LSC Certification Tracking Module.
Go to the USA Swimming web site. Sign in to your linked account and go to “Volunteers: Officials: Officials
Tracking. The LSC Certification Modules are “LSC Certifications” and the “LSC Admin” sub levels – “Certification
Level” and “Certification Setup.”
These Modules are available to LSC Officials Chairs and those they nominate to have the same level of access
authority
*
.
INITIAL SETUP
Check list of things for the LSC Officials Committee to consider before starting to load data into the LSC
Certification Tracking Module the first time!
What positions will be available for your LSC certification?
The module allows for – Stroke & Turn
Judge (ST), Chief Judge (CJ), Starter (SR), Referee/Deck Referee (DR), Administrative Referee (AR), Meet
Referee (MR), Open Water Referee (OR), Open Water Judge (OJ), Meet Director (MD), Clerk of Course
(CC), Announcer (AN), Timing Judge (TJ), Computer Operator (CO), Timing Equipment Operator (TO) and
Timer (TI). Although you can track any or all of these for an official the certification card will only show the
first seven (7) positions used (in the order listed) for an official.
What levels of Certification will you use?
The default levels are AP – Apprentice and Q – Qualified.
You may change them, delete them or add others (not required). You can also establish certification levels
for Instructor/Evaluators (or whatever you want) independently of position certification levels. (You can
also incorporate those in your certification level hierarchy like Pacific Swimming does – L1 Trainee, L2
Qualified, L3 Experienced, L4 Zone Leadership, L5 Pacific Leadership. They include instructor authority in
their level definitions. One comment on Instructor/Evaluator levels – consider using it. A future OTS
enhancement may probably be to add LSC evaluations. Separate Instructor/Evaluator levels may be used
to control access to this function if it is implemented.
What dates you are going to use as the initial date for LSC certification?
The system will default
to the day it is entered. The date can be changed individually for each position. This will be the most
tedious part of the initial setup. It is probably important to give your officials recognition for the time they
have served in each position and create at least an approximate history….if your LSC has detailed records
it’ll be relatively easy to enter the data. If not, you may want to create a spreadsheet and apply
approximation dates before you start. You may even want to ask your officials when they were first
certified in each position.
Are you going to list all certified positions for an official, eg. ST, SR , DR, MR (recommended);
or just the “highest”?
By showing all, you will create history for the official.
What date you are going to use as the expiration date for our current LSC Certifications?
That
gets entered in the setup and will automatically populate (but is editable) the certifications assignment
page.
What date you are going to change over to the next certification cycle?
Example – if all of your
certifications expire 12/31/09 – at some point (maybe 7/1/09) you are going to say that officials who gain
a certification do not need to recertify in the current cycle - their new certifications are extended to the
next cycle. For the initial load you’ll set it to the current expiration date. You’ll just need to remember to
set it again for your LSCs next cycle.
How many months after an official’s certification expires, will the qualifications still show up
on the Officials LSC Certification Card?
Once the certifications expire, they will turn red in the
system. You can select to have them continue to show up on the card for a number of months (from 0 to
30) after they expire. Zero, 1, 2 or 3 months is suggested.
Does your LSC want to print and distribute LSC certification cards or use the email and “My
Certification Card” functions in the OTS?
National certifications will be available to all officials. LSCs
can choose to suppress the LSC card function.
INITIAL SETUP
Log in using your “Linked Account” and go Volunteers -> Officials -> Ofdficials Tracking
Certification Level Setup - Go to “Certification Level” under “LSC Admin”.
LSCs have the flexibility to set various levels for position certifications. The levels apply to all positions. They also may set instructor/evaluator levels independent of the certification levels. The default certification levels are “ap - Apprentice” and “Q - Qualified.” These may be deleted, changed or added to.
To edit: click on “Edit” under “Options.” Level Order: should usually reflect the progression order through a position. The lowest numbered level is the “default” level and is automatically loaded when an official starts in a new position (see LSC Certifications - later). Level Abbreviations: - any unique characters, except leading with “N” or “n”, may be used.
