Setup Support Tools

➧ Checklist Version 

We've created a version of these steps as a checklist for the list checkers out there. We see you! You can print this out and check off each step as you go ➞ New Season Setup Checklist

➧ New Site Admins 

Are you a new Site Admin this season, or do you need to train one to take over soon? ➞ See our Quick Start Guide (New Site Admins)

➧ What's New?

Visit the "What's New" page from the top of your "Manage Team" admin console to catch up on all the latest changes. (also available from the Help Center ➞ What's New? Making SwimTopia Better for You!).

➧ Product Support and Training

We offer many support options to cater to your needs. Our robust Help Center, is accessible 24/7. You'll find helpful step-by-step guides, topic-focused training videos on our YouTube Channel, and many tips and tricks within our Community section. ➞ View All Support Options

➧ Billing Questions 

We are happy to answer any questions ➞ See our Billing Support & Policies Overview article for details.

Before Creating Your New Season

➧ Discuss Annual Team Configuration Updates

To eliminate tracking decisions in emails, we suggest sharing a Google doc (or something similar) containing annual decisions with your board members. Everyone can update as decisions are made, and refer to this document at any time to recall configuration decisions. Below is an example of some decisions you may want to include:

Role Updates

• Are there any changes to who is assigned to each Role? 
• Are there any changes to Role descriptions?

Treasurer Updates

If the Treasurer is changing this season, the following configurations need to be updated:

• Online Payment: Transfer the online payment account to the new Treasurer ➞ Reference our Stripe Account Access & Management article for details.
• Registration Reply-To box: If a parent replies to their registration confirmation email with questions it goes here. An email is required. (field located on registration form)
• Registration Confirmation: Does the Treasurer want a copy each time someone registers? (checkbox located on registration form)
• Check Payments: If accepting checks during registration, a physical address is needed on the registration. (field located on Payment tab of registration form) PREMIUM
• Online Store: Does the Treasurer want a copy of each purchase? (checkbox located on Website > Online Store page) PREMIUM

Date Confirmations 

• Early Registration: Will registration be open for returning members first? What dates? 
• Late Registration: Will there be a late registration timeframe with an extra fee? If so, when?
• Pre-Season Clinics & Lessons: Will the coach want to do these? If so, when?
• New Swimmer Tryouts: Does the coach want to have tryouts for particular age groups?
• Practice dates/times: First day of practice, and what is the breakdown by age group?
• Stroke Judge Certification and other events: Dates?

Registration Fees

• Registration Fees: Any changes to current pricing (early/late registrations as applicable)?
• Sibling Discounts: Do you offer a sibling discount?
• Age-Range Fee Overrides: Do you offer a price break for older athletes to entice signup?
• Athlete Roster Groups: Do you have custom fees for your groups? Learn more about this topic ➞ Athlete Roster Groups
• Per-Athlete SwimTopia Technology Fee: Do you want to display this fee for the member to pay during registration? (N/A for teams where the league pays this fee on behalf of the team. Learn more about this fee ➞ SwimTopia Per Athlete Fee Collection - FAQ)
• Discount Codes: Do you offer committee lead & board member discounts?

Registration Limits

• Do you want to set a registration limit to ensure the safety of the athletes?
• If so, by overall registration limit or limit by athlete age group? If you use Athlete Roster Groups, you can limit each group. Learn more about this topic ➞ Registration Limits

Volunteering Decisions

• Job signup during registration or parent selects volunteer preferences? This decision depends on how your Volunteer Coordinator (VC) manages volunteers. Allowing parents to select their volunteer jobs during registration can save time, but your meets and jobs/shifts must be set up to open registration. As long as the job signup remains open, parents can make edits later, so the VC has to keep an eye on signups. The volunteer preferences option does not require that your meets are set up, but is more work on the VC to work with parents to determine their roles (not everyone can be a timer). You set up Roles for each job, so your VC can assign people to these roles for communication. Learn more ➞ Registration: Volunteering Section
• Conditional Fee Option: If volunteering was an issue last season, you can take advantage of our conditional fee feature. It would be an acknowledgment on the registration form that parents must accept. If volunteer requirements are not met, the Treasurer can capture this pre-approved fee from the View Registrations page at the end of the season. Learn more ➞ Conditional Fees: Approve, Capture & Release.

