School Administration

As a coach or director, you will use Tabroom to do things like manage your school's account, maintain your student roster, register for tournaments, and view school-wide results.

When your Tabroom account is linked as the administrator for a school, you will see a set of tabs when you log-in that correspond to the main school admin functions:

This section of the manual will explain how to use each of these tabs.

School Setup

Before you can access your school's student roster, tournament registrations, etc. you must first either create a new school (also known as a chapter), or link your Tabroom account to the pre-existing school account.

Each school can have multiple Tabroom accounts linked as an administrator for that school, for example if you have multiple coaches. Similarly, any Tabroom account can be given administrator access to multiple different schools, for example if you coach multiple programs but want to maintain separate student rosters.

Linking To A Pre-Existing School

Odds are good that your school has already been created in Tabroom and linked to someone's account. Instead of creating a new school, which results in confusing duplicates, you should instead attempt to get access to the pre-existing school. This will also save you the work of recreating things like student/judge rosters from scratch, and will ensure that your school's tournament results maintain continuity.

If you are a new coach, you should see if the previous coach can give your account access to your school in Tabroom. If that's not possible, you can contact us at [[1]] for help getting access.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are a student trying to register for a tournament, you should NOT create a new school just to sign yourself up - you should instead ask your director/coach for access to your school's tabroom account, and register from the main school account.

If you are a previous coach trying to give someone else access to your school, see the section below on Controlling Access To A School

Creating A School

If your school doesn't exist in Tabroom yet, you'll need to create it. After logging in, click the link for "Create a new school/team" in the sidebar:

Then, fill out the required information such as School Name, State, etc. If you have a National Speech and Debate chapter number, or a variety of other school ID numbers, you can put them in here to ensure proper tracking. When done, press Save School Info.

If a school already exists in Tabroom with a similar name, you will see a warning that says "THAT INSTITUTION ALREADY EXISTS!"

If you need help getting access to an existing school, email [[mailto: help@tabroom.com]]. If you're sure you need to create a new school, check the "Confirm duplication" box:

Once your school is created, you should see a welcome message telling you what to do next - each of the suggested steps is covered in this manual in detail:

School Settings

To make changes to your school name, coach access, etc. you will use the Settings tab:

Controlling Access To A School

To edit who has access to your school's account in Tabroom, go to the Settings tab and then use the form at the bottom:

You will see a list of Tabroom accounts with access to your school ("chapter").

If you click the "Full Access" button next to an account, it will toggle between "Full Access" and "Prefs Only." You can use the "Prefs Only" setting for accounts which should only have limited access to your school:

You can click the "Remove" button next to an account to remove their access from the school. Note that you can't remove the last/only account from a school - so you would need to add another account first.

To grant a new account access, enter the email of a Tabroom account in the form and click "Grant."

Allowing Pref Entry

You can grant specific Tabroom accounts access to your school for the purposes of prefs entry, as explained above. Or, you can let entries fill our prefs themselves by checking the option on the Settings tab for "Entries may enter their own prefs." As long as you have linked entries on your Student Roster to a tabroom account, they will be able to access their own prefs, but not the rest of the school's.

Administering Multiple Schools

If your Tabroom account is listed as the administrator for more than one school simultaneously, you will see a list under "Institutions" in the sidebar on your account dashboard:

Before editing your rosters, entering a tournament, etc. make sure you have selected the appropriate school by clicking on it - this will make it your "active" school for the rest of the school administration tabs.

Student Roster

Before registering for a tournament, you must add students to your student roster. When you first go to the Students tab, your roster will be empty:

You can add students to your roster manually, or import them from a file.

Adding Students Manually

Click the "Add a new student" link on the sidebar:

This will give you two options - you can search for a student to add by their Tabroom account's email address, or you can manually enter their information and click the "Save Student" button. You can always link your student roster entries to your student's Tabroom account later if you wish.

Make sure to give each of your students a 4-digit graduation date, like "2018," and not just two-digits. You can also fill out additional information, such as diet preferences and gender. When you're done entering all your students, you can return to your student roster by using the link on the sidebar.

