Preparing Official Registration for another year is done as follows:


  1. make sure you are set to the correct event
    Change Event under My Account menu.

  2. set up the time intervals for the phases of the process
    This is done using the Misc Actions pane under Administration=>manage officials.  The controls in the Dates for Officials box control the dates when various actions on the Officials menu are open.
    • Nominate Times: controls when nominations can be made
    • Survey Times: controls when application to be an official is open
    • Register Times: controls when selected officials can register for Global Finals

  1. set up the available single and guest rooms for the new Global Finals
    Select the Housing pane under Administration=>manage officials.  Then pick the Misc Actions pane from Officials Housing.  Click on the Init Avail Rooms button.  This makes sure when officials start to register there will be appropriate limits on the number of singles and guest rooms for officials and others.

  2. set up the area sites (officials teams) that need to be built
    Select Misc Action pane under Administration=>build event team.  Click on the Replicate Sites button.  As is explained in the Help pane, teams of officials have a hierarchy:
    • Category: (non-appraising, team challenge, instant challenge)
      • Area: (challenges are an example withing team challenge)
        • Site: (levels typically with challenges)

This hierarchy is somewhat flexible.  The Replicate Sites button recreates last year's hierarchy for this year.  After replicating last year, you will want to discuss if there are any new categories, areas, sites or jobs.  Categories are not table driven. Sites can be added and removed as needed (see selection). Areas are described in 2 tables:

    • ev_volunteer_area: a list of the areas ever used
    • ev_event_area: the areas used for a specific event (it connects to the current challenges)

The final piece is to check on any job changes.  Jobs are tracked in the table ev_volunteer_job. This table holds the jobs that are available for each area.  There is no GUI to manipulate this table.  The columns have the following meaning:

    • category: jobs are specific to a category 
    • specific_area_id: if a job is only for a specific area, that area is listed
    • unpublished: this is an available job but it is not listed in the application (pin backer is an example)
    • discontinued: used for jobs that are no longer used by were used at a prior event
    • checkin_day: the day officials with this job can arrive (and DIHQ will pay for room and board) -- see below for more

  1. check to see that all the people that are going to register have the appropriate roles.  See register for more on roles.
    • officials are built by this process so they are not a problem
    • ADs, RDs, ATDs are setup early in the year through the Resource Area
    • Trustees (BOT), Staff (STF), ICMs have no GUI to set them up -- these often need to be setup by manipulating the ev_role table directly.
    • VIPs and Contractors are defined by the process so they are not a problem

  1. check on the arrival times for various officials, the corresponding housing packages, and any related costs
    • officials arrival times are encoded in ev_volunteer_job using the checkin_day field.  This is the number of days prior to opening ceremonies.  For example, opening ceremonies is typically on Wed, so Wed arrival is 0 and a Mon arrival is 2. There is no GUI for this; you change the records.
    • for other roles such as ADs, get a decision on the arrival dates.  The function getJobInfo in OfficialsLib encodes this information.