Level Description: Up to 20 characters may be used.
For the INITIAL LOAD, if
“apprentice” or “Trainee” is used as the LSCs initial level in a position, it may be useful to temporarily set that level at a high “Level Order” and make the most common level for current officials – say “Qualified” - with the lowest “Level Order” number. This will reduce the
keystrokes needed to load the system the first time. The level order can be Initial Load of LSC Officials.
Hint: When entering officials into the database the system defaults to assigning them the lowest training/certification level used by the LSC for their certifications.
The initial system settings are Apprentice for level 1 and Qualified for level 2.
Assuming these levels are used by the LSC (they may be changed, or added to), when a position is initially selected for an individual, the system will default to assigning the individual as an “Apprentice” in that position. This approach makes sense when the LSC module is used on an ongoing basis.
When initially loading officials into the database the system default will most likely result in more work because most of the individuals being entered are probably not apprentices, but rather certified officials.
Following from this same example, “Qualified” could still be set at level 2, while Apprentice could be set at level 3. The system will then default to assigning officials as being “Qualified” in the selected positions.
An example setup for initially loading officials into the system.
Note: Once a level is assigned to an official the level abbreviation and description cannot be deleted. However, they can be edited and the changes will be reflected in all places where it is in use. Eg – The LSC decides it would rather use “L2 - Level 2 for a “Q – Qualified” official all Q s will change to L2 and all Qualifieds will change to Level 2.
Levels may be added.
“Level Abbreviations” mat not start with “N” or “n”.
Also – upper and lowercase letter are considered the same, although they will display the way you enter them. “Instructor/Evaluator Levels” may be used and added. The “Level Order” for these is independent of the “Certification Level” level order.
After “saving” the new levels are added to the Certification Levels table. Note:
After the Initial Load, the Level Order can be revised to put the normal starting Level Type back to the lowest order number, eg edit 5 back to 1 for ap.
This will facilitate adding new officials and managing new certifications for Existing officials.
Certification Settings:
Click on “Certification Setup” under LSC Admin.
Set the default certification expiry date for new and renewing certifications.
Selecting “Blank” will mean the date will need to be entered each time a record is updated.
Certification Card Settings:
If your LSC does not want officials to have access to their LSC Certification Card via the USA Swimming web page, “uncheck” the box.
If your LSC would like to include a grace period for the number of months that a certification can be printed on the card - set it here. (Although it won’t show on the card, the full record is retained in the OTS and can still be edited.)
Always “Save” after any changes. “Preview the Sample Card”.
The blank certification card can be previewed. It is sized to print on a standard business card blank and can be folded to show LSC Certifications on one side and any National Certifications on the other.
Note: the default LSC logo is the USA Swimming Logo.
To upload a custom LSC logo it’ll need to be in .gif, .jpg or .bmp format and less than about 640 k in size.
“Browse” for the file, and then “Save” it to upload it to the USA Swimming website. (640 k files may take some time to upload!)
The uploaded image will show after it is saved……
…..and can be viewed as it will appear on the card when “Preview Sample Card” is selected.
(The scroll bar at the right of the screen may need to be used to bring the image back into the viewing area.)
ADDING OFFICILS to the LSC MODULE
To load LSC Officials into the OTS, select “LSC Certifications”. - Your LSC will be the default LSC. Then search for officials.
For initial data loading a “wild card” search using alphabetical ranges is suggested, eg. a*,b* to return all a’s and b’s. Up to about 20 “last names” can be used each time in this search field.
As with most searches in the OTS, it is best to use the minimum number of search parameters that will return what is needed.
Most parameters are “and” rather than “or” making the search requirements too specific if many are used. To find a specific official, use just the “Last Name”, or enough of it plus “*” to return a few possibilities to choose from.
Some “officials” may not be registered in SWIMs as “Non-Athlete – Official”. They can still be found and processed by changing “Non-Athlete Type” to “All”. However, all officials also return coaches, administrators, “officials”, “coaches” and “others” who meet the search criteria will be returned.
