. With the savings we deliver in printing, postage and administrative time, our service pays for itself.

Q:

How does the money flow work?

A:

When a child is registered online, we collect your registration fee for you. Then, once a week we transfer the net amount collected (the gross amount minus the credit card fee) straight to your bank. See "Paperwork". You may view registrations and a bookkeeping report on them as they flow in. Then, when games start for the season, we collect our fee of $1 per player.

Q:

What's the Paperwork thing?

A:

Becoming a "Varsity" user of SportsOffice means entering into a contractual relationship between us, and we take it seriously. So, we have written down what we think are the duties and responsibilities of each party. Before we set you up to use our Varsity services, we ask that you download the Paperwork, read it and join us in signing on the dotted line in an agreement which will govern us both. You snail us two signed copies and we'll snail you back one of them. We are happy to answer any questions and possibly modify the agreement based on special circumstances.

Q:

Tell me more about online registration.

A:

Once your Varsity account is set up, the Guardians of Players in your organization are able to open and set up their families' Accounts. This is where they enter general parent, player, baby-sitter, sibling, health, etc., information for use in running a sport season. Next, SportAdmins spend a few minutes tailoring Registration items to fit their sport; Emergency Contacts, Fees & Scholarships, Parent Ratings, Special Requests, Volunteer Policy and Content/Waiver/Release items can be activated and customized. Bingo! The season is launched and the registration process becomes available online.

Then, parents go to your website (such as "www.yourtownathletics.sportsoffice.com"), log in, go to the sport and season, and click "registration". They fill in a short, series of forms about the season in question (most of the necessary information is already present in their "My Account" area), and pay by credit card. Multiple players? No tedium! Very easy. Very fast. SportAdmins watch registrations and money flow in through their admin interface.

Q:

What about people without a computer?

A:

Obviously, Admins need to be online to use our system. For parents/players who are not online, someone has to do it for them: a neighbor or friend or at the office. Or, you can suggest they go to the library and get a free email account!

Q:

Tell me about your lingo. What's an "Admin"?

A:

SportsOffice users interact with our tools and services based on the roles they play in their organization, for which we have some "shorthand" names. We call the person who is President of a parent organization, which runs one or more sports, an "OrgAdmin". Someone in charge of running a sport is called a "SportAdmin". Other roles in the structure include "LeagueAdmin", "TeamAdmin" (Coach), etc. Admins log in to their interface (their "SportsOffice") by username and password to get their work done. They may have multiple roles, and can switch effortlessly between them on the fly. A LeagueAdmin might also be a TeamAdmin in the same or in another league. An OrgAdmin has the power to "hire and fire" a SportAdmin; a SportAdmin does the same for LeagueAdmins, who set up TeamAdmins. When an Admin is added or removed, it is effective immediately, in real time. See our Glossary for more info.

Q:

What do you mean by "slicing & dicing"?

A:

Our DIVVY TOOL gives a SportAdmin the ability to group and regroup, combine or separate the player population by age and gender in any imaginable way. They may use Date Of Birth ("DOB") or school grade for age, and may toggle between the two, in order to establish leagues. Leagues can be broken into Divisions, if desired, by randon assignment or by skill rating (either equal skill or ranked skill). Finally, players can be put on teams by random assignment, assignment by skill, or manually. Each grouping profile may be studied for associated volunteer types to see if that grouping is workable. All done without paper.

Q:

What about player ratings?

A:

Our system for player ratings includes a numeric rating scale from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating a perfectly great player, along with a text field to be used for appropriate comments on player ability. Useful lists of any player population may be printed out for use in field evaluations; from there they can be input into your database. Ratings for use THIS season can come from ratings performed at the end of a previous season, the start of this season (i.e. tryouts) or from the ratings actually used in another season. Admins can import these ratings using a selection of filters from these sources to make up the Composed Ratings to be used THIS season. Comprehensive and flexible.

Q:

What about volunteers?

A:

When SportAdmins launch a new season, they may activate both a Volunteer Policy of their choosing and a comprehensive number of volunteer categories. Both then become part of the online registration process. As parents/guardians register players, they will be presented with the policy, asked to signal their agreement and to volunteer in keeping with the policy. Sport, League and TeamAdmins can study the number and type of volunteers associated with any player population and communicate appropriately in order to manage volunteers. If there are not enough, or too many volunteers of a certain type in a given league, perhaps the league structure should be modified. This is a powerful tool to get the number of volunteers needed to run a sport/league/team and distribute them effectively in the groups.

Q:

How do you handle Special Requests?

A:

When SportAdmins launch a new season, they can also activate both a Special Requests Policy and a number of special request categories which will appear in the Registration process. Admins can view the number and type of special requests in any population and act on them as they wish.

Q:

Is there a chance of losing our information?

A:

We understand it feels a little risky to have your information living on someone else's computer far away. But we hope you'll soon relax. Your information is constantly being backed up and we are always looking for better ways to insure reliability and security.

Q:

What about help?

A:

We have made our features VERY easy to use. By reading the instructions carefully, you should be fine. However, further help is an email away. We answer promptly and, in most cases will call you right up to solve your problem. We need happy campers out there to be in business.