Merchandise & Sponsorships

• Offer the same merchandise or new items? (pricing, sizes, and gif/jpg needed for each new item)
• Sell Sponsorships during registration? (sponsor levels need to be set up as merchandise offerings) PREMIUM

Meet & Event Schedule

Request access early to begin creating the schedule of events on your team site, unless your league imports the schedule for all teams. 

➧ Confirm Registration Forms are Closed

Before updating your "Active Season," confirm that your prior season's registration forms are closed (if that season is complete).

Go to Manage Team > Registration. If any forms in past seasons are still open that should not be, slide the Open slider bar to Closed.

It is possible to have multiple registration forms open if seasons overlap. Learn more about this topic ➞ Multiple Seasons in a Year.

➧ Confirm Site Settings - Billing Contact and Online Payment

Billing Contact

SwimTopia sends renewal reminders and invoicing to the email listed as your Billing Contact, so this must remain up-to-date to avoid any service disruption. (Also add billing@swimtopia.com to your contacts/address book).

This is found under Settings > Billing Contact.

➞ See our Billing Support & Policies Overview article for additional billing details

Online Payment (Stripe)

If your team collects fees or merchandise payments online, ensure your Stripe account is in good standing each season. This is found under Settings > Stripe Account. 

If you see a green check next to "Accepting Charges" and "Payouts Enabled," your account is in good standing to accept payments and receive payouts/deposits into your account. Otherwise, you may see a warning that your account is missing information, which will need to be resolved.

Is a new volunteer in charge of your Stripe account?

If they are not already listed as a Business Representative or Team Member on your Stripe account, you will need to add them due to a mobile verification step to access your account. See ➞ Stripe Account Access & Management - Add/Remove Team Members

Do you need to set up an online payment account?

If you do not yet have a Stripe account, you will need to set up an account to accept online payments. Reference our step-by-step tutorial ➞ Stripe Account Setup

» Tip: Don't save this step until right before opening registration. Issues may not be resolved immediately, so we stress this for your benefit.

➞ Reference our article on SwimTopia Site-wide Settings to understand the additional "site-wide" settings you can update as needed.

Create Your New Season

➧ What is a Season?

A Season is simply a span of time during which your team’s activities take place. 

• A season defines a range of time, from the start date to the end date (SwimTopia default is calendar year).
• Seasons are used to organize your events, athlete affiliations, role assignments, sponsorships and registrations.
• The selected season determines which season is currently active, regardless of the current date.
• Members who are affiliated with the active season are included in Communications and Reports.
• If a season has an age-up date, that date is used to determine athlete ages for age-group membership.
• By setting the active season, you can control when your team "rolls over to the next season."

➧ Setting Your Acitve Season

One of the most critical aspects of managing a season is setting the “active season.” This setting determines which season is currently active, regardless of the actual date. This is important because:

• Registration Accuracy: Any registrations submitted on your site will automatically be added to your roster for the active season. If the active season is not set correctly, you may end up with registrations in the wrong season, causing confusion and administrative headaches.
• Roster, Meet Schedule, and Reports: Your roster, meet schedule, and reports will all default to the active season. This means that if the season is not set correctly, all these critical aspects of team management could be out of sync.

When the current date falls outside the time that defines your active season, you'll see a reminder that your season is out of date. When you go to Schedule > Seasons and click on Fix Active Season, your new season will be created for you.

Or you can select +Add Season to create one manually. (also update the age-up date)

Past season data can be found by selecting the season from a drop-down box (People), from the left margin where applicable (Registration/Schedule), or from the Reports tab.

» Note: If you opened a new registration form before doing this step, contact your Customer Happiness Team with the form name and corresponding season, and we’ll be happy to transfer the registrations.

Why did the information disappear?

Once you change your season, you might notice that the previous season's role assignments, people/roster, division assignments, meets/events, sponsors, and reporting information seem to “disappear." This is because this information is tied to the previous season.  

Past season data can be found by selecting the season from a drop-down box or from the left margin where applicable (Registration/Schedule), or from the Reports tab.