Adding Students From A File

To make it easier to add large numbers of students to your roster at once, you can use the "Import From Spreadsheet" option in the sidebar instead.

This will give you a form to choose the file to import:

Your file must be saved as a ".csv" comma-delimited file. You can download a sample file to fill out on the upload page. While it is possible to create an upload file manually, it is much easier to use this template, fill out the names and other information, then save and upload the file - just make sure your spreadsheet program doesn't change the file format.

Managing Your Student Roster

Student Info

Once you have added students to your roster, you will see them in a list on the Students tab:

Each line on your roster has a number of options. Clicking the "Record" button will take you to individual results for that student:

Clicking either their first or last name will let you edit their information, such as name and gender. This will also let you link or unlink them to a Tabroom account:

You can see if an entry on your roster is linked to a Tabroom account on your roster by looking in the "Account" column.

You can toggle a student between "Varsity" and "Novice" by clicking the button next to their entry on your roster.

If a student has graduated, you can remove them from your active roster by clicking the red "Retire" button.

Graduated Students

You can toggle whether to show or hide graduates with the link on the sidebar, and toggle them between active/graduated status by clicking the button:

Remove Duplicates

If you accidentally created duplicates on your student roster, you can easily remove them by using the "De-duplicate students" link on the sidebar. If any duplicates are found, you will be given the choice to merge them:

Dietary Preferences

Your student roster is a convenient place to keep track of your student's dietary preferences, which also makes it easy for tournaments to access that information. You can see all of this information in one place with the "Dietary preferences" link in the sidebar:

Judge Roster

The judge roster works very similar to the student roster. You can click the "Add a new judge" link in the sidebar, or if your judge roster is empty, the form will appear automatically:

You can add judges by their Tabroom account email, or manually enter their information and click the "Save Judge" button. You can link judges on your roster to their Tabroom accounts later if you wish.

If you want to add a large number of judges at once, you can also use the "Import from Spreadsheet" option, which is found in the sidebar on your Students tab (not the Judge tab). For more information, see the section on Adding Students From A File above. Make sure you use the "Judge" template, instead of the "Student" template.

Once you have added judges to your roster, they will appear in a list:

Clicking on a judge's first or last name will let you edit their information. You can also toggle a judge between active/inactive to keep your roster easier to manage. You can select whether to see active or inactive judges on the sidebar:

If you accidentally created duplicates on your judge roster, you can easily remove them by using the "Deduplicate judges" link on the sidebar. If any duplicates are found, you will be given the choice to merge them:

To keep track of your judges dietary preferences, you can use the "Dietary Restrictions" link on the right - it will take you to the same page as for your student roster.

Circuits

In order to register for a tournament, you must first join the appropriate "circuit." All tournaments on tabroom must be part of a "circuit" - to find out which circuit the tournament you're interested in is a part of, look on the main Calendar.

Then, use the "Circuits" tab to join the circuit:

First, select the circuit you want to join from the dropdown. Then, choose whether to join for "Tournaments Only" or "Full Membership."

Choose "Tournaments Only" if you want to register for tournaments, but don't want circuit emails or to be a dues paying member. Some circuits are run entirely on a tournament-only basis, such as the US National Circuit (HS).

"Full Membership" means you will be able to register for tournaments, and will receive emails about the circuit. You may also be billed for membership dues. This is best for joining a state or local circuit that uses Tabroom to manage its membership.

Once you have joined a circuit, your Circuits tab will change to show you the list of tournaments your school is a part of, and will give you the option to leave a circuit:

Registering For A Tournament

Prerequisites

Before you can register for a tournament, you must have first created/linked to a school, added students to your student roster, judges to your judge roster, and ensured your school is in the appropriate circuit. For more information on each of those steps, see the appropriate section in the manual.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are a student trying to register for a tournament, you should NOT create a new school just to register yourself. Instead, ask your coach/director for access to your schools Tabroom account, and register yourself that way.