Note: Officials recorded in SWIMs with only the “Other” designation will not have access to the OTS and they may not be selectable for some reports.
Select the official to “edit.”
The “edit” screen for the official will be shown.
“Check” the boxes for the official’s certified positions.
Then click on “Add/Upgrade Selected Positions”.
As many of these positions as the LSC LSC decides to “certify” may be selected. All will show up in the record and can be managed, however, only the first 7 selected for an individual will show up on their card.
The positions will be added to the official’s record. The “LSC Certification Level” for each position will be entered at the “lowest” level set up in “LSC Administration”.
The “Effective Date” will be
“today’s” date. The date can be edited by overtyping or using the calendar. (It is suggested that some approximation of the actual date be entered for each position to create some history). The “Expiration Date” will be the date set up in “LSC Administration”. “Save” the data. If the record is now complete, “Save and return to Search Results” to access the next official.
If one or more positions have a higher level than the default they may be reset using the “drop down” selections, or by first “Saving” and then selecting and “Upgrading” those positions again (creates more history). Other positions may be added after saving.
When the record for the official is complete select and click the appropriate “Save” buttons. For the “Initial Load” clicking the “Save and Return to Search Results” is probably the best option.
Click “Save” if subsequent levels or other positions need to be added.
To reflect an history of an official moving from, say, “apprentice” to “qualified” to “experienced” – after the initial positions and levels are entered and “Saved” “select” positions to be “upgraded” or added. Click on “Add/Upgrade Selected Positions”.
They will be added to the file, each below the first entry for the position, with the next level showing. The “drop down” edit boxes will be available to adjust them if necessary.
Note: The “Effective Date” must be later than the effective date for the previous level. The “Effective Date” determines which level for a position shows on an official’s certification card. If an official is moved from a higher level to a lower level, “Add/Upgrade” the position then use the “drop down” to select the lower level making sure the “Effective Date” is later than the previous level.
“Save and return to Search Results” when editing is finished. The check boxes can be used to send an email to the official and, or, add the record to the card printing queue.
Selecting “Save and return to Search Results” returns to the list so that another official can be selected to work on.
Note: The last action for the official is shown.
A check box is available to add officials with updated files to the “Card Queue”.
REPORTS
The “Card Queue” allows two things: - Printing revised cards for officials
if the LSC doesn’t want to use the emailed card or “My Certification Card” options.
- Pre-reviewing the cards that do go out.
Other output options are available.
Report options have been updated to accommodate LSC Certifications and to increase flexibility.
You may search for individual, or select a number of, officials. Your LSC is the default if you want all listed. Add other LSCs if you wish.
If you don’t use the LSC Module, change the
“Certifications Expiring” default to “Ignore”.
Other selection filters. Use them if you are looking for officials with specific qualifications.
You can get info on officials from other LSCs. There are limitations on the scope of information returned from other LSCs. Returning by “Current Registration LSC” will return all officials in those LSCs who meet other filter selections.
Note:if “Current Registration LSC” and “Official” are both set to “Ignore”, All USA
Swimming Officials meeting selection filter criteria will be returned! There could be hundreds of pages.
You may also select a group of officials to report on. Click on “Select Officials” to go to the officials search page.
You can search using names, wildcards, LSC, etc. to build a list of officials. As always, use the least number of selection parameters needed to find those you want. Then click on “Search”.
Keep
-“Searching”, -“Selecting” and
-“Adding Selected Officials” to the list.
When Complete “Return to Officials Detail Report Parameters”.
You can also return to the search to add more if you wish.
Select the type of report. The “Officials Participation Evaluation Report” includes detail on current LSC and National certifications held by the official.
You may select other output types if you wish. The default is .pdf. Note: exporting to CSV format (comma separated variables) returns official data, one line per official, and may exceed the capacity of some versions of excel if all certified positions are selected.)
“Officials Contact Information” report returns email and phone data recorded in SWIMs and other email addresses used with a linked account, if different.
It also returns a summary of National and LSC certifications, if they are in the system and selected for output. It does not show email addresses entered into meets, applications or activities.