Learn more about this topic ➞ Creating & Managing Your Seasons and Multiple Seasons in a Year

After Creating Your Season

➧ Update Access to Site Administrators and Coordinators

As teams transition to a new season, one of the first tasks is to ensure board members, coordinators, and coaches (discussed next) have access to all or specific areas of the team site.

Full Access (Red Badge) Site Admins

Administrator accounts from the previous season will automatically carry over each season in People, but their "Parent Affiliation" to the activet season will not be automatically renewed. This occurs when they register for the season.

If there are admins who will not return, you can click the Revoke Admin button in their profile.

» Tip: To give you more control over who can make changes that could affect your parents/athletes and your site, we suggest limiting administrators with full admin privileges.

Limited Permission (Role-Based) Site Admins

Many Board Members and other Volunteer Coordinators only need to access particular areas such as People, Registration, Meets/Events, or Reporting. You can grant partial privileges based on a “Role” to limit access for each volunteer.

➞ Learn more about managing access for your site admin and coordinator roles in our Adding New Admins and Defining Roles articles.

Manually Add Season Affiliations 

You can also manually add a Season Affiliation to volunteers who do not have an athlete participating by clicking their name on the People page. (If they are not visible in the list, search for them in a previous season using the Search function at the top.)

Click into the user account and you will see an option to add an affiliation to any season created in your site.

Learn more about managing your members ➞ People/Roster 

Roster Affiliation to New Season

When your new and returning members complete the new season’s registration form (more on this step below), they’ll be affiliated with the new season. 

If your team does not use the online registration form, you can "roll over" your previous season's roster by exporting the Athlete Roster report and then re-importing that into your site under the new season. (This method is not ideal for most teams that need to ensure updated information is captured, waiver signatures, merchandise selection, volunteering, and fees are paid.) 

Learn how to roll over your roster here ➞ Managing Your People/Roster

➧ Update/Create Coach Accounts

We’ve created a short step-by-step guide to follow based on your specific scenario.

• Coach has an existing Parent or Athlete account in your system
• Coach does not have an account, and does not have athletes competing
• Coach has an athlete to register (or doesn't, but you need a form filled out)

If you try to use an email address when creating a new account that is already on your site in a previous season, or on another SwimTopia site, you will see a message informing you that “this email is already taken”

This is not an issue when people register and use the same exact name and email address, but manually creating accounts is a different process. If this occurs, submit a support ticket with the name/email.

➧ Update Role Assignments

Role assignments are also associated with seasons.  Some roles are set up so the assignments are seasonal, and others can be set up so the assignments are ongoing from year to year when assignees do not change often.

Seasonal Roles

If the setting, “This role is reassigned every season” is checked, the role assignments will be reset each season. All members who were assigned to those roles last season will no longer be assigned to those roles. 

If you know that any of your members are repeating their roles from last season, you have the ability to manually reassign them, but keep in mind, you won't be able to assign somebody to a role if they aren’t a member of the active season.

See ➞ Update Access to Site Administrators and Coordinators if you need to manually affiliate someone to the season.

Ongoing Roles 

If the setting, “This role is reassigned every season” is unchecked, role assignments will carry over from season to season.  Once you've updated your Current Season, you'll see people in your Roster with this Role badge next to their name. They won't have the Parent badge until they have completed the registration form. 

If a member is not returning to one of these roles in the new season, you’ll need to manually remove them from their role assignment. Go to Roles and then click on Role Assignments in the upper right corner.

• To remove a name, click on the “X” next to the member’s name
• To add a name, click on “Add/Remove” next to the role
• Begin typing in the name of the member, and select the name when it appears
• Click “Save.”

» Note: Changing the setting from one season to the next may produce unexpected results for previous vs new assignees. If you need to change that setting for a role after using it for a season or more, it's better to create a new one. 

Learn more about how Roles are used ➞ Defining Roles

➧ Edit Content on Your SwimTopia Site

This can be done at any time, but if you are waiting on other decisions that affect updates to your site, you could get started scanning through your website content to see if there are any references to policies, dates, deadlines, etc. that are relevant to the last season but may have changed for the new season. 