Adding Entries

Once your school has joined a circuit, your Tournaments tab will show you a list of upcoming tournaments that you can register for:

Click the "Register" button next to the tournament to get started. You can also click the red "X" next to a tournament to ignore it so it won't show up on your list. You can then choose "Show Ignored Tournaments" at the bottom if you want to add it back.

Once you click "Register," you may be asked to provide an Adult Contact for tournaments which require it. You can edit this information later on the General tab of your entry:

Next, click the Entries tab and then choose an Event on the sidebar. The number next to each event is the number of entries you currently have in that event.

Use the "Add Entry" box on the right to select a student(s) names, and then click "Add Entry:"

Once you have created entries, you will see them in your list, where you can edit or drop them:

Adding Entries To The Waitlist

If the tournament has a waitlist for an event, you can put students on it by using the box on the sidebar:

Waitlisted entries will then appear in your entry list, where you can edit or drop them. You will be notified by email if the tournament accepts your entries off the waitlist.

Adding Hybrids

At tournaments which allow Hybrids, you can enter them with the "Enter Hybrid Team" option in the sidebar:

Use the dropdown box to select the school you're entering a hybrid with:

Adding Judges

Once you have entered competitors, you can use the Judges tab to enter your judges. The sidebar will show you a list of judge groups you can enter judges in, and will appear in red if you have not entered enough judges to meet your commitment:

Choose a judge group on the right, and then use the Add Judges box in the sidebar to add a judge:

Judges will then appear in your list, where you can edit or drop them:

When adding a judge, you may be asked to provide additional details, such as how many prelim rounds they are entered for, or contact information for them:

Limiting Judge Availability

Once you have added a judge to your entry, you can notify the tournament if they will not be available for certain days/rounds. From your judge entry, click the link under the "Availability" column:

Depending on the tournament, this will let you mark a judge as unavailable for particular rounds or days - click the button in the Available column to toggle between Yes and No:

If fines apply for being under your judging obligation, you will be shown the applicable amount.

Requesting Hired Judging

If a tournament has hired judging available, you can request it from the Judges tab by filling out either the number of judges (usually for IE's) or number of rounds (usually for debate events):

Once you have made a request, it will be visible on the Judges tab, where you can reduce or delete the request if necessary:

Dropping Entries

To drop your entire entry, click the red button in the sidebar - you'll be asked to confirm first:

To drop individual entries or judges from an event, just select that event in the sidebar, and edit your entry from there.

Printing Your Registration

If you'd like a copy of your entire registration, you can use the links in the sidebar under "Printouts" - this will let you print your registration, an invoice, or export a spreadsheet with your entries:

Purchasing Concessions

Some tournaments have items available for purchase in advance, such as parking permits. If available, these will be listed on the "Concessions" tab:

For each concession, enter the quantity needed and press Save Order.

Editing Your Entry

If you need to make changes to an existing entry, you can access it again from your main account Dashboard, under "Existing Tournament Registrations:"

School Results

If your account is the admin for your school, you can access results for your entire team.

From your account dashboard, you can use the Results tab to see a list of tournaments with available results:

Clicking the Results tab will give you a list of of available reports for that tournament:

Tournament Stats will give you a general overview of participation at the tournament.

Show Entry Roster will show you your complete entry from the tournament.

Show Team Results will give you the complete results for the entire team, including final places, seeds, and speaker awards:

Print Team Results contains the same information, but in PDF form for easy printing.

Show Online Ballots allows you to access and RFD's or Comments (if any) that judges entered online:

Print Ballots contains the same information in PDF form.

Show Invoice/Receipt gives you a breakdown of your registration costs, fines, and whether you've paid or owe money - and Print Invoice/Receipt gives you a similar PDF.

Full Tournament Results takes you to the full public results for the entire tournament.

You can also access past pref sheets from the sidebar by selecting a competitor, which will then download a .csv file with the pref sheet for that tournament:

On the main Results tab, you can also see a list of all the schools your program has competed against (e.g. for PR reasons):