🚨 If you’re looking to learn how to import officials from a spreadsheet, check out this article.
There are two ways to add Games to your site:
In Bulk. By importing games from a CSV (Excel) spreadsheet.
One at a time. By adding games one-at-a-time from the Games screen.
To add games to your site from a Spreadsheet, follow the steps below.
Video Tutorial:
1. Format your Spreadsheet.
First, let’s make sure you have your spreadsheet in the correct format.
Column Headers. Your first row should be your Column Headers, or titles, reflecting what information is in the rows underneath it.
One row per game. Each game must be on a single row of your spreadsheet.
Recommended Fields. You have the ability to import several different kinds of fields into the system (more info on those fields below!), but the following fields are required for each game:
Date — the date of the game.
Start Time — the time the game starts.
Venue — the location where the game is played.
Age Group — determines the level of play, length of the game, and controls the game fees.
Home Team — one of the teams playing the game.
Away Team — the other team playing the game.
CSV Format. Save your spreadsheet as a CSV file. If you're working with an Excel file (.xls or .xlsx), you’ll need to select File → Save As → CSV.
Here’s an example of what a properly-formatted spreadsheet looks like:
Now that you have your spreadsheet ready to go, it’s time to actually import it into your site!
2. Upload your Spreadsheet.
To import your spreadsheet, follow these steps:
Select Games → All Games.
Select Import a Spreadsheet (CSV).
File Type → Games.
Select Choose File.
Select the CSV spreadsheet of games you wish to upload (you can select the games link in the blue banner, for a sample spreadsheet).
Select Open.
Select Upload File.
3. Map your Column Headers to the Assignr Fields.
1. Choose a Default Pattern from the dropdown. (You can learn more about Officiating Patterns here, and in the FAQs below).
2. Map each Column Header that you wish to upload with the system’s corresponding field.
3. Select Submit.
That’s it! Well done. 👏
💡 After you upload your games, you'll likely need to publish them. Games are not automatically published, unless you do so by way of a Published column (as outlined below).
Learn how to publish your games, add officials to your site, and assign officials to games next!
Frequently Asked Questions about Importing Games.
1. What other fields can I import, besides the required fields?
While you don’t have to, you’re more than welcome to include any/all of the following fields in your spreadsheet.
Keep in mind, you’ll need to map each of these fields to their corresponding system fields before selecting Submit, to ensure that the information is added to that game!
Field Name | Description |
Game ID | A series of numbers and/or letters identifying the game in some way. Game IDs default to being unique per game, but you can update this setting from your Site Settings, so that Game IDs are unique per league, or are not unique at all.
Related Article: Site Settings. |
Date (Required) | The date the game is occurring on. |
Start Time (Required) | The start time of the game. |
End Time | Typically, end times are not imported. Instead, game length is determined by the game's age group. However, if you'd like to be able to add end times to specific games, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Related Article: How to set up Age Groups (Ages & Fees). |
Venue (Required) | The name of the location that the game is occurring at.
Related Article: Venues. |
Sub-Venue | A specific location within the main venue of a game. For example, Field 6, Court 3, or Main Gym. |
Venue Address | Venue addresses are typically added from the Maintenance → Venues section of your account. However, you can also import your addresses when importing games, if needed.
Related Article: Venues. |
Age Group (Required) | The age group of the game.
Related Article: How to set up Age Groups (Ages & Fees). |
Status | A game's status can be Active, Canceled (no pay), or Canceled (with pay). Each game's status defaults to being Active, and you do not typically need to import this field.
When Canceled (no pay) is selected, billing and payroll reports will automatically set the pay rate to zero. If the status of an existing game changes from active to cancelled, or vice versa, assigned officials will be notified. |
Published | The Published value can either be Published or Not Published. Newly imported games default to being Not Published. You do not typically need to import this field.
Related Article: Publish Games. |
League | The league or division of the game. If your game fees differ based on league (as opposed to just age group), you will want to import each game's league.
Related Articles: How to Set Up Leagues, How to Set Up Game Fees, Team, League & Person Conflicts. |
Gender | The gender of the participants of the game. |
Game Type | You can create different game types, and configure them from the Maintenance → Game Types section of your account. This field represents what type of game is being imported. For example, Pre-Season, Regular Season, or Tournament Game. |
Event | If your organization hosts different events or tournaments throughout the year, you may want to use our Events feature. If you do, you can import the name of the Event that each game is associated with in this column.
Related Article: How to Set Up Events. |
Home Team (Required) | The home team playing the game. |
Away Team (Required) | The away team playing the game. |
Home Team Group | Most sites do not use this field. Team Groups allow you to group teams together, typically by location. If you do use this field, you can import the Home Team Group that each game is associated with in this column. |
Pattern | A Pattern describes the number of officials, and types of officials, needed for a specific game. When importing, you will be able to select one default Pattern that will be tied to every game that you import.
If your games do not all have the same Pattern, you can import them for each game in this column. Be sure your Pattern names in this column exactly match the names in the Maintenance → Patterns section of your site.
Related Article: How to add Officiating Patterns to your Site. |
Payor (or Paid By) | The entity responsible for paying the officials working this game. This field will only be relevant for sites using the Financial Module or paying officials via Direct Deposit.
Related Article: How to Create a Payor. |
Paid Via | The possible values for the Paid Via field are:
This field is only necessary for sites using our Direct Deposit feature. Most games will be paid via Check or Direct Deposit.
Related Article: Handling Cash Games. |
Assignor | The assignor assigning the game. This field is most relevant for sites that pay their assignors an assignor fee. If all of the games you're importing have the same assignor, you can simply select a Default Assignor during the importing process. Otherwise, you can include the correct Assignor's name for each game in this column.
Related Article: Assignor Fees. |
Notes (Visible to All) | These notes are visible to anyone that can view that game, including officials assigned to it. |
Assignor Notes | Any notes pertaining to this game, viewable only to assignors that have access to the game. |
Assignor Database ID | This is not a field you'd create or import for new games, but it is a field that you will see if you export your games. It's an ID number automatically generated by the Assignr platform, and is used when you batch update games via spreadsheet import.
Related Article: How to Batch Update Games with a Spreadsheet. |
Official 1 (Official 2, etc.) | Most assignors assign their games from within the platform (after they import their games). However, if you'd like, you can add columns for each expected official and import them alongside your games.
You can learn more about how to do this in the FAQ question below. |
2. Can I import assigned officials using a spreadsheet?
Yes, you can!
On your spreadsheet, you should add columns for each expected official. As an example, if your games require 3 officials each, you might have three additional columns called Official 1, Official 2 and Official 3. You can also name the according to position if needed, like Referee, Asst Referee 1, Asst Referee 2, or something similar.
Next, you'll need to add the name of the official that is to be assigned to each game. The name must match their name in your site, as Assignr will not add a new referee if they can't be found. Their name can be either first/last or last, first, (e.g. "Ted Lasso" or "Lasso, Ted" are both acceptable formats).
Finally, when you import the games, you will need to indicate that these columns represent the assigned officials. On the review screen, when Assignr prompts you to review the columns of your spreadsheet, you will need to switch these columns to the respective Assigned Official 1, Assigned Official 2, and Assigned Official 3 fields, like this:
3. What if not all of my games have the same Pattern?
If the games you’re importing have different Officiating Patterns, you’ll want to fill in the Pattern column in the spreadsheet you upload. Be sure to enter the name of your Patterns for each game exactly as they appear in the Maintenance → Patterns page.
💡 If the values in your Patterns column do not exactly match the names of the existing Patterns in your site, the Default Pattern will be used.
Happy uploading! Let us know if you run into any questions as you do this. 🙂