For new SKED users, this is a general overview of the onboarding process, what support to expect, and details of some of the most commonly used features.
Onboarding
SKED Data Document and Organisation Settings
As a first step, we’ll ask you to complete a SKED Data Document outlining specific competition details - for example, grade names, locations and venues, preferred playing times, points awarded for wins and losses, and game duration.
Our support team will input this information into Organisation Settings. This information acts as a set of defaults that assists in building competitions, and can be reviewed or modified at any time. Information from Organisation Settings will auto-populate each phase of a competition, but can be edited for particular phases when variations are required.
See more: Initial setup
Training Session
An initial individual or group training session is provided, with a recording available to attendees. Additional training sessions for new staff, and upskilling for existing staff, can be provided (charges may apply).
Support
SKED Competitions Support Inbox
Email enquiries to competitions@sportsground.com. Emails will be responded to by our support staff during business hours Monday to Friday, aiming to reply within one business day.
Emails should contain all relevant and accurate information to support your enquiry - for example, the organisation name, competition/phase name, season, club/school, grade, team, and date.
To help us assist you as effectively as possible, please supply screenshots, details of what steps you were taking, the time and date it occurred, and how it impacted you.
Support and Community
The Support & Community tile on the dashboard links to our comprehensive online support area, which has a dedicated section for SKED.
Alternatively, use the Help icon to access SportyAI. See this support article for more details.
Newsletters
Regular newsletters are sent to SKED users, containing information about new features, improvements to existing features, and helpful suggestions for managing your competitions throughout the season.
Types of draws
Grading
There are a number of ways to create grading draws within SKED. Suggestions for how best to manage these, according to specific requirements, can be provided to SKED users. For example, teams enter their preferred grade for the new season, but are then graded against teams from other grades to determine whether that grade is right for them. Alternatively, a matrix-type grading approach uses a particular grading formula, where teams are seeded from the previous season’s ranking and progress to their new season’s grade based on grading game results.
See more: Seeded Playoffs and Tournaments
Round Robin
SKED’s automated draw algorithm ensures that when the required number of round dates is applied to a grade to complete a round robin, the draw will be balanced - meaning all teams will play every other team once.
Crossovers
When a grade has more than one section, and sections crossover after a round robin based on ranking (for example, top six/bottom six), a crossover-type phase can be created in SKED in advance. Once all round results have been submitted, the pre-created crossover will be populated with team names according to their ranking.
See more: Crossover phase creation
Playoffs
Playoff phases can contain up to four levels, including Preliminary Final, Quarter Final, Semi Final, and Final. A playoff phase can be created in advance by arranging placeholder team icons that will auto-populate with team names once all results from the contributing phase have been submitted.
See more: Playoff phase creation
Helpful SKED Features
Team Preferences and Conflicts
If an organisation accepts requests from teams who have preferences of what time their games are scheduled or if they wish to be assigned a different playing time to a particular other team, this can be recorded against a team and when the draw is created, you will be alerted to the team or time conflict. It is then optional for the SKED user to modify the draw to accommodate for the request.
See more: Team Preferences and Conflicts
Promotion Relegation of Teams Between Rounds
Re-ranking teams to new grades at the end of a round is easily achievable in SKED even if the new grade features in a different competition set up in the current season.
See more: Managing teams
Double Headers and Cross Section Bye Games
When more than one section within a grade contains a bye, a cross-section fixture can be scheduled for the two bye teams, or - for a single section with a bye - a double header for the bye team and one other team. Results from these fixtures are treated as friendlies and excluded from the standings table unless otherwise required. Additionally, when there are restrictions on the number of playing dates available, scheduling a double header between one team and the bye team is a solution to completing a round robin using fewer round dates. Double header results can be set to be included in the standings table.
See more: Cross Section or Bye Game Fixtures
Carry Over Points
Points can be carried over from one phase to another by linking the phases in Phase Settings and selecting an option to carry the points over. The new phase’s standings will start with the number of points and points differential carried over from the linked phase.
See more: Carry over points from one phase to a subsequent phase
Making Changes to Draws
There are several ways to make changes to a draw in SKED depending on the circumstances.
See more: Modifications to draws
One of the most common reasons to change a draw is due to a team withdrawal or a late team entry. There are a number of scenarios. Here is an overview of how to manage this in SKED.
See more: Adding and Removing Teams from Sections
Closing Team Entries or Team Building and Setting Max Team Entries
To avoid unexpected late team entries or withdrawals, SKED offers an option to set a closing date on team entries. This doesn’t restrict the ability of clubs/schools to continue registering players and building their teams. There’s also an option to set a closing date on team building, at which point clubs/schools will no longer be able to make changes to the players within their teams. Additionally, you can set the maximum team entries allowed for a specific grade, meaning a team will be denied entry once the grade reaches capacity, and an alternative grade selection will need to be made.
See more: Modify Team Entry and Team Building closing dates & Max Teams
Recording Results
There are a number of tasks performed in the Draws and Results area of SKED, including manually entering the scores of games or recording defaults. Scores can also be received via a scoring app.
See more: Draws and results overview
Standings
As soon as a result has been applied to a fixture, the standings table updates automatically with the win or loss points awarded, in accordance with the points template being used.
See more: Standings overview
Publishing a Draw
Draws become visible to the public following a two step process. Starting with selecting from within SKED what part of the competition is to become visible to the public.
See more: Publishing Draws/Venues/Results/Officials/Fixture Status
Followed by adding the content using a widget to your Sporty website.