Sports Scheduling System News Blog

NFHS Rules App

2012-01-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have Android devices, the NFHS has released the NFHS Basketball Rules Book and Case Book for $5.95. They say that iPhone/iPad versions are scheduled to be released soon!

You won't believe this video!

2012-01-05T10:19:00.001-08:00

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K6v-bW6wxoY .

IHSA Rule Change

2011-12-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

You might want to read this (click here to read).

Self-Assign?

2011-11-04T15:05:00.001-07:00

I'm going to introduce a new feature in S3 that is something like self-assign. I think I might call it "What's Available".

Update (12/12/2011): It's called "Available Games" and you can see it on the front page of the website. Just click on it to see what available games are there. You can even add some of your own if you would like to.

New Menus

2011-10-30T13:05:00.001-07:00

The new version of iOS 5 for the iPhones required a new menu in the system. If anyone has any problems with the new menus please let me know.

Game DVD

2011-10-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to watch yourself in action on the court? This is the best way to improve your game and mechanics. Game film will show you exactly what you are doing on the court. Go here to find out more information.

Catholic Games

2011-09-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering if the Catholic games will be scheduled through s3 the answer is "yes". Sherry Casey is working on the schedule right now. Stay tuned to the web site for more details.

Art Sadtler 2012

2011-09-02T08:47:00.001-07:00

If you are interested in officiating Art Sadtler games please click on the "Art Sadtler Officials" graphic on the web site.

Become a Ninja!

2011-04-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

I've created a new Ninja link in S3. Look for "Ninja Stuff" under the heading "Officials".

New Help Subsystem

2011-04-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

I have created a new "Help" sub-system. You will start to see it on the various screens in the system. It might take a while for them to show up on all of the screens. (Example below)

Clicking on "Help" will bring up some documentation to help you use that particular screen. Clicking on "Problem" will take you to a form. Please type in the problem that you are having.
Clicking on "Idea" will also take you to a form where you can type in an idea that you have for our system.

If you have any comments send they to me! Thanks!

Texts for S3

2011-04-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Since a lot of people like to receive texts instead of reading emails I would like you opinion on this. Click here to get your take on this subject.

Hover over Event Name

2010-10-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

Officials, while you are looking at your schedule, if you hover over the Event Name with your mouse the system will tell you the contest location. Before in order to get that information you had to click on the game index and look at it there.

Change Game Information

2010-07-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Assignors now have the ability to change game information without having to delete the game and re-adding it. If officials are assigned to the game they get emails sent to them with the new game information.

New Image Header

2010-06-29T09:17:00.001-07:00

I designed a new S3 header image that will be on all of the pages today. I really like it. Leave me a comment if you like it or not.

Comments

2010-06-15T15:14:00.001-07:00

I know that people are reading this blog. I would like it if you left comments on the individual news items (good or bad).

Thanks!

Accepting in Emails

2010-06-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

I added the "Green Accept" buttons to the emails you get when an assignor assigns a contest to you. If you want the contest just click the green button in the email. It will do the same thing as signing into S3 and accepting the contest.

I'm not sure if I'm going to put the "Red Reject" button in the email. I'll just make you work harder to decline the contest.

UPDATE --- I have included the decline button in the email. Enjoy!

Improvement for Assignors

2010-05-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Two enhancements in one day! I sometimes surprise myself. LOL!

I have given the ability to the Assignors to associate themselves with an association. This way when the Assignor goes to assign a contest, the Assignor can give out the assignments just to the officials in the association.

Send me your Availability!

2010-05-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

I've been on a roll here lately as you can probably tell. This is my fourth enhancement in three days. I bet Aribiter can't say that. :^)

The next time an assignor says "Send me your Availability" this is what you do.

Under the "Availability" heading choose "Export to CSV". This will create a "CSV" file (comma separted value) which is really an Excel file. Save it to computer and then send it as an attachment in the email to the assignor.

Problem solved!

If you have any requests for S3, please send them to me.

Exporting your contests to CSV

2010-05-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

I made it a little easier to export your contests to a CSV file. All you have to do is to enter beginning and ending dates on the "Export to CSV" screen (which is under the "Contests" header) and you will get a link to save your CSV file.

The neat thing about this CSV file is that you can import it into an application like Google Calendar. It really helps me stay on top of things.

New Availability Calendar

2010-05-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

I installed a new Availability Calendar today to make entering availability a lot easier. Give it a try. Also, click on this video link to see how easy it is to use.

Arbiter Importing

2010-03-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

I have created a method to get your Arbiter contests into Sports Scheduling so that you can have all of your contests in one place. If you look under the "Contests" heading you will see the new link for importing the Arbiter contests. These Arbiter games come in as Outside Games to S3.

I also gave the ability to make changes to all of your outside contests. So if the information on the Arbiter games is incomplete you can make the changes on the S3 side. Just click on the game index and choose "Edit Game".

Quick Check

2009-11-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

I've installed a new function on the web site. If you are constantly checking the web site to see if you have new contests to accept or reject you can do a 'Quick Check' without having to login to the web site.

To learn about it log in and under 'Officials' click on 'Quick Check Info'.

Your schedule on your Phone?

2009-05-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

How would you like to have your schedule on your iPhone/iTouch, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Mac or Windows without having to log into S3?

I use a FREE application called Evernote (http://www.Evernote.com) on my computer to save notes, pictures, audio and lots more. It is a very cool application. Besides being cool Evernote gives me an email address that is associated with my Evernote account. So anything I email to my Evernote account is available to me when I'm on my iTouch (when I'm hooked to the Internet via wifi).

So I set my alternate email address up (in S3) to be my Evernote email address. So when I request my schedule to be emailed to me (you can do this in S3) it automatically appears in Evernote. Now I can look at my schedule on any of the devices that Evernote supports (I listed them at the top) when ever I need to.

Advanced Topic.

You can make folders in Evernote. For a particular folder you can publish it to the Internet. Then give the web address to your partner or spouse. Now they can see your schedule too!

New Message Forum

2009-04-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

I thought that we might be able to take advantage of a Message Forum.

Please visit: this link.

Let me know how you like it.

Pictures on S3

2009-02-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

I just installed the ability for officials to post their pictures on the site. Look for it under "My Info".

I'm open today!

2009-01-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

Who would like the capability to show others the fact that you are willing and able to work for someone today? Respond to this post if you are. If I don't get any responses I won't implement this feature.

We had it in the past and it worked pretty well.

Past Messages

2009-01-16T09:10:00.001-08:00

Jan 15th - Blacklists and Whitelists are now available.
Now assignors can blacklist an official from a school and put officials on a whitelist (priority list) for their schools. Officials have the ability to set schools on a blacklist so that the assignor doesn't schedule them for that school.

Jan 8th - Who's Open.
Who's Open is now available after you login as an official and/or an assignor. This modification was for Joel.

Nov 21st - Send your schedule to your email account.
There is a new option under "Contests" called "Email Schedule". Clicking on this option will send your schedule to your email account. Use this as a backup in case S3 blows up!

Nov 8th - Text Messaging (SMS).
If you would like your emails that come from S3 to be text-messaged to your cell send me an email and I'll explain how to do it.