Clubs can create invitation-only programs at the seasonal and grouping levels, and Participant Registration allows organizations to create Team Invitations. (NOTE: The Invitation-only feature can only be turned ON for one level at a time: either for the entire Season, the Grouping(s), OR the teams.)
In Structure, begin by clicking on a Grouping and an Age Grouping. A table will appear to the right displaying all available Teams and corresponding player counts and staff numbers.
To add a team to the group, click the Add New Team button. To make the team invitee-only, make sure the Team Invitations button has been turned ON. Turning on the Team Invitees functionality for one team will turn it on for ALL teams in the season.
**Important Note** Any grouping in your season structure that does not have a team added to it will appear to the public if a family tries to register. For example, in the screenshot above, the 2011 group would not show up for public registrations since it has an invite-only team added to it. However, the 2012 group will show up if a family logs in and tries to register for this season. Please add a team to every grouping in your season structure if you do not want the season to show up for public registrations.
Invite players to the team by clicking the Edit button adjacent to the team name. When the Edit Team dialog box displays, select the Invite Player button. Select your tryouts program/season and then check the boxes for the players to invite to the team before saving.
The response column defaults to Unsent, but may also display:
Queued - The invitee has been added as a recipient to a queued email (retrievable via Email Broadcast), which is scheduled to be sent at a specific date/time in the future.
Pending - The Invitee has been sent an invitation via email, but they have not yet responded.
Accepted - The invitee has completed registration and has been added to the Team.
Declined -The invitee has declined the invitation and will not be registering for the Team.
To send an email to the Team Invitees, click the envelope icon in the table (last column). The email composition screen will pop up. Change the recipients to "Email to Invitees" and filter on the invite status you wish to send the email to.
A message will auto-populate in the composition window. You can append the email body with any additional information you wish to include. The email can be sent immediately or scheduled for a later date.
Note: Team invite emails will be sent to all household admins regardless of email opt-out status. When team invitation emails are sent out from the season structure view, household admins will not be prevented from receiving the emails if they are on your club’s email opt-out list.
Refer back to the team table (Edit) to see their response, the date they were contacted, and the date they responded.
Note: Age group commissioners can email their team/group members from the season structure without having full permission from the Communications Product.
Setting Seasonal Invitation Expirations
When using the invitation process for your season or grouping, admins have an option to set an expiration date on the team invite. Setting an expiration ensures that unresponsive invitees don’t hold spots, allowing more active and interested participants to join teams.
For seasons using the Invitation Process:
In Programs, locate your program and season, then select Structure.
Click on edit at the Season or Grouping level.
Select Reg Options and input the number of days to expire invitations.
Note: All invitations will expire at MIDNIGHT following the number of days from when each individual invitation was originally sent or status updated to INVITED.
Once complete, click Save.
When an expiration range has been set, when each Invitation Email is sent, the corresponding individual seasonal invitation will only be valid to be accepted through the end of the day, equaling "date email sent plus day range". When sending the invite, the expiration range is included in the template.
If a Registration Order has accepted the Invitation, but has not been completed by the end of the Day Range date, then a pop-up is displayed during Public Registration that the Invitation has expired and will be removed from the Order.
If the Seasonal Invitation is NOT accepted by the Day Range date:
The Invitation Status is marked EXPIRED
Household Admins will still see the Invitation pop up the next time they access participant registration, but only to inform them that the Invitation has expired, and they can close the pop-up to proceed with registration.