Automation Options for Managing Athletic Events

Overview

The Veracross Athletic Module includes automation throughout to make managing athletic data easier. Use this article to become familiar with the automation available to those managing Athletics in Veracross. While most automation exists as a part of Athletic Event tracking, automation in other aspects of the Athletic Module is documented here as well.

Athletic Events

Game Description (on insert): When an event is entered into Veracross and an opponent has been specified, the game description will be automatically generated. The description is formed by taking the name of the team, adding either a ‘v’ (Home) or ‘@’ (Away) and then including the opponent alias if it exists and if not the opponent organization description. An example would be ‘Boys Varsity Basketball v Franklin’ for a home game where the boys Varsity basketball team is playing Franklin Academy at home.

Game Description (Event Status): The Game Description field will automatically have ‘Postponed’ or ‘Cancelled’ added at the beginning of the string when a game status is updated to ‘Postponed’ or ‘Cancelled.’

Attendance Integration Attendance integration is not limited to Athletic Events, but is often used to pre-populate class attendance for classes when students have to leave early for a game.

Game End Time: Game end time can be populated automatically. If a Game Duration value has been specified on the team record (via the ‘other’ tab), game end time will be calculated as:
Start Time + Team Game Duration.

NOTE: Game End Time will only be automatically calculated if the field is blank when INSERTING the event. However, this field can be overridden when necessary after the event has been created.

Campus Departure Time Like Game End time, Campus Departure Time can be automatically calculated. For the system to automatically calculate the Campus Departure Time, the Travel Duration value on the opponent organization (via the ‘other’ tab of the organization) and team Early Arrival Time (via the ‘other’ tab of the team detail) must be specified. In addition, a Start Time for the game must also be specified on the specific event. Campus Departure Time is defined as:
Start Time – Team Early Arrival Time – Opponent Travel Duration.

NOTE: Campus Departure Time will only be automatically calculated if the field is blank when INSERTING the event. However, this field can be overridden when necessary after the event has been created.

Return to Campus Time The final time field that can be automatically calculated is ‘Return to Campus Time’. This calculation relies on values coming from the Event Start Time, Opponent Organization Travel Duration and the Team game Duration. Return to Campus Time is defined as:
Start Time + Team Game Duration + Opponent Travel Duration.

NOTE: Return to Campus Time will only be automatically calculated if the field is blank when INSERTING the event. However, this field can be overridden when necessary after the event has been created.

Depart From
The Depart From field on the Logistics tab of each Athletic Event is automatically populated if the associated team has a Depart From value specified on the Other Tab. The Depart From value can be overridden on the event.

NOTE: The ‘Depart From’ value will only be automatically populated if the field is blank when INSERTING the event.

Opponent Organization Role
When an opponent organization is added to an Athletic Event the first time, the Veracross nightly processes will add the role ‘Athletic Opponent’ to the organization record. Having organizations tagged with the Opponent roles makes it easier to find the right organization the next time Athletic Events are added. This is especially helpful in avoiding choosing the wrong organization record when duplicates exist in the system as athletic coordinators can filter organizations by the Athletic Opponent role.

API Updates
Updates made to Athletic Events are automatically pushed out to the API (this update can take up to 15 minutes). For example, if scores or a game summary are added to a game record after the end of the game, that update will automatically be pushed to the API cache making it possible for a website or other app using the API to capture the newly added updates or additions to the Event record in minutes.

Copy Events
It is possible to automate the process of moving games schedules from one year to the next by using the Copy Events procedures. A separate article is available to learn more about this process: Copy Athletic Events.