You can edit those pages directly by going to Manage Site > Edit Page Content.

» Tip: Limiting specific dates throughout your site will expedite this process each season. If you need to list specific dates, keep track of the pages that will need to be updated.

Learn more about this topic ➞ Managing Your Website

Do you want to require a CAPTCHA to prevent spam?

If you use the Contact Us Form snippet, you might want to consider turning this feature on if your team has received any spam through your Contact Us page. You can turn this setting off at any time and revisit the need for this extra security level each season.

Learn more about this topic ➞ Contact Us Form Snippet.

Do you need some inspiration?

Check out how other SwimTopia teams have set up their sites ➞ Example Customer SwimTopia sites, or watch our recorded webinar (below) to learn how you can utilize additional website design options.

➧ Update Sponsorships

Sponsorships are tracked per season, so once you update your Season, old sponsors will no longer show up in the section of your website that is created by the Sponsor snippet. You'll need to set up new Sponsorships for the new season.

We offer a handy tool for copying Sponsorships that renew from one Season to another:

Go to Website > Sponsors > Sponsorships

• Select the last season
• Select all the Sponsorships that will be renewing for the new Season - you can either select all by checking the box to the left of "Sponsor" at the top of the list, or you can select individual Sponsorships from within the list
• Once you've selected one or more Sponsorships, you'll see a drop-down box that says "Copy to Season"
• Select your new season

Once the Sponsorships are copied to the new season, you can edit their categories.  And you can add new Sponsors to your new season's Sponsorships, and upload a new Heat Sheet Banner (if using Meet Maestro to manage your meets).

» Note: If you need to change your sponsorship category definitions, you can do that under Website > Sponsors >Categories.

Learn more about this topic ➞ Sponsorships.

➧ Update Merchandise Items

Merchandise items are not tied to seasons. If you need to make changes after sales have occurred or when transitioning to a new season, it’s best to archive old items and create a new item, or make a copy of last season’s item and then make your edits.

If you were to simply edit the old item, it would effectively change the description or pricing of the item for all past orders and would affect tracking and reporting. Also, if you have any merchandise items with order limits, SwimTopia will see last season’s orders as accumulating toward the overall quantity ordered. 

Go to Merchandise, then click on the item, and click on “Copy.” (you can archive old items from this screen as well)

Learn more about this topic ➞ Merchandise

➧ Update Online Store and/or SwimOutlet Team Store Offerings

If your team is using SwimTopia's Online Store and/or SwimOutlet features to sell your merchandise, sponsorships, donations, etc., outside of registration, you will want to make sure these pages are displaying your updated merchandise offerings each season.

Learn more about these topics: 
➞ Merchandise Offer Snippet  
➞ SwimOutlet Team Store Snippet

➧ Create New Registration Forms

Ideally, your members create their accounts through the registration process. Each season they sign in and register to be affiliated with the current season, and new members create their accounts as they register. This process ensures you have current data.

At the beginning of a new season, you’ll want to create new forms to help you keep track of your members from season to season. 

Go to Manage Team > Registration and either create a new form or make a copy of a form from a previous season. See ➞ Registration Checklist (for Teams)

1. Update your form as needed.
2. Be sure to enable or disable each applicable page (checkbox at the top).
3. Remember to add new league-shared forms if any are found at the bottom of the first page.
4. Set your new form to “Open” when your team’s registration window begins. (Private forms must be in an Open state for members to reach them)

SwimTopia Fee Collection: Per-Athlete Technology Fee

SwimTopia's billing policy is on a per-athlete basis. We charge a lower annual subscription price and eliminate extra invoicing by deducting the per-athlete fee during registration when payment is accepted online, and the league is not already paying this fee upfront for teams. 

The fee amount varies based on a team's billing plan with SwimTopia. Learn more about this fee ➞ SwimTopia Per-Athlete Fee Collection - FAQs

» Note: This SwimTopia Fee Collection section will only display for teams who are not on a league-wide billing plan, where this fee is paid by the league upfront. If you are seeing this section and do not believe you should, then contact your league administrator for clarification.

Roster Affiliation to New Season

If your team does not use the online registration form, you can "roll over" your previous season's roster by exporting the Athlete Roster report and then re-importing that into your site under the new season. (This method is not ideal for most teams that need to ensure updated information is captured, waiver signatures, merchandise selection, volunteering, and fees are paid.) Learn how to roll over your roster here ➞ Managing Your People/Roster

Learn more about all of the features and configurations available when setting up your registration forms ➞ Registration Section 

➧ Update Your Schedule and Templates

Swim Meets & Calendar Events

Meets and Events are managed from the All Meets & Events tab in the Manage Team console.

Depending on your team's process, there are multiple options for how you can create meets:

• Creating Meets through a League Meet Schedule Import
• Creating Meets by importing a Meet Event File
• Creating Meets by Applying Meet Templates Saved from Previous Season Meets
• Creating a New (Empty) Swim Meet (Optionally Apply Meet Templates)

Learn more about ➞ Creating Meets (Options) to determine which option works best for your team

Meet Templates

If you are creating meets through one of the last two options above and utilizing this time-saving feature of building a repository of Meet Templates to apply to your meets, you should review these templates each season to ensure they're set up properly.

Double-check that your Entry Rules and Seeding/Scoring Rules still apply for the new season (if using SwimTopia's Meet Maestro to run your meets).

Once you've confirmed the setup of your Meet Templates, you can apply them to your meets as you fill out your schedule. 

Learn more about this topic ➞ Meet Templates

Job Templates

Your jobs/shifts may or may not change each season, but it's always best to review your Job Templates to be sure. Once you've confirmed the setup of your Job Templates, you can apply them to your meets as you fill out your schedule. 

Learn more about this topic ➞ Job Templates

Planning to use Meet Maestro to run your meets this season?

Meet Maestro is included with your SwimTopia subscription, and accessible through your meets (after the entries are merged) in the SwimTopia interface (or via a desktop application download if using a timing system).

Learn about this topic here ➞ ▶️ Training Videos - Meet Management with Meet Maestro™

Calendar Events (Non-Meet)

If you have recurring non-meet events (i.e. kick-off party, end-of-season banquet, etc.), copy the event from last season and make appropriate changes. Go to Schedule >All Meets & Events > Select the previous season from the left margin > Click into the event > Click Copy.

Learn more about ➞ Creating Calendar Events (Banquets, Socials, Meetings...)

Calendar Display on Your Website 

Decide if you'd like the calendar on your team's website to show all events for the current season, or to show only upcoming events (with a link to toggle to past events). If you do not want your parents scrolling through a list of past events to reach the next event, then we suggest the latter.

Learn more about this topic ➞ Calendar Display Mode

➧ Update Records and Time Standards

Don't forget to create or update your record books if you didn't do this at the end of your last season. And if your league does not share League Record Books and Time Standards with the teams in your league through our automatic league sharing feature, you can create your own to apply to your Meet Templates (time standards) and applicable meets (records and time standards).

➞ See more about Creating a Record Book or Managing a Record Book

➞ See more about Time Standards & Qualifying Times Overview

➧ Communicate to Previous and New Season Members

Reaching your previous seasons' members

When you are ready to start sending out your new season registration and/or general season information, use "Members - Previous Season" in your communications to reach your registered families from the season previous to what you have set as your current season. (only official seasons are considered)

Reaching your new season members

Once you open registration and members register for your upcoming season, (or you manually assign members to your current season in their profile), you'll use the "Members" group to reach out to your active season's roster.

Reaching members in any season

You can reach parents or groups in any season from the Reports tab using reports like the Registration Details/Data Export, Parents Information or Athlete Roster reports. This is a good option when you want to send a message to multiple groups at one time, or across multiple seasons. The system will not send duplicates if a user spans multiple groups/seasons.

Learn more about the communication tools available ➞ Communications.

» Tip: This is an excellent opportunity to remind your members about downloading the SwimTopia mobile app, where they can receive your push alerts (canceled practices, rainouts, etc.), view their athletes' time history, and follow all the live action during the meet, including upcoming reminders and results. Learn more here ➞ ▶️ Training Video - SwimTopia's Mobile App.